Winter trees against summer heat (2023)
In February, more than 150 people came together for the second major planting campaign in the Schwanheim Forest near Frankfurt am Main. Despite snow and cold, they put around 2500 seedlings of various tree species in the ground.
The native beech trees in the city forest continue to die off, according to forest ranger Axel Saamer. Due to the hot and extremely dry summer days, the shallow-rooted beech have little chance. The planted seedlings are carefully selected, they should be able to withstand the heat and drought. Among them are winter lime, fluttering elm, bird cherry, service tree and sessile oak. Especially the oaks are counted on, because they form deep taproots. For this purpose, in addition to the seedlings, 4000 acorns collected in the fall were reseeded.
The city forest is an important recreational area for the inhabitants and is not yet abandoned by them. Frankfurt’s head of environment Rosemarie Heilig (Die Grünen) announces further planting campaigns.
On behalf of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung