Above, a pair of Silver Linden planted 10 years before in  Juana Briones Park, Palo Alto. Silver Lindens thrive with lawn watering, but are also quite drought tolerant - a very favorable combination for modern California landscapes. Young trees typically take two to three years to become established - they start out slow, then speed up. You may see leaf insect damage in the first few years, but this condition disappears with age.

From observation of several mature Silver Linden street trees in on Hamilton Ave. in Palo Alto (like the one shown above and left), it appears that Silver Linden is deep-rooted and not prone to causing urban infrastructure damage. Also, some references claim that Silver Linden suffers from aphids as other lindens do, but this condition has not been seen in young or mature trees in Palo Alto, or elsewhere on the West Coast. Aphids typically avoid fuzzy leaves (tomentose) and that’s what Tilia tomentosa is named for.

Since the mid-90’s, the City of Palo Alto has been trial planting Silver Linden brought in from Oregon. Very few have been lost, and the trees look consistently good. The cultivars tested so far are ‘Green Mountain’ and ‘Sterling’. Initial observations suggest that both have strong branch attachments, despite their urban-friendly upright branching habit.