SEATTLE — "Weird stuff happens when you start paying attention to the street trees,” said Seattle’s Taha Ebrahimi.
Like they might start talking to you. Ebrahimi finds a placard affixed to a blossoming cherry in Ballard’s Sunset Hill neighborhood and reads it aloud:
"I'm more than 80 years old, I know I've aged well - please help me stay youthful and please do not climb on me."
Or, they might inspire you to write and illustrate a book about them. That's what happened to Ebrahimi.
"Street Trees of Seattle: An Illustrated Walking Guide," published by Sasquatch Books, is her first book.
"I am not an illustrator or an arborist, so I don’t know how I fell into this project but I did, it was a labor of love I would say," Ebrahimi said.
"Street Trees of Seattle" grew from a seed planted during the COVID 19 pandemic.
"I was taking these epic walks and I was trying to make them a little more interesting for myself," said Ebrahimi. "So, I got interested in trees."
This walking guide reveals Seattle's top trees. Like the city's largest population of magnolia street trees (in Magnolia of course), the street lined with palm trees in Fremont (3rd Avenue NW), quirky stand-alone trees like a pine that’s planted smack in front of a home’s steps in Wedgewood and a Ballard blossom spot that has the same blooms - but not the same crowds - as the Yoshino cherries at the UW Quad.
Just a sample of the 600 trees in the book - Seattle has one of the most diverse street tree populations in the nation.
"So, you can smell it from here and there are only 83 eucalyptus street trees in the entire city!” Ebrahimi exclaimed as she led us to a large eucalyptus in Ballard.
Each tree in the book has a story, which Ebrahimi often discovers by chatting up the neighbors. She learns that the man who grew up next to the big eucalyptus was told by his uncle that if he planted the tree’s seeds, they’d grow into fire trucks. He planted a lot of seeds, never got a fire truck, but he still appreciates the tree.
"It's been a beautiful tree, it's so much fun to have," he said.
Ebrahimi says tree walks are also good for you.
"They say that just 20 to 30 minutes outdoors in nature near trees will improve your well-being," Ebrahimi said.
So, next time you take a stroll in Seattle look up...the trees might have something interesting to tell you.
“They've been here for so long and have borne witness to so many things happening and have so many stories to tell,” Ebrahimi said.
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