Planting trees in Moscow: 34 streets and 2,800 trees

Fifty six lime trees have already been re-planted on Tverskaya Street, and the rest will be re-planted by the end of the week. Planting trees on the other 33 streets landscaped this summer will begin after the November holidays and will be completed by late-November. Most of the new trees are maples, lime trees and elms. The trees have been prepared in advance for being transplanted: they were transplanted every three or four years at the transplant nursery. All of them are frost-resistant and windproof, and will be covered with a cane veil in winter.   

Apple trees on the Garden Ring, elms on Novy Arbat Street and lime trees on Tverskaya Street

Re-planting trees in the city’s centre also has historical roots. Thus, there will be gardens on the Garden Ring as they appeared in the 19^th century, and lime trees will be planted on Tverskaya Street to replace those that were cut down in the 1990s.

At the section of Tverskaya Street from Mokhovaya Street to Pushkin Square, over 100 trees will be planted, including 90 pallida lime trees. They are wind- and frost-resistant and are able to tolerate urban fumes. Each tree will be at least eight metres tall and 35 years old. They are able to live for a few hundred years. Their leaves are slightly glossy, bright green and become bright yellow in autumn. Unlike other types which can stand dry for a long time,   pallida lime trees really die when they grow old. Also, a red oak and 13 apple trees will appear on Tverskaya Street.

On the Garden Ring, on the section from Arbat to Dolgorukovskaya Street, over 500 trees of six different types will appear, including about 300 maples (seven metres tall and over 20 years old), as well as apple trees, lime trees, wild ashes, Judas trees and elms.

Around 180 trees of six types will be planted on Novy Arbat Street. Most of them will be planted on the odd side of the street, so it will become a green boulevard. Drivers will be able to park their cars between trees, consisting of four to eight-metre tall elms, maples, oaks, pines, larches and wild ashes.

Green areas will also appear on other landscaped streets. Wild ashes, apple trees, lilacs and birches will be planted on 26 streets. On the Boulevard Ring, from Arbat Square to Pokrovka Street, as well as on Malaya Dmitrovka Street, shadbushes will be planted, and bird cherry trees will appear in Chernigovsky Pereulok. In addition, over 55,000 shrubs will be planted in Moscow.

“Gates” to Moscow

Over 1,600 trees will be planted at the entrances to the city, at the intersection of the Moscow Ring Road and seven outbound routes:

• Rublyovskoye Motorway (359 trees);
• Varshavskoye Motorway (247):
• Yaroslavskoye Motorway (213);
• Leningradskoye Motorway (136);
• Kashirskoye Motorway (231):
• Mozhaiskoye Motorway (340);
• Leninsky Prospekt (118).

Mostly lime trees, maples and elms will be planted there. Wild ashes will be planted on all of the motorways, except Kashirskoye Motorway and Leninsky Prospekt. Also, oaks, bird cherry trees and ashes will appear on some motorways.

A transport junction is a gateway to the city, forming the first impression of the capital to those entering the city by car or public transit. Road junctions will also be decorated with illumination.

How trees are planted and prepared for life in the city

Trees are transplanted every three or four years at the nursery to better take root in a new area. This helps them to form a compact root system, which makes trees more viable during transportation, transplantation and digging. The trees to be planted are 18 to 35 years old. The youngest are maples and lilacs and the oldest are lime trees.

Trees are planted in special pits prepared during the landscaping of the central streets.

Soil in pits is replaced with fertile soil. After digging pits, the bottom is covered with expanded clay for drainage. Then a metal grid with hooks and a belt attachment is put in place to fix the root system of a tree.

Then, fresh soil mixed with expanded clay is poured into the pit. Trees are transported by tractor-trailer and planted using cranes and manipulators. In order not to damage the bark of a tree during planting, it is covered with bagging. After a tree is put into the pit, the root system is tied with straps and fixed to a metal grid. There is also an aeration system for roots consisting of plastic pipes.

Cane veil and bark mantle: Winter protection for trees

The contractor is responsible for the safety of trees. A tree is a living organism. It's possible some of them will not survive. Usually, 10 percent of planted trees die in cities. If the trees die, the contractor will plant new ones to replace them. Trees will be covered with cane veils to protect them from frost in winter and from the sun in summer. In addition, the top layer of soil will be covered with bark to protect the soil from drying out and the roots from freezing.

The contractor will monitor the state of trees. If necessary, experts will remove frozen snow, including from crowns, add soil to pits, loosen soil and remove weeds. Also, they will examine trees for pests and diseases, and carry our protective measures.

In addition, experts will prune crowns and remove dead branches according to a specific schedule.

Planting trees and arranging green areas is the final stage of public space beautification under the My Street programme.

The programme included the expansion and repair of pavements on the city’s central streets, placing wires underground and the installation of new street lamps, benches and rubbish bins. Facades of buildings and road junctions on the Moscow Ring Road will be illuminated.