Canopy Connectors

Canopy Connectors: Connecting Trees and People

Forty-five fruit and shade trees were planted in Unity’s gravel bed in May and will be cared for through the summer. Volunteers will be needed throughout the season to distribute flyers and conduct site visits, and in the fall to transplant the trees. Please join us! Contact Lisa Burke at [email protected] for more information.

For the fifth year Unity Church-Unitarian’s Canopy Connectors are offering trees, for free, to residents of the Summit-University-Rondo area. Priority will be given to those living in neighborhoods with lower tree canopy. Selected trees will be planted on private property.

We will assist those adopting our trees every step of the way, from helping you select the right spot for your tree and arranging for utility lines to be marked to planting your tree in the fall.

Those interested in planting a tree on the boulevard should contact the city.

Learn more

Our 2025 Trees

GARNET BEAUTY
PEACH

Produces rounded, medium-large sized semi-freestone peaches with yellow flesh. Excellent for eating, freezing, or canning. The Garnet Beauty is self-pollinating but will produce larger crops with another variety of peach tree nearby for cross-pollination. Pink blossoms in the spring yield reddish blushed fruit in July. Expect tree to start fruiting 2-3 years after planting.

Mature Height: 12-15'
Mature Spread: 12-15'
Shape: Spreading
Exposure: Full Sun
Zone: 5-8

Photo: Bower and Branch

PRAIRIFIRE CRABAPPLE

This disease resistant variety has finely textured greenish-purple leaves and showy pink flowers that bloom later in the season than most crabapples. The persistent dark purple fruit and glossy reddish bark create an ornamental show throughout fall and winter and are good forage for wildlife. Prairifire gets its name from the orange tinted fall foliage.

Height: 15-20'
Spread: 20'
Shape: Upright, spreading becoming rounded
Exposure: Full Sun
Zone: 4-7

SWEET CHERRY PIE CHERRY

Although a sour cherry variety, this is the sweetest of the sour cherries and is excellent for baking. You can expect an abundant number of cherries after three years of growth. Self-pollinating, but will produce larger crops with another variety of cherry tree nearby for cross-pollination.

Mature Height: 15’
Mature Spread:12’
Shape: Upright spreading
Exposure: Full Sun
Zone: 4-9

Photo: Gerten's

UNAVAILABLE
HERITAGE RIVER BIRCH

This medium sized native Minnesota tree is common in swamplands and river bottoms. Heavy exfoliating bark with salmon-cream to dark brown colors create year-round visual interest in both single stemmed and multi-stemmed forms. The Heritage variety is a vigorous grower that is resistant to the bronze birch borer. Prefers moist, fertile soils, but can tolerate drier conditions as well, making it a good choice for an urban environment.

Mature Height: 40-70’
Mature Spread: 40-60’
Shape: Oblong or rounded
Exposure: Part Shade to Full Sun
Zone: 4-9

Photo: fastgrowingtrees.com

AUTUMN BRILLIANCE SERVICEBERRY

This popular tree offers white blossoms in spring, followed by sweet purplish-black, edible fruit over a long harvest period. Berries are good fresh, jarred, or frozen (no pitting or peeling required). Heavily branched, the tree has an interesting spreading pattern and attractive light gray bark with brilliant red orange leaves in the fall. As serviceberry is a native tree species, the clusters of white flowers are particularly important to local pollinators.

Mature Height: 20-25'
Mature Spread: 15'
Shape: Rounded
Exposure: Full Sun
Zone: 3-8

Photo: National Gardening Association

FRONTIER ELM

Hearty and resistant to Dutch elm disease, Frontier is a great choice for an urban residential yard. It’s form is a reverse of the classic umbrella shape of native Minnesota elms, with more of a pyramidal shape. Small, medium green leaves turn reddish purple in the fall.

Mature Height: 30-40’
Mature Spread: 20-30'
Shape: Pyramidal, uniform
Exposure: Part Shade to Full Sun
Zone: 4-8

Photo: Morton Arboretum