Native shrubs and trees offer huge benefits. These hard-working “woodies” provide shade to lower home energy costs and reduce the heat island effect of urban areas. Trees improve air quality, create habitat for wildlife and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Depending on age and size, a typical hardwood tree can sequester as much as 48 pounds of carbon per year. That’s one ton of carbon removed from the atmosphere by the time the tree is forty years old!

According to the U.S. Forest Service, urban trees in the United States remove 784,000 tons of air pollution annually.