Reims has a vast number of trees. These include around 21,000 trees lining its streets and 5,000 in its parks and gardens. The city lost about 2,600 trees in the storm of 1999, but the city's parks & gardens department has carried out winter tree planting in order to restore the lost stock. Furthermore, extra planting is carried out regularly to increase stock.
Most of the trees that line the streets are classified in the PLU, the local town-planning document. This means that every tree felled has to be replaced.
In years gone by, there was not much variety in the types of trees lining the streets. This was due to difficulty in finding suitable species or those that did not suffer from the chalky soil in the Reims region or from “pollution”. Over the last ten years significant efforts have been made to increase the variety of trees by increasing nursery production.
We all see them, but mostly we don't stop and look. Even so, they are there, and have been for many years. What are they? What are their names? What is their history?
In this booklet, we have set out to answer these questions with suggestions for walks designed to help you discover the most interesting trees in the city.
A beginners' guide to the trees of Reims: Download the booklet.