New trees planted around the University of Iowa and Iowa City have diversified the local tree population as caretakers fight to fend off cold weather and other developing challenges, like invasive species, that harm trees.

Iowa’s cold weather, drought, and flooding have affected the “hardiness zones,” meaning the type of tree that would have been planted 30 years ago would not be planted now, UI arborist Andy Dahl said.  

Dahl said droughts in Iowa can impact the amount of fall coloring trees have.

“So years that are super dry, sometimes the trees will just go dormant early and you won’t get much color at all,” Dahl said. “They just fall off green.”

Read more at the Daily Iowan.