Hello gardeners. I'm looking for suggestions for a tree to put in a very difficult location. This is a street tree in a city environment so it has all the rigors of living in a 2' x 2' pit (pollution, limited water, road salt). The pit is next to a row of 4 story buildings so it doesn't get all that much sun. The pit is partially filled with construction debris (from what I've read this affects soil pH) and here's the real problem - the pit is next to a laundramat and the exhaust vent from the dryers blows directly on the pit. Besides the extreme polution, the air is very warm all day and when the laundry closes at night things can get very cold in the winter. I imagine this daily dramatic temperature change is the biggest problem of them all.
The city planted little leaf lindens on that side of the block and the ones with no shade fried and died. The one next to the dryer vents above also died and the ones in heavy shade are struggling. I can see why they selected that particular tree but it just isn't right for all the pits on the block.
The pit next to the laundry vent is already there and empty so I'd like to put a tree there that has some chance of making it before the city comes by again and puts in the wrong tree.
Any suggestions?
I'm in NJ (zone 7?) just across the Hudson from lower Manhattan.
Thanks for your help.