Shade trees in Glenview, Illinois.
Glenview runs on seven large trees: oak, maple, elm, ash, hackberry, honey locust, and linden. Which one is standing in your yard decides whether the job is a prune, a cable, or a removal - and whether the village needs to issue a permit before anything gets cut.
Glenview blends established mid-century neighborhoods with newer development around The Glen, and the tree stock reflects both - big older maples and oaks in the settled sections, and a wave of maturing shade trees in the newer subdivisions. Ash were planted widely and have been thinned hard by the borer, making dead-ash removal steady work. Storm-weakened silver maples and limbs over roofs round out the typical calls, usually on lots open enough to work without a crane.
The seven trees that matter in Glenview
Oaks are the most valuable and the most protected trees on a North Shore lot. A mature oak is usually worth saving and worth paying an arborist to assess rather than removing - and in several villages, including Glenview, a healthy oak over a size threshold cannot legally come down without a permit.
Maple is the most common large yard tree on the North Shore and the one most likely to turn into a removal. Silver and Norway maples grow fast, get big, and then fail at the crotch - and a maple over a size threshold is still a protected tree in Glenview even though the village will not help pay for another one.
The surviving American elms on the North Shore are the big ones that beat Dutch elm disease, and they are genuinely rare. The catch is legal, not horticultural: in Glenview a diseased elm on private property is tagged by the village and the owner is required to remove it at their own expense.
Essentially every untreated ash on the North Shore is dead or dying from emerald ash borer. A dead ash is the one removal that genuinely should not wait - the wood goes brittle fast, limbs come off with no warning, and the job gets both more dangerous and more expensive the longer the tree stands.
Hackberry is the tough, underrated native that villages are now planting deliberately to get away from maple monocultures. Almost everything that looks wrong with a hackberry - warty bark, bumpy leaves, witches' brooms - is cosmetic, which makes it one of the few species where the honest answer is usually that it needs nothing.
Thornless honey locust is the tree that got planted when ash stopped being an option, and it is now so common on North Shore parkways that it has its own monoculture problem. It is a light, forgiving tree to live under and a dependable one to work on.
Linden - basswood, or littleleaf linden on the parkway - is the dense, formal shade tree on a lot of North Shore streets. It is structurally sound and generally low-drama; most linden calls are about aphid honeydew on cars rather than anything wrong with the tree.
What Glenview protects, and at what size
Glenview runs a tree-preservation ordinance with two protected classes measured by diameter at breast height - 4.5 feet up the trunk. High-quality species including oak, hickory, and maple are protected on private property at 8 inches or more. Lesser-quality species such as cottonwood and box elder are protected at 10 inches or more. Either way, removing a protected landmark tree needs a permit from the village's Inspectional Services Division. Trees on public property are protected regardless of size and may only be removed by Public Works or under a village permit.
The village maintains more than 30,000 parkway and municipal trees, inspects each public tree at least once every six years with a licensed arborist, and trims parkway trees on a five-year cycle. If a tree is on the parkway, it is the village's job, not yours - and the line between parkway and private is not always where people assume.
Ask us which side it is on - (847) 571-5688Frequently asked - trees in Glenview
What are the most common shade trees in Glenview, IL?
Oak, Maple, Elm, Ash, Hackberry, Honey Locust, Linden. The mid-century streets run heavy with silver and Norway maple, the oldest lots hold bur and white oak, and most of the ash is dead or gone to emerald ash borer. Honey locust, hackberry, and linden are what has gone in on the parkways since.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Glenview?
Often, yes. Glenview protects private trees over a size threshold as landmark trees, with a stricter 8-inch diameter-at-breast-height threshold for high-quality species such as oak, hickory, and maple, and a 10-inch threshold for lesser species like cottonwood and box elder. Trees on public property are protected at any size. Dead and hazardous trees are handled differently from healthy ones.
Which tree in Glenview is most urgent to deal with?
A dead ash. Emerald ash borer has killed essentially every untreated ash here, and ash wood goes brittle faster than any other species on this list - limbs shed with no storm to trigger them, and once the trunk will not hold a rigging point the removal needs a bucket or a crane instead of a climber. Waiting raises the price.
Sources
The Glenview permit, parkway, and planting-program facts on these pages come from the village's own published pages, last read 2026-10-04. Ordinances change - the village is the authority, not this site.