As if it were made for narrow streets

The Black alder, first found in Kotka, is a special columnar form of the Finnish Black alder, which got its cultivar name 'Sakari' from its discoverer, Professor Sakari Saarnijoki of the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla). The first 'Sakari' Black alders were planted in Helsinki in 1990 along Korppaanmäentie in Pikku-Huopalahti. In twenty years, the 'Sakari' Black alder has become established as one of Helsinki's most popular tree in narrow streets, because it grows 10–15 m tall but only 2–3 m wide. For a long time, it remained a uniquely Finnish cultivar, but in the last few years there has been interest from other Nordic countries in it.