This vertical depth studio of fourth and fifth year landscape architecture students advanced ideas for reclaiming vacant land in Philadelphia through the creation of performative landscapes grounded urban re-forestation. The Urban Arboretum, first proposed in the City Parks Association's International Design Ideas Competition by Penn State landscape architecture student Matt Langan (PSU 06), was the point of departure for students who advanced the conceptual ideas into site-specific design interventions. The final outcome was a series of designed landscapes that could offer local residents open space opportunities simultaneously with the production of trees for neighborhood parks and streetscapes as well as riparian restoration and fruit bearing orchard species. The ideas and landscape strategies generated by the students may prove helpful in assisting the city in their effort to plant sufficient numbers to reach their goal of 30% canopy cover by 2015.