I think most of us have experienced walking into a shady fern gully on a hot day and felt the air temperature drop significantly. Or visited a shady garden with a well-established tree canopy and good understorey planting to experience that same drop in temperature. The surface temperature of walls, roofs, concrete, asphalt and paved areas shaded by trees can be reduced by more than 20°C. Shade from trees does not just benefit the areas that the shade falls on directly, but rather it creates a cooler environment in the area surrounding it. The process uses heat energy from the surrounding air to evaporate the water, which cools the leaves and the surrounding environment, similar to how we cool ourselves by sweating.