Shaded outdoor parking area

Claim 1

A plurality of artificial trees in combination with a plurality of vehicle parking spaces, said vehicle parking spaces each having a front end, a rear end, and lateral sides defining each parking space width, said parking spaces being disposed in an array of adjacently disposed parking spaces forming a parking area, the improvement consisting of: a plurality of artificial trees, each tree including: a base having an open cylinder disposed therein, said base being positioned at one lateral side of said parking space such that each base is positioned across the parking space from a next adjacent base; a cap removably disposed with respect to said cylinder to selectively cover and uncover said cylinder; an elongated trunk having a top end and a bottom end, said bottom end being matingly received in said open cylinder to hold said trunk in an upright position; wherein said top end of said trunk is provided with three axially spaced distinct tiers of apertures including a top tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier of apertures and the top tier of apertures comprises twelve apertures spaced approximately 30° apart, the middle and lower tiers of apertures comprise six apertures apiece spaced approximately 60° apart on the respective middle and lower tiers and offset from one another by approximately 30°; wherein, the apertures on the top and the middle tiers are offset from one another by approximately 115°, and wherein the bottom end of said trunk is aligned with at least one of the lateral sides defining a parking space; and, branches releasably attached to the three axially spaced distinct tiers of apertures disposed on said top end of said trunk for providing shade, said branches being disposed from about six feet to about nine feet above ground level and being dimensioned to extend across about one-half of the width of each of the adjacently disposed parking spaces divided by said one lateral side, whereby the entire parking space width is shaded from the sun by the branches.