Tag Archives: Siberian elm

Winter continues

1 Reply

Last month’s ice storm inflicted little damage on the park. Most of the recently planted trees in the park suffered no damage while some of the older ones lost dead wood. Siberian elms at the entrance to the park seem to have suffered the most damage and as ‘Guest’ pointed out, these along with Norway maples are not natives and aren’t in their natural environment. Surprisingly, the park wasn’t planted with a lot of trees after its creation in the 1950s. If that had been done, Raymore Park would be a mature forest by now and helping to reduce flooding along the Humber. On the other hand, the trees chosen for planting may have been non-natives or even species under threat such as elm or ash.

Looking south - Siberian elms have dropped many branches.

Looking south – Siberian elms have dropped many branches near the park entrance.

Siberian elms are a particularly damaging tree in Ontario because they are so prolific and also because they are partly resistant to the Dutch elm beetle allowing it to remain a threat. No doubt the park will be low on the list for clean-up of the debris (which is not entirely a bad thing).

Signs of Fall: tree planting

Leave a reply

In the last 20 years, thanks to old age and disease, there has been a steady reduction in the number of mature trees in Raymore Park. Quite a number of these trees are invasive non-natives such as Siberian elm and Norway maple. While many hundreds of native saplings have been mass planted in the wild areas, no mature boulevard trees have been planted to line the pathway.

On Monday September 23rd, 43 trees were planted along the entrance and pathway as far down as the weir. This will make a big difference in years to come as the path is quite exposed in both winter and summer. I only have one slight quibble with the choice of trees; quite a number are black walnut and the park has no shortage of those already. There are quite a few water-loving weeping willows where the path comes near the river and some maples too.

A couple of Toronto Forestry workers were inspecting the trees yesterday and they told me that for the most part the trees were planted to the correct specifications by the contractor. A few have been planted too high and will need to  be adjusted and some look a little straggly, but for the most part it has been a successful planting.

This is the perfect time of year to plant trees as the ground is still warm and autumn rains will ensure lots of moisture for roots to grow.

Count 'em - it's 43!

Count ’em – 43 new trees!