Leaves changing colour is the sign fall has arrived in Calgary.
The City of Calgary’s Trina Vickery says there are only two native species of trees in southern Alberta and that’s poplars and aspens.
Everything else is an import.
“We do have a lot of introduced species here and we do plant them because they are trees that do grow here," Vickery said. "Our climate is very challenging here so there’s really only about 20 species of trees that we can plant and they will do well,” said Vickery, in a Tuesday interview with CTV News.
Codie Anderson is with Arbor Care Tree Service and says it’s important to focus on trees now and not take them for granted. His office gets all kinds of complaints from home owners throughout the summer.
“The issues (people called about) were more disease-related than insect (related), primarily because of the wet weather, your funguses, things like that would tend to spread.”
But Anderson says Edmonton poplar trees are challenged with something called ‘Poplar borers’. It’s an insect that lays its eggs on a tree and the larvae burrow up the trunk under the bark and feed on the tree’s nutrients. It’s typical to see a hole in the bark with sawdust at the base of the tree.
He’s finding more of the insects in Calgary.
Anderson said “A healthy tree is really the best defence, if you only have a couple of holes in the tree, there’s really no need to start going for the more nuclear approach, just take care of your tree, let your tree take care of itself.”
To ensure our urban forest is healthy until spring there are a few things to do to help trees be successful. Over the winter, the key is to make a sure the ground under them is well saturated before the ground freezes.
Green Gate Garden Centre’s John Ostrowdun said, “because winter is technically drought, they can’t move water because it’s frozen, so you want to supplementary water (all your trees) right up until that ground freezes and it can be quite late in the season.”
The experts say if a tree is struggling come spring, it might be time to call in the experts to deal with pests or fungus.
More information about how to care for our urban forest can be found atCalgary.ca/trees
