darwink
Senior Member
Permeable surfaces still aren’t the easiest thing to do with our freeze thaw.
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Trees in Calgary
- Thread starter gsunnyg
- Start date
Whatever they did with the elm trees seemed to work well up until they were diseased. These new trees are disease resistant, but slower growing.
Alex_YYC
Senior Member
I don’t know the variety those smaller trees in the forefront, but look to be doing well in those tree planters.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
Is it just me or are there a lot of trees that are a few weeks behind this spring? I just saw a Bur Oak that was still buds, those trees are a little later to bloom, but I don't recall seeing buds still in June before
They are behind this year. My Mayday is usually the first to sprout leaves, and I use that to gage early/late spring. This year it was about a week behind last year.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
Only an amateur gardener here but I feel it's been both pretty dry and not particularly warm/sunny for any long stretch either, so no real consistent pattern that gets those leaves to pop early.
Just a "meh" spring, as far as our trees are concerned is my theory
Alex_YYC
Senior Member
I think you nailed it. We had a really nice March and early April but from what I’ve seen in past years the trees and bushes need a nice late April or May to get going. Only one week of good solid warm weather in May or late April gets things going, but we haven’t had it this year.Only an amateur gardener here but I feel it's been both pretty dry and not particularly warm/sunny for any long stretch either, so no real consistent pattern that gets those leaves to pop early.
Just a "meh" spring, as far as our trees are concerned is my theory
Mountain Man
Senior Member
The rain the last few days has made a noticeable difference, everything is in full summer mode, time for cottonwood fuzz!
Interesting article regarding Calgary's tree canopy, which all of us can agree is generally lacking. The article tries to correlate the amount of trees to the amount of money in different neighborhoods, as well as tying it to the percentage of population who speak English in each region. Some of it makes sense, but like anything else when it comes to stats, it's more complicated than that.
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JWhite
Active Member
The east side of the city has poorer soil, so it’s not surprising there are less trees. Still it wouldn’t hurt the city to plant a few more on the east side.
adamyyc
Active Member
There’s little that can be done to right the planning mistakes in some of these neighbourhoods (i.e., the City can’t plant trees where there are no boulevards or where there are utility conflicts). They will largely have to rely on trees being planted on private properties.
A good place to start would be expanding the Branching Out Tree Program (https://www.calgary.ca/parks-rec-programs/tree-giveaway.html), increasing the number of trees available each year, and targeting awareness of the program in the neighbourhoods with the lowest tree cover (i.e., ensure the majority of trees are allocated to those neighbourhoods).
The City could also plant WAY more trees in public parks, and greater diversity (not just a few conifers). Too many parks in the City are barren grass fields with sad little baseball backstops (without a proper diamond) or a pair of steel soccer goalposts (with no net, lines, and uneven playing surface). These open spaces are under-utilized, so the City might as well plant some tree stands (school yards tend to have the same problem).
Road and highway infrastructure is also a culprit of wasted green space that could easily add to the City’s canopy. Areas for off/on ramps, and oversized ROWs could have stands of larch, birch, or Aspen planted within them.
A good place to start would be expanding the Branching Out Tree Program (https://www.calgary.ca/parks-rec-programs/tree-giveaway.html), increasing the number of trees available each year, and targeting awareness of the program in the neighbourhoods with the lowest tree cover (i.e., ensure the majority of trees are allocated to those neighbourhoods).
The City could also plant WAY more trees in public parks, and greater diversity (not just a few conifers). Too many parks in the City are barren grass fields with sad little baseball backstops (without a proper diamond) or a pair of steel soccer goalposts (with no net, lines, and uneven playing surface). These open spaces are under-utilized, so the City might as well plant some tree stands (school yards tend to have the same problem).
Road and highway infrastructure is also a culprit of wasted green space that could easily add to the City’s canopy. Areas for off/on ramps, and oversized ROWs could have stands of larch, birch, or Aspen planted within them.
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The Familia
Active Member
Don’t know why the city doesn’t plant more poplars in the open fields and along boulevards. They grow fast, and as long as there is space around them and no sidewalks or infrastructure to get in the way of their shallow roots, I think they would do wonders for our canopy.
I think planting more trees is the simple answer and really the only answer. Before Calgary became a city, 90% of what is Calgary today was bald prairie, basically trees didn't grow unless someone planted them and watered them. Right now there are a decent amount of trees in most neighborhoods, but so many roadways are just wasted barren grassland thanks to the oversized ROW's that you mentioned. So may open spaces are just wasted grassland.
adamyyc
Active Member
I think the City probably deals with a lot of complaints about the fluff. But agreed. Poplars were pretty important for Calgary in even establishing a canopy.
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adamyyc
Active Member
Unfortunately, Urban Forestry’s current service plan is focused on maintaining established trees, and not planting new trees. They will need a budgetary boost in order to increase the canopy from 8.25% to the 16% target by 2060.
I’m sure the City has at least looked at the federal “2 Billion Trees Program” for funding, and if they haven’t, they should, because other municipalities have received funding, although I think the grants to municipalities have been minimal (few hundred thousand dollars), but every little bit helps and we might as well get any funding out of the feds that we can.