My focus this month is trees, we all have them, some of us want more and many of us have questions on how to take care of them.
Considering they are all around us in the landscape it is hard to believe that there is a tree shortage in North America. Many consumers take it for granted the ease we have to buy a tree but like many things it is really more involved than it appears.
Tony DiGiovanni, executive director of Landscape Ontario, recently published a letter outlining the tree shortage in our province.
Some of his key points:
- It takes five to seven years to grow a tree.
- It is a guessing game to plan tree supplies for the future: recessions, building booms and species preference can complicate things The recession of 2008 seems long ago but it hit U.S. Nurseries hard and many of them went backrupt, very few trees were planted during that time.
Remember the 5-7 years that it takes to grow a tree
Less trees in the US market and now we can factor in the strength of the US dollar they are coming to our market to buy our trees. Canadian growers have had their own challenges, Emerald Ash borer, ice storm and the drought of 2016 to name a few. There is a strong demand for replacement trees from homeowners, builders to municipalities.
It is more important than ever to plant the right tree in the right place to have the best success whether it is in your yard or on your city boulevard. All of these issues are contributing to higher costs for the trees consumers are purchasing but we should pay attention to quality, make us aware to buy quality trees from quality growers.
Like most things you really get what you pay for.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
Here is a link to Tony article so you can read more about our tree shortage.
I also interviewed Alex Eremita, Chief Sales and Operations Manager at Beech Nursery West recently on Down the Path Garden all about his adventure in the last few years starting a Wholesale nursery in Schomberg in 2013. Alex also discussed the tree shortage. You can listen to the interview here: https://down2earth.ca/beech-nursery-west-wholesale-nursery/
And lastly, tree care is so important and there is so much misinformation about trees. Have a listen to my interview with Jason Eenling from Davey Tree Expert Company. Jason is an arborist and District Manager at Davey Tree Expert Company East office. Jason shares lots of great information.
If you have any other questions about trees, let me know.