FREDERICTON:
THE CITY OF STATELY (WHITE) ELMS
BY
HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
EXCERPTS
FROM ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON 05 JUNE 2012
Fredericton
is working to hold onto its moniker as the City of Stately Elms by continuing
the strategic planting of Dutch Elm-disease resistant species of white elm,
says Don Murray, the city’s chief forester and manager of parks and trees.
“For
years, I have been watching the developments and the breeding and the genetics
of white elm, and there’s been numerous attempts to develop a Dutch Elm
disease-tolerant white elm and they’ve been in the U.S. for a few years,”
Murray said.
Municipalities
have been asking Canadian nurseries to bring in the disease-tolerant white elm
so they can be returned to public streetscapes and parks.
“About
four years ago, they finally could supply what I asked for,” Murray said. “I’ve
been asking for about eight years on my tree order for a disease-tolerant white
elm, and four years ago they finally could supply it, so we’ve been planting
them for about four years now.”
Murray
chose Valley Forge white elm because it has a similar structure to the
traditional white elms that still line much of the downtown core.
“We’ve
been planting them mostly in wards 4, 10 and 11 because traditional and
historically that’s where the elms were planted as street trees. Those are the
two downtown wards and Devon, and that’s where we’re trying to bring them back
into those neighbourhoods to keep that look,” he said.
A couple
of white elms will be planted near the new downtown convention centre. The city
has purchased 50 white elms for spring planting.
“They’re
absolutely fantastic specimens, just lovely trees,” he said.
Murray
said even some of the city’s largest and oldest elm trees appear to be
developing a tolerance against Dutch Elm disease.
“It’s
still present. The disease will always be present, but we still have quite a
few elms. Some of the larger elms that we have are showing a tolerance ... so
we sort of have our own little gene pool that’s developed and I suspect as
years go by, we’ll build up a tolerance within our own native population to
Dutch Elm disease,” Murray said.
“Nature
has a way of looking after itself. You just have to be patient.”
This
spring, the city will plant 460 trees along streets and in public green spaces.
It’s
always a monitoring-and-adjusting process for the municipality as it sees how
certain tree species take to the Maritime climate and what types of pests they
must defend against.
Years
ago, a red Norway maple named Crimson King was heavily planted, and not just by
the city.
But the
tree is such a prolific seeder that it has become invasive in woodlands and
parklands where native maple trees grow.
“They’re
becoming an invasive pest and growing in areas where people really don’t want
them,” Murray said.
Ash,
which is a native species, has been under attack by the emerald ash borer, a
beetle, so the city is pulling back on planting ash.
“We’re
concentrating on oaks,” Murray said. “Red oak is traditional in New Brunswick,
but we’ve had very good success with bur oak, which is another native species,
and we’ve planted some swamp white oak and shingle oak and pin oak which have
done really well.”
Fredericton
also brought in five tulip trees to plant.
“We
always pick a species or two to try every year,” he said.
The tulip
trees are basically a type of poplar, and Murray said he sees potential for
them to be decent park trees for the city.
“The leaf
is quite unique. It’s basically like a silhouette of a tulip,” he said.
“There’s a few of them growing around Fredericton that people brought in a
years ago and planted.”
Filberts
are being planted, which the grey squirrels will like, and sweet gum is another
tree that developers have tried locally and have done well.
“It’s not
that great of a cost and the successes that we’ve had have paid off over the
years. It looks really nice to mix up our species on our streets,” he said. For flowering species, the city is trying
Schubert cherries, flowering crab and serviceberries for colour.
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