January 2020

The Neighbourwoods crew and
dedicated volunteers, Deb Jakab and Ted Ecclestone, were out mulching trees
on June 27^th around Elora. Using mulch from the
Township, they mulched over one hundred trees in an afternoon. They visited
many trees at sites including the Elora Public School trailway, Bridge Street
and First Line, and the road to the OPP office.

Mulch is
vital for both the maintenance and health of urban trees because it keeps
their roots cool and moist on hot summer days. When mulching, it is very
important to create a ring shape instead of piling mulch tight against the
trunk of the tree. This helps keep the base dry and eliminates the chance for
damp rot to form on the trunk.

This past Saturday,
Neighbourwoods and the Canadian Tree Fund hosted Tour the Trees; an event
that put our town’s natural history in the spotlight. Our 30 cyclists
toured around Fergus and Elora to listen to the stories behind nine
magnificent trees – and one rock. This tour took us from the Sugar Maples
planted in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, to the Kissing Stane
in Fergus’ James Square. If you didn’t have a chance to join us, a
listing of the trees that we saw will be available soon.

We
are very thankful to our speakers Deb Dalziel of Centre Wellington Tourism,
Toni Ellis of Neighbourwoods, Ali Morrison of Green Legacy, Al Koop and Gary
Bryant of Older Voices, Monique Lee of the Centre Wellington Arborists
Association, Greg Boland of the Chestnut Council, John Wilson of the Canadian
Tree Fund, Kyle Smith of the Aboyne Museum, as well as Rick Goodfellow who
led our pack of cyclists.

We would also like to thank our
sponsors: The Township of Centre Wellington and the Rotary Club of
Fergus-Elora, as well as donations from Drayton Entertainment, the Elora
Festival, Green Legacy, and the Elora Brewing Company, and Wreckless Eric’s
Café for providing coffee.

If you have ever wondered, ‘how
old is that tree?’, here is a simple worksheet which will give you a rough
idea. Because this is an
American source, you will need to convert
your diameter calculation into inches by dividing
by
2.54.
And once you know, it’s fun to ponder what our
community looked like when your tree
was
young!

Instructions
1. Determine
the tree’s diameter (inches) at a height of 4.5 feet from the
ground.
Diameter = circumference / 3.14 inches
2. Use the
table below. The table assigns a growth factor to various tree
species.
Multiply the diameter (inches) by the appropriate growth factor.
Example:
Your cottonwood tree has a diameter of 18 inches at 4.5 feet from the
ground.
18 inches x 2 = 36 years (estimate)
Note: Growth
factor numbers are most accurate for trees grown in healthy forests. Street
and urban trees often are exposed to stressors such as poor soils, damage
from machines and equipment, restricted growing areas, etc. Street and urban
trees have different growth factors and they tend to grow more slowly and be
weaker than healthy forest-grown trees.

Species
Growth Factor

Aspen spp. = 2
American
elm = 4
Austrian pine = 4.5
Basswood = 3
Birch,
paper = 5
Black cherry = 5
Black maple =
5
Black walnut = 4.5
Colorado blue spruce =
4.5
Cottonwood = 2
Green ash = 4
Ironwood =
7
Kentucky coffee tree = 3
Northern red oak =
4
Norway maple = 4.5
Red maple = 4.5
Red pine =
5.5
River birch = 3.5
Scotch pine =
3.5
Shagbark hickory = 7.5
Silver maple =
3
Sugar maple = 5.5
White oak = 5
White pine =
5