The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their first meeting of 2018 on Wednesday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street in Yorkton. Our special guest will be Maira Waechli from Florissima, and Maira will be showing us how to do a spring flower arrangement. Won’t that be nice to see on a winter evening! Maira makes stunning floral designs, so I know we will learn a lot from her expertise! This will refresh our inspiration to create flower arrangements for our own homes. Hope to see you there: everyone is welcome, you don’t have to be a member to come to the meeting.
And if you have your calendar handy, make a note that the 8th Annual Seedy Saturday is on Saturday, February 24 at the Victory Church, 38 Bradbrooke Drive in Yorkton. Hours are 12:30 till 4:00 p.m. There will be seed vendors and various booths, and lots of interesting gardeners to chat with about this year’s garden. Admission is a non-perishable food item.
You may have heard about elm trees being trimmed now. And why is this work being done now? To reduce the spread of Dutch elm disease, there is a ban on trimming elm trees except during the period from September 1 to March 31; at this time, the province-wide pruning ban is lifted.
What is Dutch elm disease? It’s actually a fungal disease that is spread by those pesky bark beetles. These very small beetles can inflict a huge amount of damage on an elm tree, and actually kill the tree. DED is a serious and deadly problem because the larvae tunnel under the bark; we’ll know if a tree is infected because we’ll see that the leaves are turning yellow in the summer, and the upper branches will begin to die. The tree may be saved if the diseased branches are removed (after September 1, remember the cutting ban!) and destroyed. Yes, destroyed. We can’t store this wood, it must be burned immediately or buried: to find out proper procedure, ask a municipal authority.
Here’s an interesting factoid that I read on the Tree Canada website (www.treecanada.ca)
DED came to North America in the 1930’s via infected lumber. It reached Saskatchewan in 1981, after killing the majority of elm trees in the east. (Just for your own interest, this is a wonderful site for education about trees and their tremendous importance; Tree Canada’s mission is “To bolster Canada’s urban forests and inspire people to participate in, and advocate for, community greening.” The organization has planted more than 80 million trees since 1992 — amazing!)
But back to our elm trees: as with any tree or plant, it is better able to fend off disease if it is healthy. Regular pruning is a good practise, but it must be done correctly or it could encourage Dutch elm disease. If you’re not sure how to do it, call in a pro who knows how to deal with elm trees.
Every tree is important; the benefits of trees are innumerable. We enjoy their shade and beauty; they take in carbon dioxide and give us oxygen in return; they are nature’s air filters, cleaning the air; they cool and beautify our city streets and parks; they give us food; they are homes to wildlife; and give us shelter with their wood. Care of trees will reward us for decades in many, many ways.
So when you’re outside today, take a moment to admire the beauty of trees, even in winter. Their shapes and bark are stark and beautiful on a winter day!
Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great week!
