How Deep?

Our Earth Day celebration starts with the question:  What tree has the deepest roots?  Our answer came from Rochester's Neighbourhood Research Centre and they listed all kinds of records referenced from Trees are Good website:   The Oldest Tree known is a Redwood named Eternal God. The tree, found in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in California, has a height of 238 feet and a diameter of 19.6 feet. It is believed to be 12,000 years old, but this figure is disputed; others believe the tree to be only 7,000 years old, still a world record. The Most Massive Tree ever known was the “Lindsey Creek Tree”, a Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) with a minimum trunk volume of 90,000 cubic feet and a minimum total mass of 3630 tons. The tree blew over in a storm in 1905. The living tree with the greatest mass is “General Sherman”, a giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum, in Sequoia National Park in California. It is 275 feet tall with a girth of 102 feet and 8 inches. The Tree Network with the Greatest Mass, a network of Quaking Aspen, (Populus tremuloides) growing from a single root system in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, covers 106 acres and weighs about 6600 tons (13,200,000 pounds). This clonal system is genetically uniform and acts as a single organism, changing color and shedding leaves in unison. The Greatest Girth of a tree was recorded in the late 18th century on Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy. A European Chestnut (Castanea sativa) known as the Tree of the Hundred Horses, had a circumference of 190 feet. It has since separated into three parts. The Tallest Deciduous Tree currently known in America is a Pecan in Mer Rouge, Louisiana. It stands over 160 feet tall and over 95 feet in spread. Deepest Roots. The greatest reported depth to which a tree’s roots have penetrated is 400 feet by a Wild Fig tree at Echo Caves, near Ohrigstad, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The Greatest Spread of a tree occurs on a Banyan tree in the Indian Botanical Gardens in Calcutta. It has 1,775 prop or support roots, a circumference of 1,350 feet, covers three acres, and dates from before 1787. The Tallest Tree known to have existed is an Australian Eucalyptus at Watts River, Victoria in Australia. It was reported in 1872 to measure 435 feet tall, but probably measured over 500 feet at some point in its life. The Tallest Living Tree is a Coast Redwood known as the “Mendocino Tree” found in Montgomery State Reserve, Ukiah, CA. It is about 367 feet and 6 inches tall with a 10.5 foot diameter and is over 1000 years old and still growing. The Fastest Growing Tree is an Albizzia falcata in Sabah, Malaysia. In 1974 it was found to have grown 35 feet and 3 inches in 13 months–about 1.1 inches per day. The Slowest Growing Tree is a White Cedar located on a cliff side in the Great Lakes area of Canada. At 155 years old, it is less than 4 inches tall. The Most Isolated Tree known is a solitary Norwegian Spruce on Campbell Island in the Pacific. Its nearest companion is over 120 nautical miles away in the Auckland Islands. The Most Dangerous Tree is the Manchineel Tree, Hippomane mancinella, of the Caribbean coast and the Florida Everglades. This species has had an evil reputation since the Spanish explorers first feared it in the 16th century. The entire tree exudes an extremely poisonous and caustic sap that was once used as arrow poison. Contact to the skin causes an eruption of blisters, contact to the eye can blind a person, and one bite of the fruit causes blistering and severe pain. The majestic Magnolia is blooming in Niagara.  This one is in Queenston, the historic town just downstream from Niagara Falls.

Spring Starts

Spring has started for me.  The snow drops and witch hazel are blooming in my garden and gardens in Grimsby and St. Catharines.  I expect Toronto gardens are abloom with these welcome flowers too.  So to kick off this best of seasons, here are a few 'welcome to spring' images.    View this email in your browser

Vineland Research Station

I checked out the Vineland Research Station  last week.  There's a nice collection of flowering spring trees, including Paulownia, a warmer climate tree also known as the princess tree and empress tree.  It doesn't look like it will blossom this year, even though it is in the most protected location.  It has huge blossom heads with big flowers so is quite the show in spring.   There are some nice magnolias there, and you can see in the first picture's background the state-of-the-art greenhouses being constructed.  Vineland Research is a research and innovation centre and one of its latest projects is greenhouse technology.  With the construction, there were also some good abstracts on the metal bins and trailers. The same tree from the other direction shows a grove of cherry trees that should be in bloom this week.  More on Vineland Research Station here: http://vinelandresearch.com

Spring's Around the Corner…Pussy Willows are Here

It's Coming Soon I'll be out in the garden to take some pictures of snow drops in the next few days.  Their heads are up high enough to make a lovely display of spring emerging.  I thought you might enjoy these later spring images as a reminder that Spring is just around the corner.  The first is the Magnolia tree out front taken through the rain on the car windshield.  The second is at the Vineland Research Station and is cherry blossoms. I picked up my order of pussy willow branches from the grower where Brian has his Lilycrest Gardens hybridizing field.  They will go into the empty pots to make the first spring display.   They process about a hundred thousand stems each year. There were three-tier racks filled with pots of pussy willows.  Each bundle neatly tied into 10 stems and then many bundles in a bucket.  And they are cut precisely to size. There were three sizes for the florist market. This is work, but worth it as a cash crop. I encourage you to buy a pot of daffodils, primula, hyacinths, or pussy willows and bring Spring into your home too. And support our Niagara growers who force the bulbs.

13th Street Winery

Hi everyone,

This little seating area is between the greenhouses and the barn at 13th Street Winery.  It is located in St. Catharines, in the heart of the Niagara Wine Region.  The winery was purchased by Whitty Farms some years ago, and they have located the winery at the tomato and blackberry production greenhouses.  My mother and I really like this location as it is next door to where good friends, Jake and Marg Litke, had lived for many years.  The winery owner, Doug Whitty, knew them well, so we have a great chat when we see him. He knows the story of the Mennonite Exodus, but turns out to have been of Irish descent.  His great grandfather was orphaned on the boat coming over to Canada and had to make his way in Canada alone as a child - a wonder of accomplishment with the farms that he accumulated.

There's a bakery cafe in the barn and the winery is in an elegant white building on a hill.  Last weekend was Passport Weekend, so the winery was abuzz with visitors.  This coming weekend they are unveiling the new bacon butter tart…I wonder what wine they will pair that one with.  

The winery is located on 4th Avenue just west of Seventh Street.  Exit the QEW at Seventh Street, go away from the Lake (South) and the signs will point you to the Winery.

Here's more:

http://www.13thstreetwinery.com/bakery_marketplace/category/whitty_farms

Don't forget to look at the wonderful orchards along the route: