Some facts about trees

By Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru

Pines
•Jack pine produce cones every year, red pine every three to five years and white pine generally every five to seven years.
•Pines prefer sandy, well drained soils and sites with lots of sun.
•You may have heard the term hard or soft pine. All pines are known as softwoods but hard pines refer to pines with clusters of five needles (the “white pines”) and soft pines refer to pines with clusters of two or three needles (the “yellow” or “pitch” pines). Jack pine and red pine are considered soft pines.
•In the northern hemisphere (North America, Asia and Europe), there approximately ninety different species of pines. Canada is home to nine species of pine.
•The Scots pine (also called Scotch pine) is native to Europe but does grow well in the Canadian climate. A good thing since it is a favourite choice for a Christmas tree.
Spruces
•Five different species of spruce are native to Canada: red (Maritimes), white, black, Sitka (BC), Engleman (BC).
•Norway (Europe) and blue spruce (USA) grow well in Canada and are used extensively as ornamental species.
•Spruce are very adaptable to a variety of soils. In Canada, you can find white and black spruce growing well in swamps, clay soils and rich mineral soils.
•White spruce are more suitable for planting yards than black spruce because of their more uniform cone shape – the perfect “Christmas tree” silhouette.
•Spruces can tolerate shady locations much better than pines.
•Spruce species are highly in demand in Canada for lumber products. Most Canadian produced two-by-fours and softwood dimensional lumber are from spruce species, unless specifically labeled as pine or cedar.
•White, blue or Norway spruce are an excellent choice if you need a wind break, or dense tree line or property marker, on your property.
•Black spruce produce very shallow roots and are prone to blowing over in wind storms.
•White spruce are very deep rooting trees and spend the first ten to twelve years establishing their root system, with very little evidence of the progression of growth above ground. After the root system is set the growth of the tree progresses quite rapidly on a good growing site.
Cedar
•From a horticultural perspective the cedar is the go-to tree from planting in years. Cedars species were some of the first hybridized species for horticultural use.
•At the nursery you can purchase global, cylindrical, dwarf varieties of cedars for your landscape.
•Deer love the flavor of cedars and feed on them regularly.
•Cedars, even hybridized species, prefer sites with partial to full shade and moist conditions. Planting cedars in your yard if you have sandy soils isn’t the best idea unless you are going to commit to regular watering.
•Cedars produce cones yearly but they are small and most homeowners don’t even realize they have produced cones.
•The aromatic cedar that lines closets and chests is not from the cedar that grows in Ontario (the eastern white cedar) but from species of junipers known as Rocky Mountain juniper (BC) or eastern red cedar (Ontario).
•Cedar oil has many medicinal qualities and is sought after for medicines and homeopathic remedies.
•Cedar is more resistant to decay than some of the other softwood species so has been prized for centuries for fence posts, fencing and pilings. The First Nation peoples of the Pacific Northwest used western red cedar for totem poles, carved canoes, baskets, medicines, clothing and long houses.
Maples
•There are thirteen maples species native to North America with ten growing in Canada. There are 150 species worldwide, most of which are found in eastern Asia.
•Among the tree maples those that grow in our area of Ontario, there are sugar, red, Manitoba, and silver maples and the shrub known as mountain maple.
•All maples have sap that runs in the early spring, with sugar maple sap being used for making maple syrup.
•Maples should only be pruned in the early to late summer when the sap is distributed throughout the tree so minimal sap runs from the pruning wounds.
•Maples make great long-living shade trees in any yard. They like rich soils and areas with moderate to full sun.
•As well as growing the species native to the Rainy River District there are quite a few horticultural species available for Zones three and four. If you are looking for a tree with a beautiful shape and fantastic fall colours, a maple variety may be what you are looking for.
•Maple has been prized for centuries for its excellent hard wood for furniture making and other projects where an attractive durable wood is required for example hardwood flooring.
Oaks
•In North America there are approximately seventy-five to eighty species of oaks some in tree form and some are considered shrubs. There are ten species of oak that are native to Canada. Growing wild, in the Rainy River District, we find bur oak, white oak and red oak.
•Red oak grows into a large tree with a nice rounded crown so it makes a nice ornamental tree for the yard.
•Red oak can survive on the drier soil sites or sites with shallow soils over bedrock, so they make great trees for the cabin yard.
•Oaks have lobed leaves, red oak have v-shaped notches in their lobes. This is called pinnate leaves. Bur and white oak have rounded lobes. At the end of their leaves, the lobes on white oak are obviously separated while bur oak’s lobes on the end of the leaves are fused together and look as if someone has traced the top their fingers.
•Bur oak is not as pretty looking as the red oak. It tends to have an asymmetrical and scrubby silhouette.
•White oak is not common in the Rainy River District as it is more commonly found in the Deciduous and southern parts of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forests. I have seen evidence of white oak in the Nester Falls area, southern shore of Lake of the Woods and along the banks of the Rainy River. White oak acorns are very large so there is no mistaking this tree for bur oak.
•There are many horticultural oak species available for Zone four as well so try an oak in your yard if you are seeking a long living shade tree.
Just a few facts for you about some of the most common tree species in our area. Knowing a few more things about these trees helps you to understand how and why they grow the way they do, and why not all trees grow in the same areas.