October 2017 Volume 20 : Issue 3

We celebrated 35 years for the Ronald family at Jeffries Nurseries with combined field and container tours and a noon luncheon for 100 visitors and 40 staff on August 17th (see photos on page 2). We have completed three major goals this year to mark this milestone. The publication of a Northern Garden Introductions booklet listing new introductions, secondly landscape renovations and extensions to our display garden of new introductions and thirdly the publication of a major book titled “Trees for Northern Landscapes” written by my son Philip and myself. This book details northern R & D work including tree breeding, growing experience and tree use for northern zones. We see it filling a distinct need for tree production information in prairie Canada and the northern Midwest states. This year has been a challenging year for nursery production. We experienced very dry conditions in southern Manitoba and we have had to extensively irrigate and develop additional water tanks to look after areas beyond the reach of irrigation. Fortunately the month of September produced several rain events that have helped to replenish soil moisture. Our 2018 wholesale catalogue has been mailed out and also posted online at our website. We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the fall trade shows in Saskatoon and Calgary. We appreciate your ongoing support and look to continue strong relationships in this dynamic industry.

Wilbert Ronald

Proudly serving northern gardeners since 1982

P. O. Box 402 Portage la Prairie, MB.

R1N 3B7

Toll Free: 1-888-857-5288 Fax: (204) 857-2877

e-mail: jeffnurs@mts.net www.jeffriesnurseries.com

Office Contacts

President wilbert.ronald@jeffriesnurseries.com

Sales / Production Manager michel.touchette@jeffriesnurseries.com

Western MB / SK / AB Sales Rep pete@jeffriesnurseries.com

Accounts / Inside Sales shawna.ronald@jeffriesnurseries.com

Field Manager andrew.ronald@jeffriesnurseries.com

Research / Marketing philip.ronald@jeffriesnurseries.com

News Briefs

Andrew Ronald travelled to the Canwest Trade Show in Vancouver, B.C. Philip Ronald presented a seminar titled “Options for Shade Tree Diversity in Winnipeg” at a local EAB conference on September 27th. A copy of the talk can be found under “What’s New” at www.jeffriesnurseries.com Our 2018 Reference Guide, Price List and Order Form are available online. Use the password: xxxxxxxx to access protected files.

From the President

Growing Matters

Regal Celebration

Freeman Maple

Trees for Northern Landscapes Written by Wilbert & Philip Ronald, this new book features 150 pages

of detailed information about prairies trees.

Purchase your copy for the special industry price of $25 at the fall tradeshows or by contacting the nursery directly.

35th Anniversary Celebration - August 14th

The Aftermath of EAB By Michel Touchette

This past September I spent some holiday time walking the parks, boulevard and riversides in Ottawa. The presence of the Emerald Ash Borer is evident in this region with hundreds of dead ash trees in every neighborhood. This insect showed up in the Ottawa region 8-10 years ago and the damage to the urban forest is extensive. Homeowners, municipalities and cities have had to face the challenge to find the necessary resources to cut down all the dead ash and implement an aggressive replanting program.

Mature ash trees, once present on the boulevard, are now gone and replaced with maple, hackberry, gingko, flowering crab and oak only to mention a few tree species. No longer do you see a row of a particular tree genus but rather a mixture of trees species.

On some privately or public-owned woodlots and riverside, Mother Nature was allowed to run its course. Now new trees seedlings are emerging to replace the ash trees: Manitoba maple, American elm and some poplars are quickly replacing the space left by the dying ash trees. If left unchecked these trees species may present some future headaches. Pedestrian and bicycle pathways in these woodlots or by the river could face potential tree challenges. Manitoba Maple with their variable form and weak branch structure are subject to breakage in adverse weather conditions. The resurgence of American elm seedlings will be subject to Dutch Elm disease once they reach maturity. Poplar with it’s short life span of 20-25 years may need to be to quickly replaced.

The arrival of Emerald Ash Borer has exposed the weaknesses of many urban forestry programs. Cities, municipalities, nurseries and homeowners need to work together to develop a comprehensive strategy to ensure a healthy urban forest for years to come.

THE PALLET DEBATE To palletize, or not? That's a great question!

By Pete Van Vliet

Palletizing dormant plant product is great for early spring deliveries. During the summer, we would use shelved pallets, minimizing shrub damage. Depending on shrubs, we would use either 3 or 4 layer pallets. Larger shrubs, like Hydrangeas, Lilac, Ninebarks and Dogwood would need to be shipped on 3 layer pallets, whereas smaller shrubs, like Spirea, Potentilla and roses can be shipped on a 4 layer pallet. These shelved pallets are suitable for displaying your shrubs as well, although watering the plants in the middle can be tricky! Greenhouse perennials can be shipped on pallets as well, with each pallet typically holding: 7 trays x 6 1 gallon pots per shelf x 5 layers (total: 210 1 gallon pots). Pallet Pros:

"California Stacked" dormant product on a three-sided pallet can hold approximately 125 x 2 gallon pots in a 4' x 4' trailer footprint

Pallets can be off-loaded and carried over to the retail area with ease Pallets tend to stay more organized when being loaded, making unpacking

more efficient Pallet Cons:

"California Stacked" pallets are not suited for display purposes Equipment is need to unload pallets: pallet jack in the trailer

(or chains to drag to the back) and a loader/skid steer to offload mixing pallets with trees on an order is difficult on the nurseries' end to load,

losing headroom for trees Two scenarios:

1. You have 500 2 gallon shrubs, in the middle of a 53 foot trailer, floor loaded:

Typically, people can move 2 x 2 gallon shrubs at a time. Add 22' of trailer to walk to grab the shrubs, and carry to the back. Add staff on the ground to walk the shrubs to a "sorting/staging area" Add time to sort, and designate where product is to end up

VERSUS:

2. You have 500 2 gallon shrubs, in the middle of a 53 foot trailer, on four pallets:

Load a jack into the trailer, with one person to wheel the pallets to the back Have a loader at the back to off-load the pallets, and bring to designated area Staff now spend less time off-loading, and can place product where it needs to be What's your preference? Do you have a streamlined alternative for receiving shrubs?

Pete

SEE YOU AT THE PRAIRIE TRADESHOWS

SGGA Tradeshow Saskatoon, Saskatchewan November 7th - 9th, 2017 www.saskgreenhouses.com

Green Industry Show Calgary, Alberta November 16h & 17th, 2017 www.greenindustryshow.com

Grow-18 Winnipeg, Manitoba February 15th, 2018 www.grow.mbnla.com

The need for shade tree diversity By Philip Ronald, Ph.D.

I recently presented a seminar titled “Options for Shade Tree Diversity in Winnipeg” to delegates at a local EAB conference. In my preparation for this talk I made extensive use of the recently completed City of Winnipeg tree inventory available for download at: https://data.winnipeg.ca/. Using the GPS coordinates from the inventory in combination with Google Earth it is possible to virtually stand beside trees and assess their performance.

A review of Winnipeg’s database of boulevard and park trees on public lands reveals some shocking statistics. Two deciduous genera (ash and elm) constitute 60% of all public trees in Winnipeg’s urban forest. The early citizens of Winnipeg deserve immense credit for their visionary desire to green the city. They prudently chose tough, native trees often sourced from the riverbanks. However they overplanted certain species and didn’t envision the worst case scenario.

Invasive alien species such as Dutch Elm Disease and Emerald Ash Borer pose a grave threat to Winnipeg’s urban forest. Trees are a long-term investment and are not easily interchanged. Furthermore, our northern climate limits the opportunities for shade tree diversity. At this point, it appears the best options are: 1. to blend diverse species into existing monocultures at every opportunity and 2. develop master plans for spatially-diverse tree plantings in new neighborhoods.

Dr. John Ball’s stringent formula for diversity proposes no more than 5% of a community’s trees be in a single genus, which means we need 20 suitable tree genera. So can we get to 20 tree genera in zone 3? BARELY! There are 19 reliable deciduous tree genera with perhaps 3 or 4 more possible. However some of these genera are not considered “street-friendly” and may be best limited to park settings (e.g. poplar, willow).

What was most shocking to me in my analysis of Winnipeg’s tree database was the underuse of many proven tree species. For example, among 305,000 trees on public land there are only 425 Ohio Buckeye (0.1%), 1,213 Hackberry (0.4%) and 1,455 Japanese Elm (0.5%). Compared to 102,166 ash (33.8%) and 78,843 elm (26.9%) these numbers are miniscule. Obviously there are huge opportunities to enhance the variety in Winnipeg’s urban forest.

13 SHADE TREE GENERA

•Acer - maple •Aesculus - buckeye •Alnus - alder •Betula - birch •Celtis - hackberry •Eleagnus - olive •Juglans - walnut •Phellodendron - corktree •Populus - poplar •Quercus - oak •Salix - willow •Tilia - linden •Ulmus - elm

6 FLOWERING TREE GENERA

•Crataegus - hawthorn •Malus - crabapple •Prunus - cherry •Pyrus - pear •Sorbus - mountain ash •Syringa - tree lilac

4 CONIFEROUS TREE GENERA

•Larix - larch •Picea - spruce •Pinus - pine •Thuja – cedar

Early monoculture of American elm

Test planting of Prairie Horizon alder

Hackberry in-planted into ash monoculture

TREE GENERA FOR CITY OF WINNIPEG