In celebration of spring (hopefully) coming soon, here is a scavenger hunt of winter items that you can look for during this change of seasons. How many of these can you identify and then find? This is a great activity to get those kids outside during March Break! If you think of it let us know how you did by sending an email to us at [log in to unmask] The answers are at the bottom of the newsletter and a printable copy of the quiz is attached here.

by Shelley Hunt

As the weather starts to warm up, spring seems finally to be around the corner. A welcome sign of the changing seasons is the start of the maple syrup season in our area. As trees slowly begin to wake up from their winter-long dormancy, the sap in certain kinds of trees (including maples, birches and walnuts) starts to actively flow through the trunk. In maples, the high sugar content of the sap makes syrup production worthwhile.

Warm days and below-zero nights are the necessary conditions for maple sap to start flowing, but believe it or not, the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of sap flow in maples are still a little mysterious, despite the fact that North Americans, beginning with First Nations people, have been producing syrup from maple sap for centuries.

Let’s start with the sugar – when you eat a syrup-smothered pancake you are enjoying the fruits of last year’s labour. The tree produces sugars in its leaves via photosynthesis, and the energy and carbon building blocks stored in these carbohydrates are used by the tree as it lives and grows. At the end of the growing season, excess sugar is stored as starch in the roots and trunk of the tree, and there it remains throughout the dormant season.

What about the watery sap? We know that trees pump enormous amounts of water from the soil up their trunks in summer, but this process depends on the leaves – they pull the water up by transpiration. In early March, there are no leaves on our maples – so how does the sap get moving? Where does the pressure come from to push gallons of sap out of the hole drilled into a maple trunk to collect it?

Over the past few years, studies continue to be published on the subject, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Most point to the gases that are produced inside the tree’s cells as it carries out the process of living. In winter, sap freezes in the tree trunk, compressing tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. When it begins to thaw out, the gas bubbles expand, causing pressure and sap flow. When the conditions are right, cold nights re-freeze the sap and warm days thaw it again, keeping the pressure going. The stored starches are converted to sugars and dissolve in the flowing sap, yielding the sweet treat of maple syrup when the sap is boiled down.

While we don’t tap trees for sap in the Arboretum, early spring is a great time to visit the old-growth sugar maples in Victoria Woods, and imagine the sap rushing up the trunks. Later in the season, when flowers and leaves emerge, come and peruse the dozens of maple varieties found in our Maple Collection.


Ross gets ready to check a sap bucket

by Ric Jordan

March is a month of considerable frustration - it is so near spring and yet across a great deal of the country the weather is still so violent and changeable that outdoor activity in our yards seems light years away. - Thalassa Cruso

I am sure many of you feel like Thalassa in the above quote and I feel doubly so as I just returned from an all too short visit with family in Wales where my daughter says spring starts in February and runs thru til September. Crocus and snow drops were plentiful with a scattering of daffodils showing their cheerful heads however we also saw camellias, rhododendrons and even a rose in bloom. While away I missed the extreme cold you experienced here and for that I am thankful and now we are experiencing some days of welcome sunshine bringing with it that gradual melt we all associate with spring.

The downside of that spring melt as we all know is the disappearance of the pristine snow cover we have enjoyed this winter and the appearance of puddles and potholes in our gravel roads. While out for a walk I realized the trails were now becoming glazed with ice due to the daytime melt and night freezing so if you do visit for a walk be careful and wear your studded shoes or bring a walking stick for added stability.

The lowering of the snow cover will also reveal the damage our plants have received from the critters over the winter. For the most part rabbits and deer will browse the upper branches and may cause the loss of some growth and bloom each year lasting damage is not severe. The real culprits are the voles at ground level who have taken advantage of the snow cover for protection from predators to nibble away and girdle young plants usually resulting in the demise of the plant. Time will tell how severe the damage has been this year. I noticed the following posting on Nature Guelph’s Facebook page courtesy Brett Forsyth. Another type of bark eater was caught in the act feeding on a tree across College Ave from the main entrance. https://vimeo.com/brettf/porcupine-feeding-on-bark Thanks Brett.

For those of you who haven’t discovered it yet we have created a YouTube Channel called Guelph Arboretum. It is very easy to find by going to the YouTube website and searching for Guelph Arboretum. We hope to upload a variety of short videos of interest in the coming months. By subscribing to our channel you will be notified whenever we post a new video and you can choose to watch or not. The most recent one deals with some visitors, wanted or not, to the feeders by The Arb Centre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUS9GUIYj4o

Pan fydd un llosgi pontydd un, yn yr hyn y tân neis iawn mae'n gwneud.
When one burns one’s bridges, what a very nice fire it makes. –Dylan Thomas
Iechyd,
ric

In a recent meeting The Arboretum Staff were discussing how The Arboretum should be portrayed to you, the public, in our various vehicles of promotion, advertising, media relations etc. There are so many facets to The Arboretum and sitting around the table we had so many views and terminology that can be used to communicate what / who we are as The Arboretum, University of Guelph. The tagline “A Natural Treasure” is something that we have used over the past several years. It works well as a general descriptive phrase. We would like to add to this tagline with phrases representing the various aspects of The Arboretum. We thought the best way to start would be to ask for your ideas of what The Arboretum means to you.

Please add a phrase to “The Arboretum, A Natural Treasure….????” and submit it to us. The phrase should be no more than 5 words and you should be willing to let us use it in our promotions if we like it. By submitting it you are releasing any claim to the phrase.

Here are some examples:
A Natural Treasure … A Living Classroom
A Natural Treasure … An Urban Oasis
A Natural Treasure … A Unique Wedding Facility
A Natural Treasure … A Sanctuary for Wildlife

To submit your suggestion(s) please send an email to us at: [log in to unmask] with “A Natural Treasure" in the subject line or visit the posting on our Facebook page.

Please don't be afraid to be creative and submit as many as you like!

Volunteers contribute so much time and effort to making The Arboretum what it is. We have often said to our volunteers, “Thank you for making The Arboretum grow.” This statement and play-on-words is true in so many ways. Volunteers are a very valuable part of our organization and we appreciate all that they do.

One of our volunteer groups is the Auxiliary Plant Nursery Group.  This groups assists in producing container-grown plants for The Arboretum’s annual Plant Sale, while also providing nursery support for plants grown to enrich the diverse collections and gardens throughout The Arboretum’s 165 hectares.

Working in the Arboretum Nursery, volunteers learn the art of growing plants in containers to prepare them for transplanting into gardens, and working with countless herbaceous and woody species allows members broaden their plant cultivation and identification skills. Plants are cared for in the Arboretum’s greenhouse, hoop houses and shade house, and volunteers participate in propagating, transplanting, watering, weeding, and pruning plants throughout the growing season.

A variety of other tasks are also conducted to assist with the production of plants, which allows volunteers to assist in a diverse number of ways. Some examples include: maintaining plant inventories, organizing pots and supplies, overseeing the organization of irrigation schedules, and labeling and pricing for the plant sale, one of The Arboretum’s largest fundraisers.

Working with the Arboretum’s Horticultural staff, the Auxiliary Plant Nursery Group meets on Monday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to noon. These mornings are a great way to further your skills while sharing experiences and knowledge with other plant enthusiasts.

Our Auxiliary Plant Nursery Group is in need of more volunteers to help carry out the duties listed above. These groups generally meet from March through September. If you are interested please contact our Volunteer Co-ordinator, Ranee Pararajasingham, at [log in to unmask] or 519-824-4120 ext. 52358. More volunteer information can be found on our website.

We look forward to meeting more wonderful volunteers this coming season!

Art and Practice of Pruning, Gardening Fundamentals, Introduction to Birds, Warbler I and II, Spring Wildflowers, Invasive Species (Animals), Garden and Wildflower Photography and Building Ponds and Waterfalls workshops are approaching. The dates and registration deadlines can be found in our Coming Events Listing in the column on the left side of this newsletter. A detailed description of each course is available on our website. Help us promote our programs … please forward this e-mail on to your friends and colleagues who may be interested. The more participants we have, the more programs we can offer.

Registering early is important for us because we need lead time to decide if we are running the workshop or not. To encourage registering before the deadline, we now have an Early Bird Fee. You can still register after the deadline, but it will cost an extra $10, so why not register early? This plan will also help newspapers get the word out in time - we often get a great listing in a newspaper right after the deadline and after we have cancelled the program due to low registration numbers! Hopefully this new plan will ensure that most of our workshops get enough participants to run them!

Registration is available on-line which allows you to register for our programs at anytime, not just during our regular business hours. A secure link is provided on our website for this easy registration process.

If you do not have internet access registration can still be made by phone or in person at 519-824-4120 ext. 52358 as in the past. Please remember that a decision is made on the registration deadline as to whether the workshop will run or not, based on the minimum number of required registrants. You may still register after the deadline as long as the workshop is running and there is space.

It has been a busy month for predators. One of our bluebirds was caught by a Sharp-shinned Hawk and there seem to be higher than usual cottontail kills found along our trails, likely the result of our local coyotes. But, while it might seem strange to some, having these predators makes us happy: the presence of top predators means we are achieving our goal of having a well-rounded and biodiverse natural site. Our owls, hawks, coyotes, red foxes, weasels and mink are here for a reason and we welcome them!

  
Sharp-shinned Hawk                          Coyote Tracks

              
               Coyote in Nature Reserve from Village by The Arboretum
               Photo by Norris Hoag

Be a part of the BetterPlanet Project by donating on-line:

Your donation can be directed to The Arboretum online through the secure University of Guelph donation page: http://uofg.convio.net/arboretum

If you prefer not to make an online donation, there are several other ways to provide your financial support. You can choose to donate by telephone, mail, fax, or in person:

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH Attention Alumni Affairs 50 Stone Road East Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Tel: 1-888-266-3108 ext. 56934 Tel: 519-824-4120 ext. 56934 Fax: 519-822-2670 Email: [log in to unmask]

If you would like information on bequests and planned giving to The Arboretum please contact:

Ross Butler
Director, Gift Planning
at (519) 824-4120 ext. 56196 or by e-mail at [log in to unmask]