For both ecological and economic reasons we no longer print and mail a seasonal program listing our workshops and special events. The information is now distributed via this e-newsletter and is always available on our website. We do appreciate your past and future support of our workshops; the income supports other Arboretum educational endeavours such as brochures, signs, booklets, tours and our website.

If you know of people who may be interested in our workshops who do not receive this e-newsletter we would appreciate if you would pass this information on to them. To subscribe to the newsletter follow the simple instructions as outlined on our webpage at: http://www.uoguelph.ca/arboretum/educationandevents/enewsletter.shtml

If you have a spot in your community or at your workplace where you can display our workshop posters, please send us an e-mail at [log in to unmask] and we will be happy to send them to you.

Below is a list of upcoming workshops at The Arboretum. Please forward this e-mail to your friends and colleagues! The more participants we have, the more programs we can offer.

We now offer an on-line registration process which allows you to register for our programs 24/7 as they say, not just during our regular business hours. A secure link is provided for this easy registration process. Click here for the link.

by Chris Earley

Winter may seem like a crummy time of the year for tree identification but it can be quite rewarding. In fact, some species are easier to identify in the winter than in the summer. For this quiz, we are showing one winter id feature - the tree's trunk. Can you identify any of these trees?  Click here for a printable version of the quiz.  The answers are at the bottom of the newsletter.

by Shelley Hunt

Plant propagator, educator, plant collections manager, field botanist, seed collector, arborist, mentor, community liaison...such a list implies a contingent of staff filling these roles at a public garden. At our Arboretum, this list describes but a subset of the roles played by one person: Sean Fox, our long-time horticulturist, who has been recently appointed as our new Manager of Horticulture. When our former manager, Ric Jordan, retired at the end of last summer after a rich 40-year career at The Arboretum, he left some big shoes to fill. I am happy to report that Sean has stepped up to fill them, as well as continuing the excellent work he has been doing for years in the management of our horticultural operations and development of our plant collections. The result is the rejigged position we are calling ‘Manager of Horticulture’. Congratulations, Sean!

Sean will be overseeing the day-to-day maintenance of The Arboretum grounds, identifying tasks and priorities to be tackled by our small year-round crew, and supervising a fleet of student workers during the growing season. Largely under Sean’s direction, this small team has been making leaps and bounds over the past few years in improving plant record keeping, catching up on a backlog on plant labelling changes, and rescuing various neglected plant collections from obscurity. Sean has been indispensable in collaborating with our part-time Curator, Aron Fazekas, to move our plant database to a new software platform over the past two years and fill in the missing pieces of the database. In a different kind of mentoring capacity, Sean also leads two loyal volunteer groups (the ‘seed’ and ‘woody plant’ groups) in their weekly work gatherings, and helps to orchestrate a volunteer army for the running of our annual plant sale fundraiser.

Sean will continue to lead our long-running plant conservation programs, including the Rare Woody Plants of Ontario Program with its living gene banks, and the Elm Recovery Project and has taken the initiative to broaden our plant conservation program by collaborating with outside organizations on recovery activities for species such as Butternut and Eastern Flowering Dogwood (Sean is a member of the government led recovery team for this species) among others. For several years, Sean has run several workshops here at The Arboretum, namely The Art and Practice of Pruning, Growing Native Woody Plants from Seed, Shrub Identification, and Tree Identification. Sean’s deep knowledge on these topics and stellar reputation is such that governmental organizations and NGOs frequently send their staff to our Arboretum for Sean’s workshops. In addition to workshops for the general public, Sean is a resource for University of Guelph students, as a regular guest instructor (e.g. giving lectures in the department of landscape architecture and leading plant science field labs). Combine this with his involvement in community activities such as the Guelph Tree Tour, the Adopt-a-Tree event, seed exchange events, and collaboration with the City of Guelph on action to promote the planting of native tree species in municipal plantings, and it’s obvious that Sean is a major ambassador for The Arboretum, and its vision, in the local community.

At a broader level, Sean is a key liaison with many organizations of which we are members, from Botanic Gardens Conservation International, to the International Society of Arboriculture, to the Ontario chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration. He actively collaborates with other public gardens such as the Royal Botanic Gardens in Burlington, and constantly takes the initiative to build our Arboretum’s network and profile. He regularly writes articles for publications such as Landscape Ontario Magazine, and published a comprehensive article in Arnoldia, the publication of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, on our work to conserve rare and threatened native trees and shrubs.

Sean is a giving, sharing person whether it is his expert plant propagation skills, his vision for The Arboretum, or his time. I have been Arboretum Director for nearly three years now, and count myself as very fortunate to have Sean to collaborate with in striving to raise the profile of our organization and constantly improve the work we do. I have gained much from his plant science wizardry, his understanding of conservation issues, his broad integration in the world of botanical gardens and conservation organizations, and his intimate knowledge of every square inch of our Arboretum. While his current career accomplishments are impressive, I am even more excited to see him increase his leadership role in our organization and in the broader communities of public gardens and plant conservation – there is no better person to trust with those responsibilities. Thank you, Sean!

                        
                          Sean Fox

by Aron Fazekas, Arboretum Curator

When you think of The Arboretum, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For many people, they immediately think of the trees or shrubs along their favorite path, enjoying the birds at one of the feeders, or the occasional glimpse of other wildlife. But what makes The Arboretum more than just another park? The answer is that most of the trees and shrubs are planted with a purpose. Arboreta and Botanic Gardens are first and foremost about the collections of plant species that they contain. The species and cultivars that are planted at The Arboretum are usually chosen for a specific reason. Those that are in the display gardens are often chosen based on their aesthetic value. Other collections are arranged for learning – how to identify plants, the best ways to prune, or so you can see what your new street tree will look like in 40 years. Some trees, such as those in our gene banks, represent our significant commitment to conservation and other research activities. Across all the collections, we display the enormous breadth of diversity in form and function of woody plants from around the world.

Keeping track of the various woody plants in The Arboretum is no small task, but knowing the identity, location and history of each individual that we have chosen to plant here is largely what gives the collections the value that they have. We regularly receive queries from people looking for specific plants or cultivars to include in research projects, and being able to provide those details is often critical. For several years The Arboretum was without a curator to help track all of this information, but with the significant support of a donor we have implemented a new database system to organize and manage our plant records. Over the past couple of years we have been working on the system, inventorying various collections, adding GPS locations, creating maps and updating the taxonomy. For the first time in many years we can now quickly find the locations of the species that we have in collection, easily see which populations are represented in the gene banks, and determine which cultivars have done well and which have not. Most importantly, the system has a website that will let us share all this information with everyone. We hope to make an official launch of the website in time for College Royal, with a link on The Arboretum homepage. There, you will be able to read about our feature collections, search our collection yourself to find the species you are looking for, and download an updated map of the entire Arboretum.

by Alexandra Kocher

We all look forward to those months when deciduous trees turn their vibrant reds and yellows, and slowly start floating their leaves to the ground in preparation for winter. It is a beautiful process that has great importance, and that importance is winter survival.

Each leaf on a deciduous tree is covered in pores which allows the tree to breathe and exchange oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water. When the winter months creep in, and there is no more rain water to sustain the trees, losing moisture through those pores would be deadly. So what’s the plan? Lose the leaves to keep the moisture in and prevent frost damage.

However, there are two types of trees who rebel against the final step of dropping their leaves: the beech tree and the oak tree. These two trees are from the same family and both hold onto their already dead leaves throughout the winter months. But why? Plants don’t waste time and energy doing something unproductive. If this trait evolved there must be a reason it stuck around.

There are a few thoughts about why. The first is that oak and beech trees grow on nutrient poor sites, therefore waiting to drop and decompose their leaves in the springtime allows for a boost of nutrients when the tree needs it most. Another idea is that leaves collect and keep snow in their branches and hence keep it around for extra moisture when it melts in the spring. There may also be an advantage by keeping the buds safe. Having bunches of leaves hiding the buds would prevent damage by frost and hide them from hungry moose or deer.

Whatever the reason may be, trees have definitely proven their survival skills over the millions of years they have been on this planet. And luckily for us, beech and oak leaves give us a hint of autumn colours in the crisp, white winter months.

Congratulations to all of you that were engaged over the Holiday Season! If you or someone you know is looking for a space for your wedding ceremony and / or reception please contact Dawn Ann Webster at 519-824-4120 ext. 54110 or [log in to unmask]. Further information on our unique reception facilities and outdoor ceremony sites can be found on our website.

 
West Lawn                                          Auditorium

by Chris Earley

We have had some very interesting wildlife sightings this winter already starting with a mink that has shown itself to a few visitors. Much of its time has been spent in the Gosling Wildlife Gardens where Melanie Howarth got some stunning photos of it. Another mammal species that has made an appearance is not one, but 3 porcupines. These large rodents can be found hanging out in our trees so be sure to look up every once in a while and look for what looks like a squirrel nest but seems a bit too spiky. Last, but certainly not least, one of our 4th year biology students, Mark Dorriesfield, found a Northern Saw-whet Owl here. This bird is the smallest eastern North American owl species and, thus, is a very hard one to find. Good eyes, Mark!

On Sunday, Jan 10, we did our 37th annual winter bird count. It was wet. Very, very, very wet! It rained on us pretty well for the whole 3 hours but we still found 177 individuals of 16 species, which is more than last year (when it was a crazy cold day!).

 
Mink                                                      Northern Saw-whet Owl
photo by Melanie Howarth                        photo by Chris Earley


Porcupine
photo by Chris Earley

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]