Gardeners encouraged to plant more trees

Tree planting was the topic of the night for the Steinbach Area Garden Club’s first meeting of 2024. 

There were around 40 people at the meeting, eager to hear from guest speaker Dr. Wilbert Ronald, President of Jefferies Nurseries near Portage la Prairie. 

He has spent many years learning about trees and diseases, and offered some information on tree selection as well as planting. 

Ronald is active in producing trees that thrive in Manitoba’s climate and are resistant to disease. 

He says there are some trees we need to develop and use more of across the prairies. Ronald calls them “trees to die for” and some of them have occupied his interest for a lifetime. 

Freeman maples, hybrids of silver and red maples, could offer a new red colour for fall, with improved hardiness. 

Sugar maples are also on this list. Ronald says they continue the work done by earlier pioneers to find strains from northwest Minnesota that do well in prairie regions. 

When it comes to choosing the right tree for a certain space, Ronald says it is key that you consider the size the tree will reach and the seeds or fruit that it will produce. 

“Buckeyes, maybe even oaks, but certainly some of the trees with larger seeds or fruit, they're park trees. Maybe not the trees you want to put in the boulevards at all, because of the seeds, walnut seeds, you know the size of them, they can be quite big. But diversification is critical, and you have to work on that.” 

For young trees to survive cold Manitoba winters, Ronald says a good snow cover is important as it acts as insulation, protecting trees from the cold weather. 

While January might not be a good time to plant trees, he says it’s a great time to plan for tree planting and for encouraging municipal leaders to also plan for more trees in public spaces. 

“There’s always trees being lost so we just have to put more back in the ground,” says Ronald. “My message is there are good trees that can be planted, and we've got to get them back in our parks, in our streets and in our home gardens as well.”