Juglans nigra: now with leaves!

The black walnuts in the back yard are looking much prettier now that they are in leaf. (Here's what it looked like without foliage.) These native trees will be a source of nuts for the local squirrels when they're older. Black walnut produces "juglone" which makes the nearby soil unsuitable for some plants, such as tomatoes. There are a number of juglone-tolerant plants to choose from to grow under your black walnut. The large compound leaves have a tropical feel. They look similar to those of the invasive Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven), but A. altissima's leaflets have a pair of teeth at the base. Black walnut also has pleasantly fragrant leaves, smelling like incense, whereas Ailanthus has a foul smell like burnt peanut butter.

Cotinus coggygria

Cotinus coggygria, known in English as "smoke tree" or "smoke bush" and in French as arbres à perruques (literally "wig tree"), is a shrub or small tree native to Eurasia. Apparently it is closely related to sumacs (Rhus spp.).

I was interested to see this tree looking so smoky. When I was a kid my dad would order plants from this weird catalogue that had no photographs, just coloured illustrations labelled "artist's rendition" to excuse the fact that they often looked much nicer than the real thing. Among the many plants my dad got from this outfit was a smoke tree, which looked nothing like the picture. Yet here is a smoke tree that really does look like the illustration in that catalogue! Maybe the catalogue wasn't as dishonest as I had assumed, and the tree just was not happy in our garden.

Syringa vulgaris: flowers

Syringa vulgaris, known in English as "common lilac" and in French as lilas commun or lilas français, is a deciduous shrub or small tree native to southeast Europe. Its fragrant flowers, usually mauve, are a well known event in spring. This huge lilac is in our neighbours' back yard.

Acer negundo seedling

Warning: this is an invasive species in southern Ontario.

Acer negundo, known in English as "Manitoba maple", "box elder", "boxelder maple", or "maple ash", and in French as érable du Manitoba or érable negundo, is a deciduous tree native to eastern and central United states and southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

I like finding volunteer tree seedlings in the yard and was disappointed to find out that this was Manitoba maple, which the Invasive Exotic Species Ranking for Southern Ontario (PDF) ranks as a category 1 invasive, "Aggressive invasive exotic species that can dominate a site to exclude all other species and remain dominant on the site indefinitely." At least this one is small enough to be removed fairly easily (I'm assuming).

Acer rubrum: small sapling with new foliage

Acer rubrum, known in English as "red maple", "swamp maple", or "soft maple", and in French as érable rouge, érable de Virginie, érable de plaine, or érable du Canada, is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America.

We have a few small red maple saplings volunteering in the yard.

Pinus strobus

Pinus strobus, known in English as "eastern white pine" and in French as pin blanc d'Amerique, is a large evergreen coniferous tree native to eastern North America, and the provincial tree of Ontario. I photographed this beautiful tree at Wheelers' Maple Syrup Camp and Pancake House in McDonald's Corners, eastern Ontario (which has delicious pancakes, made vegan on request (phone ahead), year round!)

The cones of eastern white pine are 10-20 cm long. According to nearctica.com, Pinus strobus is "the only eastern pine with long, stalked cones with pliable cone scales". Eastern white pine is the only eastern pine with needles in clusters of five. (I found these needles on the ground; the tree was not harmed for this photo!)

This beautiful native tree is too large for most Torontonians' gardens, alas, which just shows the importance of protecting large wilderness areas to preserve the plants and animals that depend on them.

A bit of the true north strong and free in downtown Toronto

Monday was a beautiful sunny day, and it gladdened my heart to see young white pine trees (Pinus strobus) glowing in the spring sunshine. (At least, I think these are white pines.) If you stand in the right place, you can almost imagine you're in a forest.

You can never have too many photos of white pine, the provincial tree of Ontario. I have a special attachment to white pine because the house where I grew up in eastern Ontario had a massive white pine in front of it.

Here you can see that in fact this pretty little grove is surrounded by highrises. This is in the courtyard behind College Park at College and Bay.

What a difference a few trees make, especially in an urban environment.

That's my handsome son Nicky posing with the sculptures behind College Park.

I always wondered how trees could survive in these little planters, which look far too shallow to accomodate a tree's roots.

Here's the secret—they're not a shallow as they look! Still, only a small tree could live in a planter like this. Maybe an eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), a very pretty native tree that I think is woefully underused here in Toronto.

Juglans cinerea (I hope) Juglans nigra at the end of winter

Juglans cinerea, known in English as "butternut" or "white walnut", and in French as noyer cendré, noyer blanc, or noyer à beurre, is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America. Currently butternut is endangered in Canada, because of a canker disease which has killed up to 90% of butternut trees (which were not common to start with).

This tree, and its twin (not shown), caused a bit of consternation as we attempted to identify them. My landlord's son was convinced they were a weed; he was probably confusing it with Ailanthus altissima, an invasive species here in southern Ontario. Luckily the people at Dave's Garden were able to confirm that this is not Ailanthus, though there was no agreement on what it is. Here's a close up of the fuzzy buds, for what it's worth. And here's the bark, which doesn't seem right for butternut but doesn't seem right for the other leading possibility (black walnut, Juglans nigra) either. I haven't seen flowers or nuts on this tree, but maybe it will produce some this year and I'll be able to ID it.

Update March 29

After I posted a photo of the chambered pith in a twig from this tree, plant identification guru Resin at Dave's Garden confirmed that it is Juglans nigra (black walnut), not the endangered butternut. It's still a nice native tree and I'm sure the squirrels will be happy when it produces nuts!

Platanus occidentalis: winter

Platanus occidentalis, known in English as American sycamore and in French as platane d'occident, is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America. In Canada, sycamore is considered an indicator species for the unique Carolinian ecoregion in southern Ontario.

In winter, the distinctive bark of the sycamore can be best appreciated.

Gleditsia triacanthos var inermis: winter

Gleditsia triacanthos var inermis known in English as thornless honey locust and in French as févier d'Amérique sans épine or févier d'Amérique inerme is a deciduous tree native to much of the continental United States and part of southern Ontario.

In winter, large trees like this are the stars of the landscape—especially when most of the gardens in our area are buried under one or two metres of snow!