As seen in The Wilmot-Tavistock Gazette.
It appears spring has sprung early this year and thoughts of planting are popping into our minds.
Let’s Tree Wilmot, a project of Garden Wilmot (Wilmot Hort. Society) has our typical jammed-packed spring planting season already planned. We are excited by new locations for this year.
On April 20, we kick the season off with planting on the north hillside of the Nithview floodplain across the river from the New Hamburg fairgrounds. This is the beginning of a multi-stage project in partnership with Tri-county Mennonite Homes, which owns the property. The company received a grant from Earthscape Play to create a wetland and naturalize the property. Let’s Tree Wilmot will be providing expertise along with Phil Holst, Mike Schout Wetlands project manager, and the volunteers to plant the trees. Wilmot Township is also a partner as they own part of the lands and is working with the Grand River Conservation Area to create a trail from Neville to Victoria streets along the Nith River.
On April 27, Wilmot Township’s tree giveaway, Wilmot Roots, is back for its second year. Watch for announcements in early April. Let’s Tree Wilmot will be there supporting the program.
On May 4, Riverside Park will be the next site to have trees planted.
We are often asked what species of trees are used in our projects. We focus on native species that grow in our area and select the species based on growing conditions such as soil type and moisture levels. For example, last year we planted at Baden Hills, which is sand and gravel. Trees such as native juniper, redbud, honey locust, sugar maple, white pine and more were planted. At the Gateway project at Foundry and Gingerich roads in Baden, the flood plain was planted with yellow birch, cottonwood, sycamore, silver maple and others.
With climate change, Carolinian forest species will gradually move north so we have been planting Kentucky coffee trees, tulip trees, cucumber trees, hop trees and more.
The optimal times to plant are spring and fall. Our team of volunteers works yearround to prepare. For spring planting, November and December meetings were held with partners to determine locations and the tree species required and then ordered. Also, events such as pruning workshops and other educational events are also planned.
A recap of last year demonstrates how active Let’s Tree Wilmot, its partners and the community were. The total attendance of tree-planting volunteers was 230 people who planted 1,601 native trees and shrubs. The locations were Schmidt Woods, Catherine Street and Scott parks, Baden Hills Regional Forest, Gateway Baden, Forest Glenn Public School and Pfenning Farm. Let’s Tree Wilmot supporters were Wilmot Township, Natural Resources Canada, SAP Software Solutions, Region of Waterloo, Pfenning Farm and dedicated donors.
Since the birth of Let’s Tree Wilmot in 2020, 3,358 trees have been planted.
Not only do we plant trees, Let’s Tree Wilmot also developed a tree-seedling nursery now growing 1,670 seedling trees. We obtain seedlings from a couple of sources and let them grow for two seasons. For the Nithview project, we will be using about 350 trees that are now mature enough. There will also be a planting day to replace these trees with new seedlings.
We recognize there is no point in planting trees if we cannot not care for them. With a Natural Resources Canada grant, a used pickup truck was purchased and fitted with a 1,000-litre tank and a pump. Wilmot Township does not have the resources to water all the trees on township lands, so that is where Let’s Tree Wilmot provides support.
The 1,601 trees planted last year will be watered weekly during drought conditions and the 1,000 trees planted in 2022 will be watered biweekly. That is a lot of trees to water! We have a team but there are always openings for more volunteers. We are hoping for a summer like last year’s with a good amount of rain. We had one volunteer who was scheduled for Tuesday waterings and usually it was a rainy day. We rescheduled his day.
Let’s Tree Wilmot has been involved in many other activities in the past year. We were involved in Carolinian Canada’s Pawpaw parade and four local residents won pawpaw trees. We have a Let’s Tree Wilmot YouTube channel for which we have created educational videos on topics such as whipper snipper damage to trees, how to plant a tree and pruning with more to come. We held forest walks and pruning workshops.
We collaborate with Trees for Woolwich, Reep Green Solutions and other tree groups to share best practices and resources. Reep financed five volunteers for the workshops to become certified tree seed collectors.
Let’s Tree Wilmot’s programs keep expanding and, with that, there is a need for more volunteers.
There are many areas your skills can be utilized such as promotion, communications, website, managing our Facebook page, education ideas, organizing events, tree maintenance and preparing for tree-planting days. Our website is LetsTreeWilmot.ca.
