Take a hike on our trails in spring and summer, and you’re likely to hear the raspy “fee-bee” call of one of our more common flycatchers, the Eastern Phoebe. Come fall, however, they migrate south to overwinter in the southeastern United States. So, why has one taken up winter residence in Hendrie Valley this year?

Warmer temperatures are likely the answer. A study by the Audubon Society has found that more than half of the migratory bird species in North America are spending winters at least 55 kilometres farther north than they did 40 years ago. While there were some intense cold spells this winter, we have also had several warm periods which may have prompted this bird to stay. Although they are insectivores, Eastern Phoebes can subsist on berries in cold weather. Insects also emerge earlier than you may think: our phoebe was seen “flycatching” over Grindstone Creek in late February.

Phoebes are among the first flycatchers to arrive in spring, so keep an eye out for more of these inconspicuous songbirds in late-April and May. They are most easily recognized when perched as they bob their tail up and down (and don’t forget that their call advertises their name). Come June, they’ll be nesting on the rock ledges of the Niagara Escarpment, so visit RBG’s Rock Chapel Nature Sanctuary and you’re guaranteed to find one.

A note on Aerial Insectivores:
Flycatchers are part of the Aerial Insectivore bird group – birds that catch insects in flight. The State of Canada’s Birds (2012) indicates that populations of Aerial Insectivores are declining more steeply than any other group of birds. These declines are likely cause by a combination of factors both in Canada in in their wintering areas, including reductions in insect numbers, habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. At RBG, we monitor our breeding bird populations every year and we are keeping a close watch on the local trends for this group.



 

Although the majority of plants outdoors are still inactive, one of the many species that is just beginning to bloom in the Mediterranean Garden is the Weeping Bottlebrush, Callistemon viminalis. This small tree is a native of Western Australia where it grows along creeks and waterways in sheltered valleys with deep rich soils. C. viminalis is a member of the Myrtaceae, a plant family that also includes Eucalyptus trees; another Australian speciality. The foliage is narrow and sharp-tipped, hanging gracefully from drooping branches on mature trees.

The blooms of C. viminalis are small, but are produced abundantly in congested cylindrical clusters along the slender twigs and may be produced more than once in a growing season if conditions are favorable. The striking, bright red colored stamens (male portions of the flower which produce pollen) burst from the blooms and dangle freely, just like the bristles of a bottlebrush.

Due to the extraordinary color and frequent production of these glorious blooms, C. viminalis is grown as an ornamental species outdoors in warm climates throughout the world, as well as cultivated indoors in cooler regions. In southern Florida, the species is listed as locally invasive and this same story is repeated in other regions which are free of hard frosts the whole year round.

Interestingly, a medical study published early this year has confirmed that the leaves of this species have potent antioxidant properties, therefore having the potential to be used therapeutically as a natural remedy for a wide range of medicinal conditions. Come drop by the Mediterranean Garden this week or the next to ensure you don’t miss the brilliant and colorful display of this exceptional exotic species!



 

Dropping by to see the dinosaurs? If you’re here in the next few days, you might detect a not-so-pleasant odour on your way into the exhibit. Follow your nose and you’ll be led to a very exotic-looking plant that is currently blooming in Stedman Hall.

Amorphophallus konjac is a perennial species in the Arum family (Araceae). A native of warm temperate and tropical regions of east Asia from southern China and Japan to Indonesia, its common names, Devil’s Tongue and Voodoo Lily, pay tribute to the unique appearance of its flowers. The fragrance which wafts from this magnificent bloom has been affectionately described as resembling carrion or rotting fish - certainly not the stuff of great perfumes!

The intent behind the production of this powerful odour is not to offend us, but instead to facilitate reproduction. Carrion flies are irresistibly attracted to such a potent smell and as they investigate the inside of the flowering structure, they become covered in pollen produced by the plant’s tiny flowers, which are hidden deep inside the inflorescence. The wrinkled, dark-coloured interior and mottled exterior of the bloom physically resembles a rotting corpse, accentuating the effectiveness of the stench produced.

This species is just one of the many examples of how intimately plants have crafted relationships with animals; even if that means disguising yourself as carrion and smelling like it too. See it soon though as the flower won’t last long!

Royal Botanical Garden’s Mediterranean Garden is almost always boasting spectacular floral displays of one kind or another; even when garden plants outdoors are dormant. The Jade Plant, Crassula ovata, also known as the Friendship Tree or Lucky Plant, is a very common houseplant and many specimens are currently in full bloom throughout the Mediterranean Garden.

The species is native to South Africa, where it grows on exposed rocky foothills surrounding the Cape Town region. Conditions there during the summer are very hot and dry and modest rainfall does not accumulate except during the mild winters. It is at this time that C. ovata flowers, producing stubby clusters of white 5-petaled flowers which have a fragrance likened by many to scented soap.

It is often rare for this species to bloom when cultivated because it requires certain environmental stimuli in order to bring about flower production. By watering your plant less often and placing it outside for a few weeks during autumn to expose it to single digit temperatures (but never freezing) followed by increased watering and moving your plant back indoors, one can encourage blooms sometime around the winter solstice. Make sure to come by the Mediterranean Garden this week to see our impressive C. ovata specimens in flower accompanied by many other species also flaunting their beauty!

The attention of the media has been focused recently on the identity of a holographic maple leaf design on Canada’s newest currency. Although Canada has long had a stylized emblem of a maple leaf on its flag, and now more recently on its new 20, 50 and 100 dollar bills, this does not mean that maples are exclusively a Canadian group of trees. There are in fact more maple species (woody plants which belong to the genus Acer) indigenous to Yunnan province in China (95 species) then there are in the entirety of Canada (12 native species, 6 introduced).

According to the IUCN Red List of Maples, there are a grand total of 191 known maple species distributed around the globe, with the bulk of this biodiversity centered in southeastern China. Out of this total, 83 are classified as critically endangered. This means that 43% of all the world’s maples are dependent on conservation initiatives to prevent various factors which could drive these rare species to extinction.

There is a considerable amount of morphological variation that exists within Maples either native or introduced to Canada (see image) and this is exemplified even further with species indigenous to Europe and Asia; some of which many of us would find very difficult to recognize as a Maple. For example, the Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum) has bark which is an impressive rusty red/orange color and shreds and peals into thin papery strips well into maturity. Alternatively, the Hornbeam Maple (Acer carpinifolium) has leaves that are oval shaped, taper to a sharp point and are lined with serrations along the edges.

The Royal Botanical Gardens has a collection of nearly 100 different varieties of maples from North America and elsewhere in the world. Be sure to drop by and see the incredible work that the RBG is doing as one out of many institutions that is preserving the biological diversity of plants for the future.

Every year, Royal Botanical Gardens’ staff puts forth much effort to remove the invasive common carp. Although the Cootes Paradise Fishway has been extremely successful in keeping carp out of the marsh, a resident population still remains. Many of these fish accessed the marsh during flood events over the last few years. Most of these remaining carp do not follow the normal migration pattern of entering the marsh in the spring for spawning and returning to the harbour in the fall once the water temperature and levels have dropped. Instead, these fish reside in the marsh all year long.

Throughout 2012, water levels remained below average, at times making it difficult to remove the stubborn fish, but ultimately providing ideal removal conditions. This past fall, much of the 320 hectares of Cootes Paradise was drained, consolidating the remaining common carp population into manageable areas. RBG staff utilized electrofishing - a technique that discharges electricity into the water, stunning the fish momentarily, but allowing full recovery without harm - to catch over 8,000 common carp and 300 goldfish. These fish were released into the harbour, as permitted. The removal of these invasive fish will decrease suspended sediment levels, or “muddiness” in the marsh, improving water quality and growing conditions for aquatic plants. Ultimately, this success will improve the overall quality of Cootes Paradise Marsh.

Ontario’s Back to Nature Network has released an exciting new teaching tool, and RBG is excited to have played a key role in its creation.

Into Nature: A Guide to Teaching in Nearby Nature is a manual that helps teachers create an outdoor learning space for their students and use it on a regular basis to teach all subjects. Over a year in the making, the guide is the result of the contributions of a wide group of partners including RBG Education staff and local teachers from the Halton District School Board, and was piloted with Halton teachers.

Into Nature is packed with valuable tools for teachers new to teaching outdoors in nature, but is also useful for those practiced in facilitating outdoor learning experiences.

Section One offers excellent information on why and how to teach in nature, including sample letters to communicate with Administrators and Parents, a materials list, and a readiness checklist that has room for post-lesson reflections and can be kept as a record of each experience.

Section Two, which forms most of the guide, contains a large variety of learning experiences. To start, “Nature 101” is a series of five phases that begins with a class-created nature contract, gradually moves the class outdoors, and culminates with an activity to create a designated outdoor learning space. A group of 50 “Nature2Go” activities are short, curriculum-connected “hits” of nature that can be completed in under 30 minutes, or extended further if desired. Finally, the “Lessons” component offers five lessons for each division, primary, junior and intermediate.

Into Nature can be downloaded as a free pdf file on the Back to Nature Network website at http://www.back2nature.ca/resources-research/education. A French-language version will be available for download at the same location in January 2013.

RBG is very pleased to have contributed significantly to Into Nature, and continues to play an important leadership role in the Back to Nature Network in supporting its goal of connecting children and families with nature. Please share the link to this resource with teachers that you know!

Imagine that you are walking through one of our forested nature sanctuaries during the summer, when suddenly, out of the blue, you hear it – Peet-seet! Peet-sah! A small greyish bird flits around nearby. For many of us, this would simply be “just another bird,” but for a seasoned bird enthusiast it is a song that just might convince them to stop, pull out the binoculars, and take a closer look.

That is because this song belongs to the Provincially- and Federally-endangered Acadian Flycatcher, a very rare species of bird that has been found on RBG property in recent years. This species, along with one designated of Special Concern by the Province, the Hooded Warbler, are the focus of a habitat improvement project being undertaken in Long Valley on the North Shore of Cootes Paradise (just west of the RBG Arboretum).

As you may know, our natural lands contain a diverse range of habitats that are home to many rare species such as these, but there’s a problem: non-native invasive plants have moved in. Rare species like the Acadian Flycatcher tend to be old fashioned; they like their habitats the way they were in the past, before European and Asian plants began to creep in.

Enter RBG’s Natural Lands team. With the help of generous funding from Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program, as well as the muscle power of local volunteers and organizations like Burlington Green, RBG is taking up the fight on behalf of these rare birds, and driving back the invasive plants in Long Valley before they can gain any more of a foothold. You may see some of the tell-tale signs of their efforts the next time you walk down Gray Doe trail, where thousands of Common Buckthorn and Honeysuckle plants hang propped up in the air, having been wrenched from the ground over the past month and suspended above the ground to dry out and prevent re-rooting. With time (and luck), RBG hopes to keep invasive species such as these at bay, and provide exceptional quality habitat for all of its native species, now and into the future.

Winter’s snow can’t be too far away once Tundra Swans make their biannual stopover in Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour. This week, we’ve been seeing flocks of these majestic white birds moving through our area, and this morning (November 29) at least 100 birds could be seen in the centre of Cootes Paradise. For best views, try the Bull’s Point Lookout, though the east winds forecast for tomorrow may mean that any swans still in the area by morning will be sheltering in the lee of Burlington Heights. Try the Fishway and Thomas McQuesten High Level Bridge for vantage points; Carroll’s Bay may also end up sheltering flocks tonight and tomorrow.

Tundra Swans breed from northern Hudson’s Bay to Alaska, but winter along the mid-Atlantic coast as well as the Pacific coast. Cootes Paradise is one of a number of Great Lakes wetlands these birds use to rest on their long journey and if you miss them on the way south, don’t worry – they’ll be back again in March. In the meantime, watch the skies through this weekend for flocks of “big, long-necked geese that look white” as one person put it, and listen for their musical call.

Surprise, it really is wetland depth out there. The wetlands of Royal Botanical Gardens, including the 60 hectare Grindstone Marsh and 320 hectare Cootes Paradise Marsh, are experiencing the below average water levels of Lake Ontario this fall. The result is the exposure of much of the bottom, reminding us that the vast water areas we see in the summer are indeed shallow wetlands. With water levels currently about 20cm below the seasonal average, 2/3 of these wetlands are above water. Lake Ontario is part of the largest freshwater system in the world and as a result is subject to substantial water level fluctuations. Average annual water level fluctuations are about 60cm, while over the last 100 years, water levels have varied about 2.1m (7ft). To mitigate extreme water levels on Lake Ontario and facilitate the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, levels have been regulated since the 1950s. Review of the current regulation scenario is an active topic with information available through the International Joint Commission. Water levels would still need to decline an additional 60 cm before we approach the low levels experienced in the 1930’s, however it will only take another 30cm decline to completely drain RBG wetlands. This is not expected to occur as only an additional 10cm is expected to occur before water levels start to increase again. However, total drainage likely will occur for an hour or two at some point this fall, a result of powerful west wind blowing the water down the lake. Water levels have been this low a number of times in recent years with similar levels experienced in 1998, 2007, and 2010. A number of wetland benefits are derived from lower water levels, including consolidation of loose bottom sediments, exposure of debris that can be cleaned up (tires etc.), germination of wetland seedlings, and perhaps most importantly, total elimination of carp from the restoration areas.

Gaining practical experience in the environmental field is a challenging undertaking for any new graduate. Through internship programs, Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) provides such an opportunity, allowing young professionals to hone their skills while making it possible for RBG to complete important environmental projects. This year, with the support of the ArcelorMittal Corporate Community Investment Fund, two 1-year internships are allowing RBG’s Natural Lands department to conduct valuable environmental work through a variety of projects in the Gardens’ vast nature sanctuaries.

“Royal Botanical Gardens with its extensive mandate and 1,000 hectares of property is an ideal training ground for recent graduates,” said Tys Theysmeyer, RBG’s Head of Natural Lands. “In their travels, the interns will be involved in a broad cross-section of duties ranging from monitoring and reporting, to environmental restoration and management projects.”

The Terrestrial intern will assist RBG ecologists in forest management and restoration, volunteer coordination and projects, nesting bird and forest monitoring and invasive plant species removal. The Aquatic intern will be immersed in the issues associated with the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan and be front and centre in the marsh restoration activities in Cootes Paradise and Grindstone Marsh.

Both interns will also be challenged to complete a project that will contribute to the future management of the property. Projects chosen this year include summarizing the effects of deer exclusion from an area of forest surrounding an endangered plant species, and working with a recovering plant community in the Grindstone Marsh restoration project through a combination of field monitoring and aerial photo interpretation.

“For the interns, these projects provide something tangible,” said Theysmeyer. “These are products that they can provide to prospective employers as an example of their skills and abilities.”

It’s National Tree Day – time to get out and hug a tree at RBG!

The last week of September (23 to 29) is National Forest Week, with Wednesday, September 23rd designated as National Tree Day. We all know that good things come in trees: stop and look around your office, classroom or home for things made from trees and tree products. Wood furnishings and building materials are pretty obvious, as are paper products, from printer paper to toilet tissue. But trees can be hidden in many other things we use each day.

Here’s a quiz to test your Tree-Q: which of the following 15 items contain tree products?

Trees also provide enormous ecosystem benefits, from storing atmospheric carbon, to cooling and humidifying air, preventing erosion and filtering pollutants. Trees can even make you feel better. In Japan, Shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing”) is used therapeutically for relaxation and stress management, and walks in the woods have been shown to enhance immune function.

National Tree Day and Royal Botanical Gardens are a natural match. The RBG Arboretum on the north shore of Cootes Paradise is our living tree library, with spectacular, open-grown specimens of dozens of species including majestic Pin Oak (Quercus palustis), American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Kentucky Coffee Tree (Gymnocladus dioicus). Our nature sanctuaries are home to 90 tree species, and we’ve been working on identifying trees with heritage value. Dozens have been mapped that are well over 100 years old and approaching 30m (100’) in height. Take a walk on the north shore trails from the Arboretum and you can see Canada’s biggest Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), and a White Oak (Quercus alba) thought to be almost 200 years in age. Our Heritage Trees webpage will help you plan your visit; why not make it a goal to visit these amazing plants this fall?

And the answers to the quiz?? Ingredients in all of those everyday products (and many more) are derived from trees.



 

The last long weekend of the summer delivered an unusual flighty visitor to Princess Point - a Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). Spotted by Paul Tavares, this is only the third Canadian record for this butterfly. The first two reports were recorded in 1994 - one at Point Pelee and the other at Ojibway Prairie in Windsor.

Like the Monarch (and the Red Admirals we mentioned in Botanical News back in the spring), the Long-tailed Skipper is a migratory butterfly. Their range is typically Central America through to Florida and Texas , but they can occasionally stray and colonize in more northern states and even more infrequently in Canada – which has given us the opportunity to experience such a rarity that this dry and hot summer has had to offer. The caterpillars of the Long-tailed Skipper feed on legumes such as Tick-trefoil (Desmodium) and Hog Peanut (Amphicarpa bracteata) which can be found at Princess Point. The adults feed on the flower nectar from a variety of plants. The wildflower diversity at Princess Point has been on the rise since RBG has put effort into restoring it to tallgrass prairie habitat in 2008 and plant diversity is expected to increase even more after a prescribed burn that is expected to take place next spring.

Another rare sighting at Princess Point occurred during this year’s Butterfly Count in July when a Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) was identified (this species has a similar range to the Long-tailed Skipper). Other notable Lepidoptera species spotted at Princes Point during our counts include an American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) in 2011 and this year we had Spicebush Swallowtails (Papilio troilus) and a Tawny Emperor (Asterocampa clyton). This has only been the second year that Princess Point has been included in our annual Butterfly Count and we are excited about future Lepidopteran surprises that this site may have in store.

For more information or to report your own unusual sighting visit http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/


 

The heat is not the only thing putting a dent in the health of local trees these days. An introduced beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer, is starting to take its toll in the region as well. This beetle arrived in southwestern Ontario from the US in the early 1990s and has been gradually spreading ever since.

The larva of the Emerald Ash Borer feed on the cambium (the living layer found under the bark) of ash trees (Fraxinus sp.). If enough beetles are present, they will sever the tree’s nutrient and water transport systems, eventually killing it. Substantial loss of ash trees has already occurred in southern Ontario, and they were first confirmed in Hamilton/Burlington in 2010. Our most obvious losses at RBG were seen last summer in the parking lot at RBG Centre; our final ash specimen was removed from the lot this spring.

White Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) is abundant in our nature sanctuaries and other ash species have been planted in our gardens, totalling over 10,000 trees. To manage the beetle invasion across RBG, a multipoint strategy is in place. This is highlighted by the replacement of ash trees with other native speciess in areas where extensive tree loss is expected, and preserving larger individual trees of special character found within the gardens and along our trails. To preserve trees, nineteen trees of special character were injected with an Emerald Ash Borer treatment to ensure their continued survival. These large and distinctive trees are located throughout the property, including the Arboretum, Hendrie Park and the north and south shores of Cootes Paradise, with the largest measuring 113 cm diameter. The Canada Food Inspection Agency is the designated agency responsible for managing this issue, and you can learn more about the beetle on their website. Individuals can help contain the spread by not moving wood from one area to another.

As we continue to combat the hot dry weather of summer, gardeners may be beginning to see signs of another potential threat to their gardens. The end of July and the start of August mark the emergence of a major garden pest, the Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica).

A non-native species, the Japanese beetle was first discovered on the east coast of the United States near the start of the 20th century. Almost 100 years later, the beetle has spread throughout many parts of the eastern U.S., as well as, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces. While still in the larval stage, P. japonica prefers to feed on the roots of grasses, potentially killing large patches of turf. Once mature they are known to feed on a wide variety of plant material, including roses, maples, corn, soy, apple, cherry and ash. Adults feed on foliage and/or fruit with heavy infestations skeletonizing many leaves or reducing a fruit crop.

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to effectively eliminate the Japanese Beetle from returning to your garden. Pheromone traps can be purchased, but will likely do more harm than good by attracting more beetles to your yard. Managing the beetles in your backyard is best done by quickly identifying any beetles and killing them by knocking them in to a jar of soapy water. Vigilance is key as the beetles will attract more to the area once established in your yard. The beetle is about 1 cm in length, has five white tufts of hair running along the abdomen with copper wing covers and a metallic green head. Larva may also be managed through the use of nematodes (Steinernema or Heterorhabditis spp.) or simply exposing the grubs to the surface can encourage predators to get an easy meal. Larval Japanese Beetles are roughly 2.5 cm-long white grubs that can be found near the soil surface in the spring and summer.

-T. Skuse, Student Gardener


 

While motorcyclists travelled to Port Dover for Friday the 13th of July, odonate experts and enthusiasts flocked to RBG for our annual dragonfly and damselfly count. This group of volunteers and staff counted and identified a total of 895 individual odonates (dragonflies and damselflies are in the family Odonata), representing 27 different species.

Highlights included three Unicorn Clubtails (a provincially rare species), two Spot-winged Gliders, three Tule Bluets, nine Sweetflag Spreadwings, and one Dot-tailed Whiteface. This was also the first count where we found five Red Saddlebags. Overall, a total of 333 dragonflies and 552 damselflies were seen and recorded during the count.

We would like to thank those who braved the heat and volunteered! Your help during the count was greatly appreciated. We hope to see everyone, as well as those who were interested but couldn’t make it out this year, at next year’s count!


 

Royal Botanical Gardens has contributed to many different scholarly efforts over the years. Between 1985 and 1995, RBG produced an interdisciplinary scholarly journal entitled Canadian Horticultural History, in collaboration with a program called the Centre for Canadian Historical Horticultural Studies. Edited by RBG’s Librarian Ina Vrugtman, for a decade the journal published a wide variety of scholarly treatments of the history of garden design, biographies of prominent horticulturists and landscape architects, articles on the floristic exploration of Canada, and many other related subjects.

The eight bound issues of Canadian Horticultural History are now available on-line, free of charge, through the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an international consortium of natural history and botanical libraries, including among others the American Museum of Natural History, The Field Museum, Harvard University Botany Libraries, Missouri Botanical Garden, The New York Botanical Garden, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This consortium is scanning and making available biodiversity and botanical literature from around the world. In June 2012 the library at Missouri Botanical Garden completed scanning Canadian Horticultural History.

You can access Canadian Horticultural History free of charge at the Biodiversity Heritage Library web site, including having access to the journal either as images of each page or as “OCR” text, at: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/60850


 

Having recently rearranged RBG’s Cacti and Succulent Collection the opportunity has arisen to highlight an interesting but overlooked plant in that collection. Echinocactus grusonii known as Golden Barrel Cactus (or more interestingly Mother-in-Law’s Cushion) is native to the volcanic slopes of Mesa de Léon in Mexico. It’s a plant that is commonly seen in garden centres and used in the horticultural trade but whose interesting story, when revealed, is far more complex.

E. grusonii is a highly charismatic plant not just for its good looks and spiny temperament but because of the compelling story it tells us about our planet’s biodiversity. The conservation status of E. grusonii was published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its Red List in 2002 where it was found to be Critically Endangered. Any organism assigned this category faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild and in the immediate future. So what makes this common plant in the horticultural trade so very rare in its wild habitat?

The problem in this case is a result of the activity of our own species and the consequences these activities cause. E. grusonii is a highly desirable plant due to its magnificent growth habit. This is typically a large, low and cylindrical ribbed green stem with numerous areoles producing ferocious radial yellow spines, topped off by bright yellow flowers one to two inches wide on mature plants. In other words it looks cool and, as we know, human beings display a tendency to collect and covet things that are cool. E. grusonii has, as a result, suffered seriously from over collection drastically reducing plant numbers in its wild population. This has further been compounded by the destruction of its natural habitat due to the construction of the Zimpán dam and reservoir in the 1990’s. It is estimated by the IUCN that the total number of plants that remain is less than 250 in an area of occupancy less than 10 km⊃;. As if this isn’t all bad enough the remaining plants are still under continued threat from illegal collection or poaching. So much for looking cool then! It is thought that within the next thirty years E. grusonii will become extinct in the wild, with the only genetically viable plants remaining in the plant collections of botanical gardens. Those plants in the horticulture trade although numerous provide very little hope as the genetic variability required to sustain a species is absent due to methods of clonal propagation leading to unsustainable genetic variation.

This story thus reveals a completely different side to a plant that we normally regard as being common place but that in reality has a complex and challenging future. Revealing these meaningful stories reduces the ignorance we have of our planet. It also shows the value of plant collections and botanic gardens and the critical role they play in plant conservation. The role botanic gardens play in interpretation and storytelling is critical to the hope of reducing our global ignorance of biodiversity. This allows us to better understand the world around us, make informed decisions and plan for the future. The interesting case of E. grusonii is an insightful lesson that provides us with a moment of reflection. Not everything we take for granted as being common is in fact plentiful. All organisms including our own species have a point of no return. In this particularly case, ignorance is not bliss.


 

Two hundred years ago, the area known as Burlington Heights was a critical staging area and defensive position for the British army. RBG is commemorating the war and celebrating two centuries of peace with the United States by establishing a Peace Garden at the memorial site—a joint effort of our Horticulture, Natural Lands and Education Departments.

Volunteers helped us plant thousands of plants on what seemed like the only rainy days this spring. The centerpiece of the garden consists of two triangles of 906 red geraniums (a total of: 1812 red geraniums, the unofficial flower for 1812 commemorations) in front of the T.B. McQuesten Lookout, planted by volunteers from the Bank of Montreal. Along with interpretive signage, the site will be enhanced with two benches and a scope for viewing the city, Hamilton Harbour, Carroll’s Bay and, on clear days, the Stoney Creek Battlefield Tower.

On either side of the monument, turf has been allowed to naturalize, returning the area to the prairie feel it might have had in the early 1800’s. Prairie species that were planted by a volunteer team from Union Gas include Sky Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans), which would have been common on the Heights at the time of the War of 1812. Seeds to grow these plants were all collected from our nature sanctuaries. In addition to planting the islands, two striking Ontario native prairie species, Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) and Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum) were interspersed throughout the remainder of meadow by the volunteers.

A mown path through the turf allows visitors to escape the sidewalk and York Boulevard for a stroll through the meadow, and an opportunity to learn more about this cultural landscape through interpretive audio and signage that will be installed soon. In the initial stage of the project a significant number of trees were removed; some of these were weedy species and others were in poor condition. The remaining stage will be more tree work, involving cooperation between CN Rail and RBG so that views can be opened up by selected pruning and removal of woody plants on the harbour side of the fence.

The project was made possible with the financial assistance of Shell Environmental Fund and the Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport.

Veggie Village is a display garden that shows visitors how to create a veggie garden in any space, for any lifestyle. Veggie Village is home to nine small gardens, each of which is personified by different characters. Each garden is an example of how anyone can reduce their carbon footprint by growing, buying, and eating locally grown produce. Each characters lifestyle is depicted through their garden. Characters vary from “Grandmother Judy” who has a traditional garden with heritage vegetables and heirloom flowers, to student “Emma” who keeps an eclectic apartment balcony and uses odds and ends as containers. Growing a garden does not need to be hard work and it can be very satisfying to go from planting the seed to eating the fruits of your labour. Growing your own produce is not only good for your health, it is also economical and environmentally friendly.

This week Veggie Village was kick started. Anne, our fellow student gardener, and one of the people on the original Veggie Village planning team, is the lead hand on the planting . The beds have been weeded, soil has been cultivated and this year’s crop is ready to be planted. These gardens will be home to many varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs such as broccoli (Brassica oleracea (Italica Group)), strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa), and basil (Ocimum basilicum).

Visit Veggie Village and take the pledge to use locally grown produce in at least one meal a week for a year and help reduce your carbon footprint. Student Gardener – Rachel Boyce

This week, the Hendrie Park crew has started planting annuals in the scented garden. The soil has been turned and the flowers are starting to bloom. The scents vary from chocolate mint to licorice. As you walk through the garden you will also notice the large fountain in the center as well as the Hendrie Gates. These gates have great historical value, which is explained on the plaque nearby. It’s going to be beautiful this weekend, make sure to come and visit the Royal Botanical Gardens! Student Gardener – Evan James

Do you have Pussy-toes (Antennaria spp.) or Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) in your garden? While these native species are valued for their soft silvery foliage and drought tolerance, they have another great feature – they are butterfly host plants.

If, in the last week or two you’ve noticed these plants looking a little rough, with their leaves pulled together by thread-like webbing, please know that they are going to look worse in the next two weeks, and that they will bounce back soon. Inside these woven shelters are the caterpillars of American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis). They are in their initial instars munching away on the leaves and stems and growing rapidly. At first they are black with small spines, but eventually you will notice white or yellow cross-bands and a row of wide spots on the sides. The American Painted Lady butterfly overwinters in southern United States through to northern South America and migrates in the spring arriving in southern Ontario in May. Like many other butterflies, they benefitted from a mild winter and are numerous this spring. The caterpillars will continue to eat the plants for about 12 to 18 days and then pupate into a mottled chrysalis. In about 10 days this second generation adult will emerge as adults and repeat the cycle. A third generation may be seen early in the fall as well.

Please enjoy your new backyard residents, and watch for them on the wing in the summer!

This week was very productive. After emptying the reflecting pond at Hendrie Park, staff and students filled the ponds with aquatic plants such as Water Lily (Nymphaea sp.) and Canna (Canna) and others. The tropical water lilies were held back as the water temperature must be above 24°C in order for the plants to survive and prosper in the reflecting pond. That job will have to wait until a later date! — Marco Fable, Student Gardener

Though the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hipposcastanum) may be a mess-maker in the fall with its large and inedible chestnuts, it has a beautiful display of flowers in mid to late spring. Right now we have several trees just coming into bloom. Some can be seen while driving along Plains Road. This tree has large inflorescences of showy white to pink blooms from the bottom of the tree all the way to the top. A related tree known as the Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) has yellow blooms. Most common are the white flowers: look closely and you see more detail - in the centre of the white petals is a pretty pink and yellow patch inside the throat.

Horse Chestnuts are generally easy to care for, but can grow rather large. A climate zone between 3-7 is needed and lots of generous watering, something essential with these trees when there is a drought. Horse Chestnuts are the first to show signs of drought stress by wilting their leaves and browning at the edges, which can be an eyesore. Keep in mind that though they have very beautiful flowers, they may not always smell nice! Be prepared with a rake and bucket come fall when all the chestnuts fall and clutter your yard. — Darcy Wienk, Student Gardener

Recent visitors may have noticed construction activity in the rafters of the Mediterranean Garden. The people on ladders are not firemen in training--they are skilled contractors replacing the shade curtain system that helps us control temperature and light levels in this unique display area.

Growing plants under glass is a complicated affair. A myriad of variables interact with one another creating a habitat that may or may not be suitable for plants. Controlling the environment is the key to achieving success.

The emphasis is on providing enough light, since the plants are growing indoors. While not often easy in a home environment, a greenhouse allows maximum exposure to sunlight year round. As days lengthen and light intensity increases in the spring, the sun’s rays (pouring into an enclosed “glass box”) cause the temperatures in greenhouses to spiral out of control. Readings of 55°C are not out of the question; temperatures not fit for man, beast, or plants.

Shading helps moderate the effect of solar gain. In addition to reducing light levels to prevent scorching of leaves, shading lessens the amount of the sun’s energy that enters the greenhouse, keeping it from becoming a sweat box. In addition, a properly constructed shade system saves energy by keeping warmth IN the house at night. An added benefit is that shading diffuses light, making dark areas lighter in addition to shading overly bright spots.

RBG’s new system is a retractable one, allowing the curtains to be open on cloudy days and closed only when they need to be to achieve the precise control that helps our collection thrive. Motors pull the shades across at the flip of a switch and someday photo sensors will eliminate the need to toggle them open or closed. If they operate as they should, you won’t even notice them. But the plants can tell!

By Alex Henderson, Curator of Collections

It is one of those crazy years. You know, the ones that occur once in a blue moon and completely throw you for a loop? This spring, everything seems to be flowering at once. It’s not often that mid-April blooms hold on as long as they have (as a result of our recent cool weather), while paradoxically, May’s blooms have accumulated enough heat from the warmer days back in March, to produce blooms two weeks earlier than usual. As a result, the living collections and gardens are a riot of colour, with everything in bloom at once. Come for a visit and you’ll find that along with the customary Tulips (Tulipa) we expect in early May, you’ll have Magnolias (Magnolia), Cherries (Prunus), Crabapples (Malus) and Lilacs (Syringa) all vying for your undivided attention.

The climate is always a popular talking point at botanical gardens as so much of the year’s promise is dependent on climate patterns. After consulting with some of my colleagues, it appears that 1998 was the last time this part of Ontario experienced this magnitude of bloom collision and floral anarchy. Talking to other colleagues, some feel a level of disorientation that’s akin to a floristic version of jet lag. In my own case, I feel a little out of sorts too. In March, I was in the UK where the blooms were equally early. As a result, for the first time in my life I have experienced a temperate spring twice in a single year. Most disconcerting!

While this might seem like a cool (no pun intended) experience, one has to hope that an anarchic spring such as this won’t seriously disrupt migrations, phenology or pollination cycles upon which the rhythms of the natural world depend. If I feel confused sitting in my nice safe, comfortable, climate-controlled office, imagine what it takes for the flora and fauna to adapt and react to these crazy climate patterns!

Each year hundreds of school students put on their thinking caps, roll up their sleeves and work hard on innovative, exciting projects for school science fairs. The best projects from Hamilton and Halton schools make it to the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF), a prestigious annual event that sends winners on to the Canada-wide Science Fair. For many years Royal Botanical Gardens has sponsored a special award for the best project in botanical or environmental sciences. The prize is a $100 gift certificate from the Shop @ the Gardens and a one-year family membership.

Our 2012 Royal Botanical Gardens Award winner is Heather McBrien of Westmount Secondary School in Hamilton, level 9/10 in the Earth & Environmental Science Division, for her project entitled "Seed Sprouts." Heather applied sound experimental design to test whether nickel in water would inhibit the sprouting or growth of bean plants. She found that, compared to the control group, seeds which experienced nickel in the water sprouted and grew poorly. In her well-documented display, Heather discussed the potential for nickel pollution to become serious in the food chain, or bioaccumulate. In addition to the RBG award, Heather's project earned a BASEF Bronze Merit Award and two additional special awards: the IISEF- Association for Women GeoScientists Award and the Hillfield Strathallan College Award of Excellence for Biological Sciences.

If you were outside on the weekend and early this week (April 14-16), you may have noticed some admirals engaged in aerial manoeuvres in your yard, street or park. No, we’re not talking about members of the Navy. The small, fast-flying butterflies that you see swirling about right now are part of a tidal wave of Red Admiral butterflies that is currently sweeping across southern Ontario. Some have estimated the numbers arriving to be in the millions each day.

Carried along on currents of strong south and southwest winds (part of the same system that spawned deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma on the weekend), these butterflies are arriving from the US in enormous numbers, called an “irruption”. Higher than normal numbers are seen from time to time, and this winter the record warm temperatures across eastern North America may have contributed to a higher than normal rate of survival of the adults during overwintering, resulting in the tremendous wave we’re experiencing now.

Readily identified by the vibrant red bands that cross the topside of all four wings (but only the underside of its forewings), the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is found all around the northern hemisphere. It is one of a handful of butterfly species that must recolonize Ontario from the US each spring, in the same way that the Monarch butterfly returns from Mexico. The “grand-butterflies” of the adults arriving now will try to overwinter in Canada, though usually without success as they can’t cope with our cold temperatures.

The adult males that we are seeing this week will set up and patrol a territory, waiting for females while chasing away any other males that come near. After mating, the female lays eggs on the leaves of Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica), their main host plant. Other members of the nettle family (Urticaceae), and hops (Humulus) may also be used. Over the spring and summer, two generations of eggs will hatch into spiny caterpillars that spend their larval days grazing on nettle leaves (after first folding the leaves into a protective shelter stuck together with silk). These caterpillars pupate and emerge as butterflies; the first flight emerges in late June, goes through its life cycle and produces a second generation that will be seen on the wing in September. These are the unfortunate butterflies that will enter hibernation here and never awaken as they usually succumb to winter’s cold. Next spring, Red Admirals will move north to reinvade Ontario again.

It’s likely that this spectacular show won’t appear again for a number of years so make sure to get outdoors and salute the admirals while you can!

With the warm weather pushing everything two to three weeks forward, the Japanese flowering cherry trees in the Arboretum and Rock Garden are in peak bloom this week (the second week of April). That means it is hanami and sakura time, an ephemeral rite of spring in Japan.

Hanami (meaning flower viewing) is the traditional Japanese custom of viewing cherry blossoms (sakura). Hanami can be as simple as a stroll to observe sakura trees, or if you feel more adventurous, a full-fledged hanami party consisting of a picnic and celebration under the trees. In Japan, these often last well into the evening. The aim of hanami is to experience the intensity of the sakura blooms by looking at a single tree or a group of trees, which resemble pinks clouds against the pure azure skies of spring.

Cherry blossom season is ephemeral as the delicate blooms don’t last long in wind or rain. Full bloom (mankai) is usually reached about one week after the opening of the first blooms (kakai). Another week later the sakura peak is over in a shower of petals falling from the trees.

In 2010 and 2011, RBG expanded its cherry tree collection with the help of the Consulate General of Japan in Toronto. Their Sakura Project is designed to spread cherry trees throughout Ontario as a sign of continued good relations and friendship shared by the people of Canada and Japan.

Why not pick up some sushi, and picnic amongst our sakura at the Arboretum or Rock Garden this week? What better way to banish the winter blues and welcome in the spring!

The weather, most notably our minimalist winter and extraordinarily warm start to spring, has infiltrated almost every conversation around here for many weeks. Now that April is arrived, we are receiving our annual influx of, “When will the _____ bloom this spring?” inquiries (you can fill in the blank with the name of the collection of your choice). Unfortunately we aren’t equipped with crystal balls to help us figure out what the future will hold, however, we can use science to help us look back over the last month and get a measure of just how far ahead our plants are this year. That science is a calculation of heat accumulation that is expressed in units called growing degree days.

Temperature drives the development of plants (and invertebrates as well), and a particular amount of heat is needed to move a species from one point in its life cycle to another. The amount of heat required to move a species from one threshold to another is consistent, but cooler than normal temperatures will slow down growth and lengthen the time it takes to reach a threshold, just as warmer temperatures will send growth in to overdrive (as is the case this spring).

Calculating degree days involves measuring the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, dividing their sum by two, and subtracting a base temperature (in our case, 5°C). As part of our plant phenology program, we have tracked degree days for years and so we are able to compare this year’s chart to the average for the last 20 years. As of the end of March, we had accumulated 112 degree days! On average, over the past 20 years, only 107 degree days have been accumulated by the end of April. In essence, the cycles of most species are a full month or more ahead. That explains the phenomena we’ve seen, like Forsythia and some Magnolia in bloom in March, and Cherry (Prunus) starting bloom in the first week of April. Our trails are dry already and Trout Lily (Erythronium) and Trillium flowers are ready to open any day, while Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and Hepatica (Anemone) are wrapping up their spring frenzy already.

Animals are feeling the heat too, with the Cootes Paradise Fishway seeing fish runs of species like Bass (normally a mid-April run) in March. Tree Swallows arrived early, being seen here in mid-March as well, something that can be disastrous when a cold spell hits and sends the insects that these aerial insectivores hunt, into hiding. Frogs have already been heard in full spring chorus, and turtles were out basking in our wetlands as early as St. Patrick’s Day (even though for the last two years, people were still skating at Sunfish Pond and Princess Point at that time!).

The sunshine and balmy Easter weekend forecast means that this will be an excellent weekend for nature sightings at RBG and we urge you to join in the Hamilton tradition of a Good Friday hike on our 27 kilometres of trails. Our gardens are open for the season beginning on Friday, April 6, and we also have special Easter activities planned at RBG Centre and our Chocolate exhibition.

The warm winter and early arrival of spring are having an impact on all sorts of RBG activities. Each year we ask for donations of used Christmas trees for ongoing work on the Grindstone Marshes berms but this winter’s lack of ice prevented our staff from moving these trees over the ice. Moving them by boat proved to be a double challenge as an extra large pile of trees (+3000) had been acquired to assist in repairing damage due to flooding and high water in 2011. The massive pile of trees buried the Spring Garden Road access for two months while staff waited frustratedly for ice to form.

The tree dispersal turned into a race against time. They had to be floated out to the berm by boat, twenty at a time, then hand-placed prior to the arrival of the carp (which were expected to be early due to the incredibly warm temperatures we have had: in a typical year, carp arrive at the site about the third week of April). The reconstruction of one kilometre of Christmas tree berm was completed in time and staff are optimistic that the carp will remain excluded from the marsh areas in 2012. Water levels overtopped the restoration berms in 2011, and while lake levels are continuing to be above average, they are no longer rising this spring. Thanks to our berm repairs, water levels would have to rise a further 50 cm (20”) to overtop the project this year. With the early spring and extra long growing season ahead, we are looking forward to a very successful year of marsh restoration!

This spring’s above average temperatures has advanced the flowering times of some trees and shrubs by at least 2-3 weeks compared to previous years. This advancement in phenology followed by erratic cold snaps and freezing temperatures has caused the tender flower tissues, particularly of Magnolias to be browned off or killed.

Frost damage in plants results from the water content within cells freezing and forming ice crystals. When the water in the cells freezes it expands and as the ice crystals expand they rupture the cell walls. This leads to the characteristic dead brown flowers or mushy brown flower buds which are clearly visible in the aftermath of a snap freeze. This year the situation has been further compounded by relatively warm temperatures all winter long meaning the flowers were not subject to the normal colder weather which would usually harden flower buds leaving them more cold hardy.

Despite the fact that the dead blooms will not recover this year, this is a temporary aesthetic problem and thankfully the magnolias themselves are not permanently damaged in the longer term and will flower again from next season given normal climatic conditions.

Given some additional luck, a number of flower buds which have not opened and so far avoided the frosts may yet flower and be unaffected by the cooler temperatures, so fingers crossed, we may get some magnolia flower colour this year albeit in greatly reduced volume and quality of bloom.

Hamilton’s unseasonable (RECORD!) warm weather this March, and the mild winter that preceded it, has pushed the season for early spring flowers ahead by at least two weeks—and in some cases more. Narcissus ‘Rip Van Winkle’ normally wouldn’t make an appearance much before the middle of April, but was the first daffodil in the new Narcissus Collection to bloom at RBG, awakening from his winter nap on March 22nd!

We don’t expect the early warmth to have any lasting damaging impacts at RBG. While fruit growers and vignerons have more cause for concern, gardeners and growers of ornamental plants merely have an advanced season—and one likely to settle into more usual rhythms after the exertions of spring have passed.

Pollinators are the ecological partners of many of the world's plants, but we don't know nearly enough about them. For University of Guelph Professor Emeritus Peter Kevan, understanding and conserving pollinators has been a life’s work, and a passion. Professor Kevan is member of the Royal Society of Canada and has been an RBG Research Associate since 2006. A new species of bee that has been recently discovered in the Brazilian state of Bahia has been named Chilicola kevani in his honour. A press release from the University of Guelph conveyed his excitement about the honour: “I am chuffed about it. It’s always an honour to receive kudos from my colleagues, but I am particularly pleased about this.” Professor Kevan’s interest in insect ecology has long brought him into contact with the botanical gardens community. Royal Botanical Gardens is pleased to be part of the Canadian Pollinator Initiative, or CANPOLIN, which was founded by Professor Kevan. CANPOLIN is a network of research and educational institutions across Canada “examining the complex problem of pollination decline in agricultural and natural ecosystems” and supported by NSERC, the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Photograph of Professor Kevan by Martin Schwalbe. Provided courtesy of University of Guelph

The Cootes Paradise Nature Sanctuary is expected to rear Lake Ontario’s first eagles in more than 50 years. A young pair has called the marsh home for the last two to three years, and the now fully mature eagles are again active at the nest site. They have relocated this year, taking up residence in the nesting platform constructed in a White Pine in 2009. As of March 7, the eagles are sitting on the nest with mating activity observed two weeks previous. This nest site/platform tree is much more \ sheltered than the 2011 nest site, with the platform tree located on the east side of a large ridge (which undoubtedly served them well during recent 90+km/hr west wind gusts. This location is about 300m from the Marsh Walk boardwalk, and is clearly observable from both the Marsh Walk platform as well as from a position about halfway along the boardwalk. If all goes well, the estimated hatching date for the eaglets is the second week of April. RBG staff will continue to monitor activity on an ongoing basis from a distance, and hikers are asked to approach no closer than the Marsh Walk Trail. Visitor access to the Marsh Walk boardwalk and platform is available through the RBG Arboretum, following the Captain Cootes Trail to Bull’s Point Trail, and then to Marsh Walk Trail. Trail maps are available online or at RBG Centre, with the Arboretum is open 10 a.m. to dusk daily. Click here for more information about the eagles and Royal Botanical Gardens.

• At RBG Centre, stroll through the atrium, where thousands of lilies will be on display for cut-stem competitions.
• Head upstairs to the lily art show in the mezzanine, showcasing local artists.
• In Hendrie Park, discover our newly renovated lily collection.
• At RBG Centre, attend a free lecture about lilies:
  Friday, July 15th
  • 10:30 am - 1:15 am – “Using Lilies in the Garden” with RBGs Head of Horticulture, Carlo Balistrieri
  • 11:30 am - 12:15 pm – “Designing with Lilies” with Wendy Downing

• Special coatings on the low-e glass that reduce energy use year-round.
• Design that allows winter sun to enter the building; summer sun is shaded by an outside overhang and shade curtains.
• Radiant heating system in lower level floors.
• Special ventilation systems that reduce the amount of heating and cooling required, and recover waste heat.
• A living wall of plants that humidifies and filters return air.
• A system for rainwater harvesting; this is filtered and used for plants and low-flow toilets.

Photo courtesy of Bill Bright - RBG auxiliary

The international team assembled in at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, in Dunlin, in June 2009 to revise the UN’s Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. RBG’s Head of Science, Dr. David Galbraith, is 8th from the left.

UN Biodiversity Treaty Approves Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

In October 2010 the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the treaty on protecting life on earth, met in Nagoya, Japan, the tenth such meeting since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Among the decisions adopted by this international forum was a revised Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).

In an effort to halt the extinction of the world’s plants, the more than 190 nations that are Parties to the CBD approved the original global strategy in 2002. It consists of 16 specific targets for the world community to achieve to help protect and use plants sustainably. The original strategy called for progress on the targets to be achieved by 2010. The renewed strategy includes updated targets and a new date for assessment of progress of 2020.

Since 2001, Royal Botanical Gardens’ Head of Science, Dr. David Galbraith, has been part of the international effort to develop the global strategy and track its subsequent progress. In 2008 Dr. Galbraith helped to write a global report on plant conservation and progress on the GSPC, which was published by the United Nations Environment Program in 2009. That year Dr. Galbraith was also one of a small international team who met in Dublin, Ireland to revise the original strategy in advance of the Nagoya conference.

Royal Botanical Gardens is at present the only Canadian botanical garden participating in the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation, an informal network of botanical gardens, non-governmental organizations, government and UN agencies around the world that work together to support the global strategy.

Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson, then Director of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, in Dunlin, enjoys a copy of RBG’s Paradise Found in 2009. In September 2010 Dr. Wyse Jackson was apointed Director of Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, MO. He also is the Chair of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation.