We’re talking Autumn! Autumn planting, clean-up, fertilizer… you may even see us get a little festive! What should Colin dress up as for Halloween? Taking any and all suggestions now. My vote has to be a tree.
Well this week, Colin explored a little more about Trees. Trees go through a very unique seasonal journey, especially here in Alberta where they’re up against some extreme weather at times. There are a few classes of trees. There’s deciduous, which are the leafy ones that turn gorgeous colour in the Autumn before they drop their leaves. There’s the conifer, or cone-bearing, kinds that are “evergreen” year round and don’t drop their needles. Then, there’s the mix of both, and you’ll see this in the Larch tree. This soft needle-like tree turns a vibrant golden colour in the Autumn before dropping those needles. If you get the chance, check out Larch Valley here in Alberta to catch their amazing colour. This just begs the question: Why do leaves change colour this time of year? It all comes down to Photosynthesis and how much sun the plants are receiving. During Photosynthesis the plant processes CO2, water, and sunlight to create glucose (sugar), which is its food. Colin goes into more explanation, that’s just the Colin’s notes 😉
By Thursday, Colin had already given away a tree! This is a Weeping Norway Spruce, a lovely hardy evergreen that went to our lovely new friend Pascale! Because we’re total plant nerds, we asked if we could plant it as well, and bring you along for the experience! What a great opportunity to show you how to plant a tree in Autumn! That video is now up on our YouTube channel, as well as our IGTV and Facebook pages if you’d like to see that! In that video, Colin chose to use this really awesome, Alberta made, compost blend from our friends at Annelida Casting Innovations. It’s full of all the good growing stuff like bio char, volcanic rock dust, forest fines, worm castings, compost, and Mycorrhizal Fungi. It honestly made planting this Spruce super easy. One bag you just dump and go. You can grab a bag either in store, or online here. So happy to see the Pascale fam enjoying their new tree!
If you’d like to catch up on this weeks episodes on trees, head over to our YouTube channel, Facebook, or IGTV!
