Blogs

If you’ve been spending any time outside in the past couple days (which you should!), you may have noticed a little change in the air. The aroma of new blossoms means that spring has officially sprung, and the tree-lined streets are decorated with pink and white blossoms, adding some colour to the previously bare branches.

April showers have finally subsided and the sun is shining through that clear blue sky to bring life to those May flowers that are itching to bloom. As I write to you from a sun-soaked patio, sounds of spring are all around me. The warm breeze is keeping everyone’s spirits high as passersby sing a happy tune and greet each other with friendly waves and kind smiles. Oh, how I love the city when the sun shines!

This time I was in the mood for white pine tea from the tree’s needle bundles. The white pine can grow to be 40 meters tall and thrives in full sunlight. You might know this tree as the white pine, whose forests originally spread throughout much of northeastern North America, although only one percent of old-growth forests remain.

Our featured Tree Tender grad this week, Lucy Perri, comes from Scarborough near the Don Valley East – land of the Highland Creek and Taylor Massey Creek. Lucy took the course in May 2010, which helped her realize her desire to revitalize the landscape around her condo and the surrounding areas, and empowered her to advocate on their behalf. When she’s not watching over the trees in her own neighbourhood, Lucy loves to visit the Rouge Valley, and Tommy Thompson and Colonel Danforth parks.