American Chestnut Mississauga Port Credit Gone with the Winds at Brueckner Rhododendron Gardens

One less American Chestnut in Southern Ontario as grand old tree became a storm casualty at Brueckner garden in Port Credit Mississauga.

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A short but violent windstorm on Friday September 3 claimed one of the few remaining American chestnuts in Brueckner garden, and indeed in all of southern Ontario. And the saddest aspect, perhaps, is we never knew it was 'sick'.

Here are some pictures that show this chestnut tree in full and glorious bloom, and after the wind storm brought it down. Click on an image to enlarge, then click Back button to return to this page.

American Chestnut in Bloom

Here's a picture of this America Chestnut tree (middle, tallest tree) taken in early June, 2010. If you visit the Garden, you may recognize its location as the west garden between the heritage Brueckner Rhododendron garden and the entrance parking area.

This chestnut leafed out beautifully, and was laden with blooms on every branch. It gave no hint that it was stressed. It had survived / avoided the chestnut blight that decimated most of these trees last century, and countless storms. it appeared the picture of chestnut health.

Close Up Photo of American Chestnut Flowers

These are the chestnut flowers of this same tree. Almost overshadowed by the featured rhodos at the height of their bloom, these chestnut blooms added to the overall lushness of the spring blooming gardens.

Wind storm claims a Grand old American Chestnut Tree

Here's the picture I took the evening following the sudden violent wind and rain storm that swept through this part of southern Ontario the Friday afternoon start to the Labour Day weekend. This storm brought a large amount of rain, and high winds, but little or no lightning or thunder.

Chestnut Tree Fallen on BRG Trail

This picture is taken from the start of the trail from the parking area entrance, looking south towards the Heritage Rhodo beds. The blooming flowers are in the Annual Bed.  I had entered the Gardens from the (opposite) southeast entrance, at Godfrey's Lane, and several visitors, noticing I was taking pictures, mentioned the large tree down at the west entrance.

American Chestnut ~ Rotten at the Core

As this damage occurred at the start of a long weekend, city crews could only mark the chestnut with tape until workers could remove it. City staff I spoke to said that although a number of trees and branches had fallen in the storm, this chestnut was the largest tree they had seen.

It's difficult to appreciate the girth of this tree, but the remaining sawn-off stump is almost 3 feet across. And in the core, you can see the cavity damage that weakened it, fatally.

American Chestnut Backdrop for Kennedy Plaque Dedication

This chestnut was in bloom when the Kennedy Memorial Plaque was unveiled in June 2009 (white flowers, top left).

Kennedy Memorial Plaque Safe Between the Chestnut Branches

Incredibly, the Harold Kennedy Memorial stand with plaque emerged unscathed in the midst of the enormous fallen Chestnut canopy.

Chestnut takes out Plantings around Kennedy Plaque

One of the shrub beds around the Kennedy Memorial Plaque was collateral damage from the falling chestnut tree. The shrubs to the right in this photo are fine, but the ones to the left, including a new standard rose tree, are gone but one, and will be replaced as soon as possible.

Willow Tree Branch ~ Waterfront Trail at West Side, South Bridge

Coming in via the Southeast garden, as I had, I first encountered this willow branch that had fallen across this part of the Waterfront Trail. Willows are notorious for losing large bits or entire trees during windstorms. See this post for one of the fallen willows.

As with much else, so too with this late, great American Chestnut tree at the Garden: You don't know what you've lost until it's gone. Indeed, I didn't even realize until now that American Chestnuts are on the endangered species list.

There is one other large chestnut tree in the Garden, and I posted the link to a previous post about Carolinian forest trees  below. Also for reference are links to American chestnut tree information.

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Related information, Pictures:
Last Chestnut at Brueckner Gardens?
ROM Royal Ontario Museum - American Chestnut
Canadian Chestnut Council