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

Storm Damage Tecumseh Creek, Fallen Tree Removal, White Hydrangea Tree Blooms

Last night's terrific storm caused less damage at the BRG than it could have, given past storm damage in the Port Credit area and gardens. But evidence of high water levels in Thursday night's storm is shown along Tecumseh Creek that runs through the gardens parallel to the Waterfront Trail.

I took these pictures this morning, as well as one showing the progress of the removal of a large tree felled in an earlier storm. To end on a high note, there's a picture of a white hydrangea tree now in full bloom in the east Gardens.

Fallen Tree ~ August 9 Storm

A violent thunderstorm on Sunday August 9 with heavy rainfall was too much for this large tree to withstand; it snapped and fell onto private property, taking out several sections of fence as it went. (Photos: August 11).

Fallen Tree Godfrey's Lane Side BRG

Here's a closer look at the fallen tree, located on the east side of the BRG east of the middle bridge over Tecumseh Creek.

Storm Damage ~ Fallen Tree BRG

This tree on BRG (City of Mississauga) property landed mostly within private property that abuts the gardens.

Fallen Tree Removal Begins

Today, as I walked the gardens to see what havoc the storm had wrought, I noticed that the fallen tree removal has begun, and it's now cut into smaller sections, though still in situ. Drainage issues in this area are evident in the pooled water in the foreground. I understand the drainage issues on both sides of Tecumseh Creek in this section of the Gardens are now being addressed.

Tecumseh Creek Port Credit Storm Water Drain

This banks along Tecumseh Creek (seen here from the south bridge, nearest Lake Ontario) show how high the water rose last night. I've never seen it this high in the past three years that I have been monitoring it.

This area is always shady, thanks to the thicket of trees along the creek, but look closely (click image to enlarge, then click Back button to return to this page), and you'll see that last night's high waters washed out the soil from the base of several of these trees.

Tecumseh Creek Overflows Banks

Further north, at the middle bridge over the creek, the vegetation at the top of the bank has been flattened by the force and volume of water during last night's storm.

Tecumseh Creek ~ Patio Stones Not Naturalization

The area closest to the creek are either already naturalized, or in the process of being naturalized, and these patio stones are definitely not part of the program. The high water last night washed some of them downstream to Lake Ontario.

South Bridge Waterfront Trail at Lake Ontario

Though the creek sometimes meanders and pools here at the south bridge outlet into Lake Ontario, last night's rains forced a new, deep channel though the beach, straight into the lake.

Creek Floods Banks ~ Levels Vegetation

Though it's difficult to see depth in this photo, the vegetation along the creek is 18-24 inches above the usual water line, and today, it's knocked flat. All along Tecumseh Creek through the Gardens -- from Lakeshore and Shawnmarr south to the Lake Ontario shoreline -- plants and shrubs that are usually several feet above the creek are now lying flat after last night's heavy rains.

White Blooming Hydrangea Tree

As promised, here's a bit of cheer in the BRG: A lovely white hydrangea tree in full bloom. Find this beauty on the east side (Godfrey's Lane side - see map link in side menu) of the Gardens, between the annual bed at the Port Credit sign and the new bed with mounded topsoil.

Let's hope that, other than the now bare-root trees near the south bridge that may not make it, the 'Lose a Tree With Every Major Storm' jinx has now been broken!

Rose Garden, Wedding Pictures Rained Out July Storms

The July rain storms over Southern Ontario are doing no favours for the rose garden, and even less for brides who planned to take their wedding pictures at Brueckner Rhododendron Gardens this month.

Saturday, after the second of two deluges so far that day, I did a fast walk through the gardens to see how they were faring. Here are some pictures and a video of the aftermath. Click on a photo to enlarge it, then click the Back Button to return to this page.

Waterfront Trail

This year's unusually heavy and protracted July rainstorms have turned the lower-lying lawn into soggy marshes, and saturated the lawns and flower beds, overpowering drainage systems and flooding the creek. This picture shows the runoff flowing over the trail.

Second View ~ Waterfront Trail

These pictures show the scene two hours after Saturday's second rainstorm; the water had been draining towards the creek for some time already, but was still heavy enough to flood the trail along the creek. This area is prone to flooding (the water table is already very high here), so it's to be hoped the drainage issues can be resolved.

Lawns West of Waterfront Trail near middle bridge

In the above photo, you can see the pools of water; What you cannot see is how this water is also covering the entire lawn area. Take a step off the paved paths, and you're in an inch or two of cold water.

Rose Garden After the Rain

Here's how one of the rose garden beds looked several hours after the second rainstorm. A large hosta bed rises to the north and drains down the slope past the rose garden. Although the rose beds have had proper drainage installed, these unusually high rainfalls are simply too much for it to handle.

Over watered Rose Beds

The grounds and flower beds are simply saturated with all the rain water; As I write this Sunday afternoon, it's raining again, though not as hard (yet) as it had been during the two-hour deluge this morning. On the plus side, the lawns, shrubs, and large and newly planted trees are unseasonably green and lush.

Captain Samuel Holland Roses in Bloom at BRG

This rose bed is on a slope, and also at the top of the slope, and the rose bushes are well-established. This bed of Captain Samuel Holland - a Canadian Explorer rose - seems to be doing the best of all the rose beds. Even Chuckles, down near the bottom of the garden, was looking a little woebegone.

With much of the Gardens saturated, soggy, squishy and downright muddy, the usual volunteer tasks like weeding and planting will have to be put on hold until it dries out.

Let's hope the heavy, daily rain storms end soon! Volunteers need to get tending the rose and lily gardens. Outdoor wedding party photos look better, too, when taken on a sunny summer day.

Here's a short iMovie video of the high water levels in the creek that runs through the Gardens along the Waterfront Trail to Lake Ontario: If the video won't play, click the YouTube After the Rain link.

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End of A Weeping Willow - Spring Storm

*Update July 11, 2009
Today another storm took out a tree and branches at the BRG (pictures).
*Update August 21, 2009
August 20, August 9 storms
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April 25 2009 Storm:
On the east side of the Gardens, where Godfrey's Lane borders the park, the grassy meadow is scattered with picnic tables among the weeping willow trees. The sudden, violent windstorm that hit this area Saturday, April 25, took out one of the tall willows. I found a Before picture that I took a year and a half ago, so you can see how the tree used to look.

Weeping Willow Before

Note the position of the house on Godfrey's Lane in the background, and the smaller weeping willow just behind the tree in the foreground. I never used this picture as I didn't like the garbage can in the photo. Now, with the demise of the willow, I am glad to have it.

Weeping Willow After the Storm

Here's how I found the willow on Sunday morning after the storm. When the wind had started blowing hard the afternoon before, I noticed some people still sitting around the picnic tables, but I went running for cover, and left the picnickers to fend for themselves.

Close Up Center of Trunk of Weeping Willow

This is the interior of the fallen half of the willow tree. Though it had looked pretty solid when upright, you can see it was rotten to the core.

Interior Willow Tree Trunk Upright

Here's what the interior of the still-upright willow trunk looked like. Just the day before, I had made a comment about how lovely the willows looked in this half of the garden; another gardener responded that willows were brittle, and in a storm, the last place that you'd want to be is near one; they fall down easily and dramatically. Gives a whole new interpretation to The Wind in the Willows. Think of that as an alarm to clear out :-)

Weeping Willow Cut Up

I'd sent the above pictures to Para, who arranged for the fellows in Forestry to come cut down the tree. I am only sorry I didn't get over to the gardens to video them felling the tall bit. In a few hours (less?) the tree is ready for chipping and hauling away.

Weeping Willow Stump

This is all that's left of the stump and branches. Some good chipping to be done here. But the willow's demise makes for guilt-free planting of trees more suited to shading a Rhododendron Garden, and there is a long term plan to add more rhodos and rhodo habitat to this section of the garden.

The End of the Willow

And so, we say goodbye to a long serving shade tree, that sucked up water in a low lying area. Now to see what will replace it.

Update July 9, 2009
Yesterday, the city crew came to make wood chips out of the remains of the fallen weeping willow. (It had been so many weeks since the original willow collapse that I had wondered if the fallen tree was a new naturalization initiative.)

Weeping Willow Cleanup

City crew sawing and hauling tree remains to chipper. The head gardener decided not to use the remains of this tree as mulch in the BRG since it might be contaminated. Makes sense: After all, whatever killed the tree could kill other garden plants.

Wood Chipper Truck

I video'd the truck and small cat used to haul and chop the old tree sections into mulch. And since I couldn't get too close to the working men and machines, I used the zoom lens. Well, for that one really needs a tripod. Sorry the video didn't work out as hoped.