The storm on March 4th damaged trees all over Toronto, including a few here at KAL.
A combination of snow, high winds, and warming temperatures meant that the snow, near melting as it fell, stayed on branches growing heavier and heavier. The Weather Chanel compared the weight of this snow to concrete.
At KAL, tall cedars were bent to the ground, and several in the bed along the front of the building to the west of the main entrance were toppled and uprooted.
The March 4th storm was a textbook example of why tall, pyramidal evergreens like cedars are particularly vulnerable when planted close to buildings with flat roofs like ours. A thick layer of snow builds up on the roof, strong winds whip over and can bring heavy snow and ice sheets crashing down onto the dense foliage of these trees which cannot bear the weight.
The demise of the cedars provides an opportunity for soil remediation in an area that is almost solid, extremely compacted clay. The bed will be dug up and enriched with compost and worm castings from KAL’s own “Worm Farm”. The cedars will be replaced with shade loving, vase shaped or spreading, hardy evergreens and shrubs more suited to the location and the extremes of weather that are happening with increasing frequency.
In the Centre Courtyard, to the east of the fountain, a pair of tall, slim white birches, the last two of larger clump, were a notable casualty. One broke off at ground level and without its support, the second tree was falling over and had to be cut down by Central Tree Care.
The white birches in the Courtyard were planted in tight clumps of three or four during the late 50s. In city locations, these trees grow to medium height and generally live for 35 to 40 years. In optimal conditions at KAL they are nearly double that age, have grown extraordinarily tall to canopy height, and are thriving in a micro-climate at the top of a hill with excellent drainage, protected by high walls on three sides and bathed in sun from the south.
Succession planting for these majestic trees began several years ago. If you look between the clumps of mature birches you’ll see slender young “birch whips”. Their bark now grey will become white as they mature. They are planted singly rather than in clumps which, as the trees grow, entwine their roots, then as they age and hit maximum height, they pull away from each other weakening the root system, as happened with the two damaged by the storm.
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