Q & A’s for our Full-Time Arborist:

Q: What trees should we plant in our yard if we live in or near Grande Prairie?

A: It’s a good idea to choose trees that aren’t overdone in your area. For example, in the Country Club lots, you can find a lot of Elm trees, so I wouldn’t recommend Elm if you live in that area. In some of the newer neighbors around Grande Prairie, there’s a lot of Ash, Chute Chokecherry trees, Mission Tower Poplars, and Tower Aspens. When everyone plants the same trees, they’re far more likely to share diseases and have insect infestations.
Once you’ve identified trees that aren’t overplanted in your area, you can go ahead and select your trees—or give me a call and I can help you out.

Q: What are some tips for selecting which tree to plant?

A: Consider the following whenever you’re tree shopping:

1. What is the tree for? Shade, color, screening, attracting wildlife, not attracting wildlife… If you want fruit trees, do you want them for eating fresh, canning, or baking?
2. Is the planting site sheltered? Does it get full sun? Is there irrigation available? (You can find some great drought-resistant trees these days!)
3. Come browse our nursery! We have 11,000 trees in 200 varieties so you can browse all sorts of trees. And we have a few unique varieties like Butternut and Catalpas. Different trees have different needs, so we can talk through what’s best for your site.
4. Trees are a long-term investment, so make sure you talk to the experts before you buy.

Q: When is the best time to shop for trees?

A: Some trees are in higher demand and may have limited availability. The best time for tree shopping and landscape sourcing is generally the spring. That’s when we often have the best selection.

Q: What are the most popular sellers at your nursery?

A: The biggest seller with our residential customers is Crab Apple trees. For acreages, the most popular are Poplar trees. Always get a variety of trees—even for your tree line, a variety will help with disease resistance and diversity.
If you’re planning a windrow, 5 or 6 different species is a good number. If you mix in trees with different population growth rates, some will love longer than others and create a healthier windrow.

Q: How come arborists are so hard to find?

A: Unfortunately, very few colleges and universities offer training for this. We’re working to promote training and we hope that Canada will eventually have a Red Seal program for arborists.