Make It Green Garden Centre

News

Centre Commons Update

Karen Carriere of Centre Commons has decided to wind down her perennial growing business.  All of us who enjoyed her quality growing of very hard to find and very new perennials will miss her. Some of the crops that Karen grows take two years and will be available at Make It Green this spring. We would like to thank Karen for the years she has grown for us. Karen grew a quality product, took great care in choosing and growing each plant and ran her business in an environmentally conscious and accountable way. We wish her best of luck in the future.

Emerald Ash Borer Update

In 2004 Make It Green ceased selling ash trees. Since then we have been informing customers about the potentially devastating effect of this newly introduced pest. At this time it appears that only ash (Fraxinus) trees are affected. Mountain Ash (Sorbus) are not affected. There is no evidence that EAB can survive on any other type of tree. This infestation is spreading.  In the summer of 2008 Emerald Ash Borer was found in the Ottawa area. For more information on EAB and other pests try www.inspection.gc.ca.

Make it Green Waves The White Flag to the Bronze Birch Borer

After trying several different types of 'new, improved, borer proof' birches we have given up and surrendered. We will no longer be selling any type of paper birch (Betula papyrifera) including, but not limited to, the Renaissance series of Upright, Reflection and Royal Frost. We will also not be selling the following:

We have had near 100% kill rate due to Bronze Birch Borers on the above mentioned plants. Many of these plants are arriving from our suppliers with this problem and others get infested on site. Still others are getting attacked at customer's homes. The ice storm of several years ago (or more accurately the birch trees damaged as a consequence) may have pushed the population of borers to an all-time high. Whatever the reason we are seeing younger and younger trees attacked where in the past it was older, unhealthy trees that were at risk. If you still would like a white-barked birch tree then we can highly recommend Betula nigra or River Birch. During the same period where we were losing thousands of dollars worth of other birches these were not attacked once (apparently the borer doesn't recognize it as a birch tree). Many customers have decided not to buy any birch trees at all due to their own experiences and our negative attitude towards certain types of birch. That would be a shame as these beautiful trees are native to this area and hence an important part of the ecosystem. The following are the birches which we will carry this coming year:

Stressed Sweet Birch and Yellow Birch may be attacked at a mature size (and don't have white bark) so the three types of Betula nigra listed above would have our strongest recommendation. We also carry Betula nana and Betula pendula Trost's Dwarf in shrub form which never get large enough to be attacked.

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Last modified: 03/11/09