Spring offers chance to check your trees

Last September’s surprising 30- centimetre snowfall dealt a heavy blow to Calgary’s trees, with roughly one million destroyed or damaged.

While a tree might appear to have escaped damage, certified arborist and journeyman landscape gardener Matt Davis recommends hiring someone to take a closer look.

“Up in the canopy of the tree there could be things visible that maybe aren’t visible from the ground,” says Davis, a garden show sponsor and exhibitor.

When arborists inspect a tree, they can also assess its overall health. The healthier the tree, the better it can deal with outside stresses and future damage, he says.

Davis also cautions Calgarians to be on the lookout for black- knot fungus on their mayday and chokecherry trees.

The fungus has been getting worse for the past three years and isn’t showing any signs of letting up.

“Keep an eye out for abnormal growth and prune it out,” he says, adding it’s important to burn or bury diseased branches, or put them in the garbage right away.

“Don’t leave it sitting in the yard — it will continue to spore when it’s not attached to the tree.”