Trees

autumn leaves

As you might guess, we have a lot of trees and other woody plants in The Arboretum! These include those growing naturally in our forested areas, those that have invaded our site and those that we have planted here from all over the Northern Hemisphere. In the spring, the blooms of our roses, lilacs, rhododendrons, serviceberries, magnolias and tulip trees will delight you. In the summer, the shade from our specimen trees in the Park in The Garden provides an excellent picnic spot. In the fall, the oranges, yellows, reds and purples of our landscape will wow you. In the winter, our large variety of evergreens look stately against the snow.

Research

SkyJack being used to collect seeds from trees in The Arboretum

The Arboretum conducts its own research as well as provides a site for others to do research projects. We are studying elms to try to develop trees that are resistant to Dutch Elm Disease and yet are genetically diverse (Elm Recovery Project). We also have a gene bank of rare Ontario trees (Rare Woody Plants of Ontario). This means that we have trees, shrubs and vines here that have been grown from seed collected in wild sites in Ontario. The Arboretum is also in charge of the Ontario Tree Atlas Project which is a record of the distribution of trees in Ontario.

Workshops

Students listen to the workshop instructor

If you want to learn about trees, you may be interested in one of our courses. Please click here to go to our workshop page.

Pests

Many people try to contact us about tree pests, but the best place to go for that is the pest diagnostic clinic here at the University of Guelph. You can also try to identify your pest yourself by using this key developed by a University of Guelph graduate student.

Native Trees

trees through the seasons

Our native tree species are the backbone of many different Ontario habitats. Each species account in the list below includes photos, identification information, natural history and cultural aspects of our leafy friends. We will continue to add species to the following list as accounts are completed. A word document list of of non-planted trees, shrubs, and vines in The Arboretum is also available below