Is Thor safe?

Yesterday I was cautious as there was a new menace in the neighbuorhood.

A squirrel likes the trees at the front of my house! He looked at me, made some noise and wagged it's tail at me at a very rapid pace.

What is the possibilities of the squirrel doing any damage to my tree?

I went in search of more information.

I found out from one website that "squirrels can destroy trees by tearing and/or eating the bark"(http://www.squirrels.org/).

Since squirrels are active all year long (they do not hybernate) Thor will have to be on his guard throughout the entire year!

The squirrel in the picture is from the UK and is said to be driving out the regular grey squirrels because it has more testosterone - making them more aggressive and more successful over the other squirrels in their territory.

I hope this squirrel stays away from my tree! I will keep a look out and let you know.

What about forest fires?

When the lightening was going on the other day it got me thinking about the upcoming summer and the possibilities of forest fires.

My mom and sister just got back from Florida where fires are a huge problem. So I thought about what the current forest fire situation was in BC?

You have to understand the levels called "the Danger Class Ratings".
Here is what they mean:
Low - Low fire danger.
Moderate - Carry out any forest activities with caution.
High - Fire hazard is serious. Extreme caution must be used in any forest activities. Burning permits and industrial activities may be restricted.
Extreme - Extremely high fire hazard. General forest activities may be restricted, including burning permits, industrial activities and campfires.

So what does BC look like right now? As a tree grower right now I have concern for all trees!

See the map? The closer to red the closer to DANGER!

Right now the blue means that there is a very low risk.
It looks good but there are currently 16 fires of note that are larger than 10 hectares (which is larger than Queen Elizabeth Park). It's early in the fire season but be careful out there in the forests this summer!

For more info go to: http://bcwildfire.ca
If you see a wildfire call toll free 1-800-663-5555 (*5555 on most cellular networks).

Thor and thunder and lightening too

It was pretty scary last night as there was a lot of thunder and lightening in YVR.

That brings me to the lore about Thor.

Thor (my tree) is named after the Norse god of thunder.
"The Norse believed that during a thunderstorm, Thor rode through the heavens on his chariot pulled by the goats Tanngrisni ("gap-tooth") and Tanngnost ("tooth grinder"). Lightning flashed whenever he threw his hammer Mjollnir".

I think that is what must of happened last night!

Check out how spiky Thor's needles look. Notice the needles are on all sides (4-angled) but they are somewhat flattened and have a pointy tip!

May longweekend!

So I just measured Thor and a new record of: 24.3cm

I think Thor has acutally grown in the week since I planted him in his planter.

Now the instructions said he could grown up to one meter this year so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Now the picture above today's entry is NOT mine. It is from a website dedicated to this species of tree: norwayspruce.com.

If Thor grows big enough cones will appear on the branches. The cones can be up to 15 cm long and the seeds will be about 1 cm long.

Everyone enjoy the sunshine!

How will Thor do in hotter temps?

This weekend is supposed to be hotter. I wonder how Thor will do?

Tuesday and it is raining

Today is Tuesday and it raining!
This will give Thor a chance to get WET!

Day 3 How tall is Thor?

I decided to see how tall my tree is.
I used a ruler that had both inches and centimetres.
It looks to me about 10" tall or almost 24cm.

Well it is only about 12 C today and some wind chill. I hope Thor will be okay outside.

The weather forcast is for rain tonight.

Day 2 in a planter

I arrived home and everything is okay with Thor.

I took two more pictures so you can see my tree seedling better!

Our class has their trees!

It was very exciting in class today as the students received their trees.

There was a lot of questions about how to plant it and how often to water it.
Some students have decided to name it already. Some have decided that naming a tree is stupid.

It is a nice sunny day here in Vancouver and a great a day for plating a tree!

I named my TREE!

I decided to research Norwegian names. I really enjoyed learning about Vikings when I was in SS classes . I even included a section on Vikings in my grade 8 class many years ago. So after some thought I am going with a very well-known name in Norway ...THOR.
More next time on what the name means.

Planting the tree

Here are the directions for planting in case you throw the directions out.

Thanks to BC Hydro and Tree Canada for supplying us with our trees for FREE!

I planted my tree

So I found a lovely planter for my tree and I have put it outside near a bunch of ferns.
Now I have to decide on a name. I think it is kinda cute!

OUR Trees have arrived!

Today our trees arrived!
The species is "Norway Spruce".
I have done some research and so far I have found out that...
this is the original species of "Christmas" trees cultivated in the UK.
It has needles and they are 4-sided. The tree is not native to BC.
It can grow very tall (up to 40m in height) if you give it time.
When it matures it will have cones that are cylindrical.
Under the best of care it could grow 1 meter this year!

The wood can be used for building things (not that my tree is going anywhere) like boxes and in the past it was sometimes called "Violin" wood as it can be used for making sounding boards of violins.

I can't wait to plant it!