Last month, I posted about the advantages and disadvantages of multi-year needles versus annual broad leaves on trees (You can read about that here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/conifer-adaptations ). Some of you asked about Eastern Larch, a tree with a foot in each world. Let’s take a look!   Keeping needles all winter does have a price: it allows snow to build up on the tree, placing tremendous weight on its branches. This can cause branches to break, or entire trees to

Snow on spruce trees is a hallmark of the Canadian winter. While most PEI plants lose their leaves or disappear altogether as temperatures drop, you may not have thought about how and why conifers take a different approach. Today, we take a look!     Broad-leaved trees like Maple, Beech, and Birch produce big leaves with huge surface areas that are very efficient at catching sunlight and turning it into food for the tree. Even if those leaves didn’t freeze, they lose water an

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at PEI’s fascinating fungi. We’re staying with the Polypore group for another week to...

I’m intrigued by colourful fungi and have a special fondness for purplish ones. I was thus very happy to come across these Violet-toothed...

No matter where I go on PEI this winter – town or country – the most common tracks I see are from Snowshoe Hare. It’s been like this for...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. Winter is great time to spot...

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist: your own personal “Google” for information on all things natural on PEI!  In October, I posted about...

PEI’s colourful fall leaves are mostly gone, but one native tree is still putting on a show: Eastern Larch, also known as Juniper,...

We’ve been looking at how PEI wildlife adapts to our frigid winter conditions, but what about trees? Unlike animals that take shelter or...