PLANT IT
Fundraising calendar branches out into history
October 10, 2009
Sonia Day
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Toronto's ancient trees – Acer saccharinum, Carya cordiformis, Fraxinus americana, Malus spp., Platanus occidentalis, Quercus macrocarpa, Quercus rubra and more
It's time once more for this city to brag about its natural beauty. The 2010 edition of the Toronto Tree Portraits Calendar has just gone on sale – and, this year, there's a historical twist.
The photos feature old trees. Amazingly old trees.
Most are skyscraping specimens whose trunks have grown so huge, 10 people with linked hands would probably be needed to encircle them.
Usually unsung and unnoticed, they've somehow managed to cling to life in locations ranging from an Etobicoke golf course to Trinity Bellwoods Park.
That these giants have survived at all amid the relentless pace of development in Toronto is as miraculous as their size.
There is, for instance, a massive bur oak that towers over eight backyards in the Annex. It has been there for more than 350 years and is thought to be the oldest tree in the city.
Equally heartwarming is a still-flourishing silver maple in Leslieville that inspired poet Alexander Muir to write his iconic hymn to Canada, "The Maple Leaf Forever."
This is the third time photographer Vincenzo Pietropaolo has illustrated the calendar and he says the latest portraits are a testament to his profound love affair with trees.
"Their longevity imbues them with the kind of meaning that we crave in our increasingly technological society," he explains. "They offer constancy in a fleeting, virtual world."
With a foreword written by yours truly, the calendars are being sold in aid of the Toronto Trees and Parks Foundation, a non-profit organization that plows the profits back into tree preservation projects.
The calendars cost $15. Get them at Book City, Mountain Equipment Coop, Type Books and Toronto Botanical Garden. Order online from torontoparksandtrees.org or call 416-397-5178. They make great Christmas gifts.
www.soniaday.com
Toronto Star