Victoria Park home to Regina’s oldest tree since 1900

Victoria Park home to Regina's oldest tree The oldest tree in Regina has called Victoria Park home since 1900. Wayne Mantyka reports.

An elm tree on the northern edge of Victoria Park in Downtown Regina is the city’s oldest tree, and has been standing in the spot since 1900.

Some of its branches have died and some others only have a few leaves, but the city is aware of the historic nature of the tree and is working to help rejuvenate it.

This tree we have been putting a little extra care into so when the special events come in we ask the vendors to try not put anything up against the tree,” said Russell Eirich, the City of Regina’s senior program manager for forestry, pest control and horticulture. “We have actually some special radial trenching to try to aerate the roots and sort of replace the soil to try and help this guy along."

The tree goes back to when Victoria Park was an open field with only a bandstand.

The laying out of walkways came about a decade later, when most of the other trees in the park were planted.

Many of the original trees have slowly died since, a process that continues.

“Some of it is due to age, some of it is due to salt, environment, all of it combined is just kind of a perfect little storm,” said Eirich.

Part of the challenge of trimming trees in Regina is a summer ban on cutting elms, it ended this weekend giving city crews an opportunity to cut away dead branches in the fall and plant new trees for the future.