City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation

Hi Buds! One of our favourite spring sights are maple flowers and after this, we hope they become one of yours too. We recently shared how fluid maples can be when flowering. So let's put terms to concepts. Some trees are "dioecious," so the pollen and seed flowers are on separate trees. Others are "monoecious," so both pollen and seed flowers are on the same tree. Then you have trees that are "polygamodioecious," where all three flower types (pollen, seed, and bisexual flowers) are on one tree. These trees are overachievers, and they know it. Maples are fun and easy going when it comes to their reproductive set up, and it can change as the tree reaches a certain size, age, or in response to something external. So a maple may switch or incorporate other flower types over time. How delightful! The next time you're exploring your park, community, or ravine, see if the maple nearby is dioecious, monoecious, or polygamodioecious, and we'll catch you later for more Toronto Trees. Descriptive transcript: City of Toronto staff, Lam, is outdoors on a cloudy afternoon in Toronto. She is speaking into a portable microphone while holding up a flowering Silver Maple twig. Several videos which pan across the canopy of maple trees are shown. Arrows appear on the screen to indicate the different flower types on a twig.

The City of Toronto is inviting kids aged six to 14 to submit original poems (up to 300 words) about Toronto parks for the Children’s Spring Poetry Contest. toronto.ca/PoetryContest The City’s Poet Laureate Lillian Allen will be selecting winners in three age categories: six to eight, nine to 11 and 12 to 14 years of age. Deadline to submit is noon, Monday, May 5, 2025 This contest is open to Toronto residents only. Individuals’ parents or legal guardian must consent to the contest rules and their children’s entry into the contest.

The Ravine Youth Team is not your average summer job. The City is supporting pathways to environmental employment by funding opportunities through the Ravine Strategy. Learn more about the program and job postings: https://lnkd.in/drGmsP6S Developed in partnership with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), successful candidates will find themselves building their skills on hands-on projects in Toronto alongside Indigenous leaders, TRCA, and City staff including environmental monitoring, planting native species and managing invasive plants. Hiring Now Crew Leader - 2 positions, 13.5 weeks Crew - 6 positions, 12 weeks Apply before April 13, 2025 City of Toronto Staff, Doreen and Rabib, are Ravine Youth Team alumni. Doreen Malapitan, Parks Program Officer – RYT 2021 “I’d recommend applying to this program because you have an opportunity to gain a wide range of experiences and knowledge in a short period of time. From tree planting to invasive species management, to terrestrial and aquatic monitoring, all while being in beautiful, natural spaces in the city!” Rabib Naim, Forestry Data Collector – RYT 2023 “I would recommend the program to anyone who is in the environmental sector, as it offers a variety of different experiences and can help guide individuals in the right direction for them afterwards. The versatility of tasks that the Ravine Youth Team does can be very beneficial in learning what someone wants to work towards and what they’d like to avoid. It is also helpful for finding work afterwards, as the team members will all have experience with a variety of different tasks.”

Take a short online survey to see design options and share your feedback on the new skate trail and ice rink coming to Fountainhead Park. https://lnkd.in/gaQ8MyFB The skate trail and rink design will include seating, lighting and accessible pathways. Improvements will also be made to the existing clubhouse building, including new washrooms, a new change room and a redesigned tennis room. Share your input by March 31 to help shape the final design.

Maple flowers are a harbinger of spring, signifying that warmer weather is on the way. These flowers come in all shapes, sizes, and colours depending on the species. Some maples, like Red Maple (Acer rubra), resemble a conventional flower with splayed out petals. Others, like Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), take a more abstract approach and look like dangling tassels. So, what exactly is a flower? Flowers are the reproductive part of a plant. Generally, flowers can be "male", in that they produce pollen, "female", where they produce seeds, or “perfect”, where they have both pollen and seed producing parts in one flower. The cool thing about maples is that they can be highly variable when it comes to which flowers will be on the tree. You may come across a maple tree that only has male/pollen producing flowers, it may only have female/seed producing flowers, or it can have perfect flowers throughout the canopy. Any combination of these flowers can also exist on one single tree, whether they grow in different parts of the canopy, along the same branch, or even in the same cluster of blooms. To identify a male or pollen flower, look for the stamen. This reproductive structure includes the filament, which is a thin stalk, and the anther, which is a blob of pollen at the tip of the filament. To spot a female or seed producing flower, look for the pistil. This reproductive structure includes the ovary (where the seeds are produced), the style (a stalk that attaches the stigma to the ovary) and the stigma (a finely-haired or sticky receptacle at the end of the style that may be forked). Image 1: the “male” or pollen flower of a Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum). Image 2: the “female” or seed flower of a Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum). Image 3: the flower of a Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) which has both pollen and seed producing parts

Spring signs are popping up all around us 🌱👀 From the deep maroon blooms of skunk cabbage in the ravine to the return of grackles and red-winged blackbirds, the season’s shift is in full swing. Have you spotted any early spring arrivals? #FirstDayOfSpring #SignsOfSpring #SkunkCabbage #RedWingedBlackbird #CommonGrackle #UrbanNature #TorontoRavines #TBG #TorontoBotanicalGarden

We're hiring a Designer to join our Community Engagement Unit in Parks & Recreation. You'll work with a talented team to grow our library of communications and engagement assets — from project signage and geospatial visuals to collaborative workshop tools and interactive displays for community events. This role is instrumental in meeting the growing demand for innovative and impactful engagement experiences. https://lnkd.in/ggTu3BKv

Hi Buds, do you know what these are? Maple flowers! And we'll show you just how awesome they are. These harbingers of spring come in a variety of forms, which were covered in a reel last year. Today, let's dive deeper on flowers themselves. In general, flowers can be "male", in that they produce pollen, "female", where they produce seeds, or they can have both pollen and seed producing parts in one flower. The cool thing about maples is that sometimes a tree will have all male flowers or all female flowers, but other times one maple tree will have both male and female flowers. How beautifully fluid. To spot a male or pollen flower, look for the stamen, which is a thin stalk capped by a blob of pollen. To spot a female or seed producing flower, look for the pistil, a finely-haired stalk that may be forked. It's a TREE-at to find a flower that has both pollen and seed producing parts in one! Explore your park, community, or ravine and see if you can spot any maple flowers. Descriptive video transcript: City of Toronto staff, Lam, is outdoors on a sunny afternoon in Toronto. She is speaking into a portable microphone while highlighting maple flowers and how to distinguish male/pollen producing flowers from female/seed producing flowers.

We're hiring for Recreation Customer Service Representative - Toronto/ East York Work Location: Dufferin Grove and East Bay Front part-time hours, summer start date https://lnkd.in/gYrewXsj

This is not your average summer job. Successful candidates will find themselves building their skills on hands-on projects in Toronto alongside Indigenous leaders, TRCA, and City staff including environmental monitoring, planting native species and managing invasive plants. We are pleased to partner with TRCA on this program which is funded through the Ravine Strategy.