Q: I have a row of Swedish columnar aspen that has been eaten and killed by yellow-bellied sapsuckers. What could I replace them with that’s fast-growing but is not favoured by those woodpeckers?—Julie Hink, Beaver Lake, Alta.
A: Let’s not throw the sapsuckers entirely under the bus: the reason that your trees died could be because Swedish columnars aren’t native to Canada. “Native aspens have been dealing with sapsuckers for thousands of years,” says Chris Earley, the author of Feed the Birds. “They know what they’re doing.” Since your trees probably didn’t evolve with yellow-bellied sapsuckers, it made them weak to this woodpecker’s onslaught; another species could have taken it.
That said, while sapsuckers will drill into “a very long list” of trees, they are particularly fond of aspens, says Earley. So avoid those, and pick another native tree.
Jean-Mathieu Daoust, an arborist with the Calgary office of Bartlett Tree Experts, suggests poplar, American elm, or laurel leaf willow; they’ll grow two feet or more
