Patriotic planting was the theme of last week’s blog and in some ways we ‘keep calm and carry on’ as the Jubilee Woods take centre stage – lots of newly planted trees in sixty Jubilee woods to celebrate the second monarch to reach her Diamond Jubilee.
In a spirit of biodiversity and patriotism, with a sense of community and history, the encouragement of both flora and fauna by the Woodland Trust is taking the form of a positively Triffid like invasion of trees across Britain, over 250 in total. Although unlike the Triffids in John Wyndham’s tale of mobile alien plants that blind humans and then eat them, these many new trees include fruit trees for us to eat the fruit from.
All of the individuals and communities who planted trees to celebrate the Coronation of George VI in 1937 were making a statement of hope, that there would be people, their descendants and others, who would see those young saplings in their mature growth. King George’s daughter, our current Queen, was a sapling at her father’s coronation; now she is a mature tree, having reigned over us, sheltered us under her boughs, if you like, for 60 years. Time enough for any tree to grow and thrive. 
Designing a garden or landscape with trees in should be about the future as much as about the present. There was so much hype around the Chelsea Flower Show trees this year – fully grown trees to give the wow factor – that we could forget how long these remarkable plants take to grow. How, by our giving care to ensure they thrive, the trees repay us by soaking up CO2, by sheltering us when it rains, by offering shade on hot days, by feeding us with fruit…
Espalier fruit trees, trained fan-like against a wall or fence are a beautiful and bountiful sight and easy to fit in even small gardens; majestic oak trees need a bit more space than most of us have, but if you’d like one there are Royal Oak saplings to be had, grown form acorns on the Royal estates.
If you plant a tree, you’ll certainly have pleasure from it, but even those mature specimens may outlive you, so have the future in mind; it may be our children or their children who are able to fully enjoy the beauty and bounty. “I think that I will never see, a poem lovely as a tree” is a quote known to many, written by Joyce Kilmer and whether you like poetry or not, whether you’re a royalist or a republican, you’d be a fool not to appreciate trees.
If you’d like to know more or are thinking about planting trees do get in touch – arboriculture is the study, planting, maintenance, of trees shrubs and all woody perennials – and at Plews we love our plants.
Plews Potting Shed 