England’s Street Trees (we need more, like Canada)
Ottawa, Dolceloca
We all love trees! And planting trees on public streets has so many benefits. They can buffer wind, stop floods and reduce temperatures in hot weather.
They make areas nicer to live in, and can provide shelter and food for birds and wildlife (and even free food for us, in the form of fruits and nuts). It’s even proven that having more trees in a street, reduces crime rates, likely because it encourages pride in the place people live in.
Read more on no-dig gardening and humane slug/snail deterrents. For public areas, read up on pet-friendly gardens (some trees and conkers are not safe) and avoid netting. Also know trees to avoid near horses (including yew, oak and sycamore).
Mostly in London, keep away from grey/white caterpillars (oak processionary moths) that can cause allergies and breathing difficulties – call a doctor or vet if you come into contact. These trees are cordoned off from horses and livestock (report to your local council and Treealert.
Yet unlike say in Canadian cities and towns, English councils don’t plant nearly anywhere near the trees they do over there. They have whole ‘street tree programs’, where the trees are planted by councils, then local people agree to ‘look after the trees’.
With regular watering and care, and reporting to the council, at the first sign of any disease of damage. Millions of trees have been planted, which of course also gives out more oxygen and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, which helps also to prevent carbon emissions.
London has more trees than people (around 9 million). But how many of these trees are on public streets, is less clear.
Plane trees are the most common, they are huge living statues with hand-shaped leaves, you can’t miss them. And although any pet could become ill if they got too close, these are not one of the ‘main toxic trees’, so a better choice for town planning, than some other species.
Help Your Community to Plant Trees
If the above has inspired you to get involved, contact Trees for Cities, an organisation that can help set up tree-planting programs in your area. You can use the app to see if your council has already signed up. If not, then choose a park or street, then get into action!
The Orchard Project began in London, but now trains volunteers nationwide to plant (and care fore) trees to provide free fruit and nuts for communities. This also helps to restore veteran orchards and create wildlife habitats (leave some fruits for the birds!)
Incredible Edible began in Yorkshire, and is now a worldwide movement to grow and provide free food for communities. Grow herbs at railway stations or vegetable gardens in schools. Local people can help themselves to local fruits off trees, when they want to make a pie!
The Dutch city of Maastricht is lined with enormous trees (the local park is known as The Green Carpet). The trees provide habitats for pipistrelle bats, common swifts, house sparrows and pollinating insects. Road safety has improved, along with air quality and reduced noise pollution.
