Free trees for your garden

https://www.london.gov.uk/plant-a-tree?fbclid=IwAR0OdD-rMG-DUoeiN4roF7s80XtYRdXNL66ckcB2i9mBkCqUZRfTssKjCJg

Fabulous scheme. I’ve applied.

This is great. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for sharing ,I’ve applied

I just had a message. I will receive mine in December

Us too, any idea how big they are going to be when they arrive and what type of tree they may be?

No idea but hopefully small and manageable

Do tell us what you got. I didn’t apply in the end as I didn’t want to go pot luck.

We received our two trees through the post. Each a bit more than a foot long. A maple and a silver birch. We gave one to our friends. We have put the other in water to plant at the weekend. Great initiative.

If you didn’t manage to get your hands on any trees, you can pick up one for free this Saturday at the Tree giveaway hosted by The Conservation Volunteers at Dulwich Upper Woods.

Saturday 1 Dec 9:30am – 3:00pm
Portakabin office, at the entrance to the Woods opposite the junction with Jasper Road

https://www.tcv.org.uk/london/trees

Can I ask, are these all dwarf varieties of trees?

Because as much as I’d love a tree in my back garden, there isn’t really the space and I’d be pretty annoyed if my neighbors decided to grow a tree in their square of space and take light as well as the root complex to worry about.

No, these are not dwarf trees. They are smaller than say an oak, ash or sycamore, but they will if not pruned regularly (like that’s going to happen) reach a height of 50 to 70 ft, spread 20 - 30 ft birch, Field maple is more of a rounded shape, reaching a height of 40 ft or so when mature but equally wide. In my opinion these are not suitable trees for small urban gardens. It is much better to plant small fruit trees (on dwarf rootstocks) that will also be productive, or shrubs which provide good cover for birds.
If you have a large garden, not too many in south London, then please, plant trees, but think of your neighbours (and successive owners) as well. If i put up a 40ft structure in the garden of my small terraced house i am sure i would get complaints, and told to take it down, so please think before you plant any tree in a small urban garden.
Don’t get me wrong, i love trees and have planted many hundreds (in the right place).
Field maple about 20 years old.

Birch trees 15 - 20 yrs old.
There are worse trees to plant in your garden, A previous owner of our house planted
a Eucalyptus tree at the bottom of the 30 ft garden, it was over 60ft high and 30ft across when we took it down (from counting the rings it was 18 years old)