You may have noticed newly planted street trees in the pavements of Ladywell, writes Dom Eliot. These are probably the work of Street Trees for Living, Brockley Society’s street tree planting project, which works in partnership with Lewisham Council.
The campaign is responsible for around 30 trees planted in Ladywell streets in the last few months.
The new trees include six bird cherries in Chudleigh Road, eight Winter Orange limes in Brockley Road, three pears in Phoebeth Road, two maidenhairs (ginkgos) in Amyruth Road, a magnolia in Arthurdon Road, a Cox apple in Kneller Road and a hibiscus in Arabin Road.
For many reasons, the project is keen on bio-diversity, so let us know if you have ideas for other species in years to come!
Once again local residents and businesses have provided most of the funding, with a roughly 30 per cent contribution from Ladywell’s local assembly.
Very importantly, to keep planting costs manageable, local people have agreed to water the young trees.
All this energy expresses a shared desire to make our surroundings better – for birds, for bees, and for us all. Urban planting has been shown to help improve physical and mental health.
Among London councils, Lewisham is unique in responding to its residents in this positive way.
So if you and/or your neighbours are interested in new trees on the streets just let us know on the Sponsor Trees page of our website.
Street Trees for Living is now very near the end of its seventh planting season. By Easter it will have planted over 200 more street trees, a grand total of 620 since it started.
There will be a full report on our activities at our next AGM on Sunday April 14 at 3pm in Telegraph Hill Centre. All are welcome.
The event will include presentations by Duncan Goodwin, author of “The Urban Tree”, and by Craig Harrison, London Manager for the Forestry Commission. Further details can be found on the Next Event page of our website.
Volunteers carry out our work. If you would like to help us run the campaign and sustain it in the future we would be delighted to hear from you. Just let us know by emailing info@streettreesforliving.org
Dom Eliot is co-chair of Brockley Society’s Street Trees for Living