Celebrating the UK’s largest annual tree celebration – National Tree Week

National Tree Week runs at the end of November every year, marking the start of the best period of the year to plant trees. Ignore photographs of dignitaries planting trees in the middle of a hot summer to mark the opening of a new housing development or building project. Moving a tree when it is in full leaf and putting it into dry ground with a compacted root system is a recipe for disaster. To give a tree the best (re)start in life, it is always preferable to transplant them when they are in their winter dormancy and when the ground is likely to be wet but not yet frozen.

This is what we do during National Tree Week. Our volunteers help put out over 100 native saplings provided by the Woodland Trust to improve the diversity in the woodland surrounding our Science Oxford Centre and Wood Centre for Innovation in Headington. Species included sessile oak, field maple, rowan, hazel and dog wood, which will add resilience to our currently ash-dominated woodlands. It is important to not only increase the number of species of trees, but also to increase the age and structural diversity of trees in our woodlands to provide suitable habitats for the widest range of other woodland species.

The small saplings we introduce are simple to plant and hardy enough that they can become established without too much aftercare. After a few years growth, they will start to thrive and make the most of spaces in the canopy, such as the spaces created through natural decay or through thinning out diseased specimens.

Natural regeneration can only take you so far, so give nature a little boost and plant a tree this winter!

The Woodland Trust offers free trees to schools and communities. You can find out more here.

National Tree Week 2024 runs from 21st November to 1st December