Garden Tree Give Away!
This autumn East Staffordshire Borough Council, South Derbyshire District Council and North West Leicestershire District Council have teamed up to provide a free opportunity for you to plant trees in your garden. Up to two trees are available for each household within East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. If you are applying on behalf of a school or community group you can request up to 10 trees.
There are four trees to choose from: Alder Buckthorn, Bird Cherry, Common Spindle and Hazel.
If we all planted only one tree this year, just imagine the benefits to your neighbourhood – a profusion of beautiful spring flowers, fabulous autumn colour and beautiful bark and berries/nuts.
All the trees are two years old and approximately 60-90cms (2 to 3 feet) high. They will be supplied together with a guidance sheet on how to plant and to look after them.
What's on offer?
Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus) is a deciduous shrub, growing to 3–6 m, occasionally to 7 m tall. The flowers are small, 3–5 mm diameter, star-shaped with five greenish-white acute triangular petals, hermaphroditic, and insect pollinated, flowering in May to June in clusters of two to ten in the leaf axils. The fruit is a small black berry 6–10 mm diameter, ripening from green through red in late summer to dark purple or black in early autumn, containing two or three pale brown 5 mm seeds.
Bird Cherry (Prunus padus) is a species of cherry, native to northern Europe and northern Asia. It is the type species of the subgenus Padus with flowers in racemes, which are hermaphroditic and pollinated by bees and flies; it is a deciduous small tree or large shrub 8–16 m tall. The English name refers to the berries, which are astringent and bitter-sweet, seldom used in Western Europe (but commonly eaten in Russia and elsewhere), readily eaten by birds, which do not taste astringency as unpleasant.
Common Spindle (Euonymus europaeus) grows to 3 to 6 m tall, with a stem up to 20 cm diameter. In autumn the leaves often show a beautiful bright red colour. The flowers are produced in late spring and are insect-pollinated; they are small, yellowish green and grow in cymes of 3-8 together. The fruit ripens in autumn, and is red to purple or pink in colour and approximately 1 to 1.5 cm wide. When ripe, the four lobes split open to reveal the orange seeds. The fruit is poisonous, containing amongst other substances, the alkaloids theobromine and caffeine, as well as an extremely bitter terpene.
Hazel (Corylus avellana) is a small, fast growing, native, deciduous tree, that will grow to around 6 metres. It has edible nuts in autumn and bright yellow lambs tail catkins in February which provide essential early pollen for bees. A useful hedge plant itself, a hazel tree can also be coppiced to produce straight stakes for hedge laying, runner bean poles etc, while its twiggy branches make the best pea sticks around.
Place your order now
Residents of South Derbyshire click here
Residents of North West Leicestershire click here
Residents of East Staffordshire contact your local council directly.
National Forest Company, Enterprise Glade, Bath Yard, Moira, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE12 6BA.
Email
Telephone +44 (0)1283 551211
Fax +44 (0)1283 552844