100's of Garden Trees Given Away!
This winter East Staffordshire Borough Council, South Derbyshire District Council and North West Leicestershire District Council teamed up to provide a free opportunity for residents to plant trees in their own gardens. Up to two trees were available for each household within East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire.
Over 1,400 trees were given away this year, just imagine the difference they are beginning to make – there will soon be a profusion of beautiful spring flowers, fabulous autumn colour and beautiful bark, berries and nuts.
All the trees were two years old and approximately 60-90cms (2 to 3 feet) high. They were supplied together with a guidance sheet on how to plant and to look after them.
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.
Look out for a similar offer in autumn 2012
If you have taken part in the Free Tree Scheme in North West Leicestershire in previous years and want to show case your trees please visit: http://footprints.nwleics.gov.uk/showcase-your-trees.html
National Forest Company, Enterprise Glade, Bath Yard, Moira, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE12 6BA.
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