Trees for Seaford
New Year, new trees, new members
Winter may be the time that sensible creatures hunker down and hibernate, but it’s a crucial time of year for Trees for Seaford, as we had lots of new trees, including disease resistant elms, chanticleer pears and frosted whitethorn to be planted during winter. After some delays from the tree suppliers before Christmas (due to the weather being too warm!) we finally got the last batch of trees delivered ready to plant in January. Back in November we felt very privileged to have tree expert Keith Sacre guiding our tree planting sessions. There are a lot of things to remember when planting trees so they will thrive. There are even more things to worry about when planting in grass verges and residential areas. It is important to ensure that residents are happy to have trees in their streets and are able to water and look after them. All ground must be surveyed in advance for any potential pipes/wires and other services. Although all volunteers, including residents on the streets we are planting, are welcome, we especially appreciate our trained volunteers when it comes to supervising the actual digging, which is done with orange-handled insulated spades, and the subsequent planting and staking. We ask residents to help follow up with ongoing monitoring and watering during dry weather. Keith is coming back in February to do another training session – this time about the correct pruning of trees. Many thanks to Keith, and also to Karen for writing up detailed notes about the training to share and taking photographs.
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In January we planted more trees in Tudor Close and Westdown Road. Thank you to all the delightful residents who supported us and who offered to plant bulbs around the new trees. A big welcome to all our new members, especially Dan who brought not only a wealth of horticultural and arboriculture experience, but became even more popular when he served the hard-working volunteers hot drinks and biscuits from his car! We will be restarting our Tree TLC sessions again from February – approximately 2nd Saturday and 3rd or 4th Tuesday of most months. We are still asking people to look out for interesting trees around town. Monica told us recently about one in Micklefield Green. The Paulownia tomentosa is an unusual tree with large heart-shaped leaves and large fragrant violet flowers. It’s also known as the foxglove tree, or the princess tree. In Japan people would traditionally plant one if they had a daughter, and the tree was so fast growing, that the paulownia wood could be made into a highquality chest or other items for her dowry. We would love to hear about your favourite trees. In Seaford we’d rather be planting than cutting down the trees, but if you do have fallen trees or branches, maybe you could make a woodpile for wildlife, or make the wood into bird or insect boxes? Keep an eye on the workshops coming up at the SEA Hub if you would like help with this type of project. To get in touch, go to TreesForSeaford@gmail.com or via facebook.com/treesforseaford.
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