Planting Trees and the Tree Community

Elmbridge is characterised by its trees, help preserve them and plant new ones for future generations. There are various organisations who encourage community involvement through managing and planting trees. The following is a list of links to their websites:

|The Woodland Trust - Cares for the UK's woods
|The International Tree Foundation - The UK's oldest tree charity
|The Ancient Tree Forum - Care for the UK's veteran trees
|The Tree Register - The UK's biggest trees!
|The Forestry Commission - Care for the UK's trees, woods, and forests
|The Tree Council - Working to promote the importance of trees
|The Dendrologist - For the tree enthusiast
|Elmbridge Conservation Volunteers - The Council's own volunteer programme
|Lower Mole Project - A local countryside volunteer programme run by Surrey County Council

Links to Sections on This Page
|Tree Wardens
|Planting Trees
|The UK's Native Trees
|Unusual Trees For Small and Medium Sized Gardens

|Tree Wardens

Tree Wardens perform an important job in their local community, acting as a focus for advice, promoting action, collating and giving information and raising awareness of tree matters. The Surrey Tree Wardens group have a useful website should you want further information - |The Surrey Tree Wardens Website.

|Planting Trees

Trees are our link to the past and the future. They remind us of our place in the environment whilst filling the world with their beauty and the nature they support. But the best thing about trees is that everyone can plant one, watch it grow, and spread its beauty to all who see it.

So what to plant? The purist will recommend one of the the UK's 33 native tree species as they are best suited to our climate and serve the indigenous wildlife best, but 33 trees is not a lot to choose from, and whilst they are all worthy in their own right, when choosing a species for a garden which is crammed full of non-native shrubs and flowers it seems a little churlish to insist on only native trees. So to cast a wider net into the tree world there are some fabulous plants for almost every kind of garden, but beware... nurseries cater for the masses. It is very easy to pick up a cherry, birch, or rowan but these represent the least imaginative end of the tree spectrum. Do some research by going to one of the various arboreta around the country to find an unusual tree. Talk to the head gardener or arborist at your local National Trust property. Call you your local tree officers and ask which species they would recommend. Why not plant a foxglove tree, or a snowbell tree rather than one of the many ubiquitous garden varieties?

|The UK's Native Trees

Field Maple - Acer campestre
Alder - Alnus glutinosa
Silver Birch - Betula pendula
Downy Birch - Betula pubescens
Box - Buxus sempervirens
Hornbeam - Carpinus betula
Hazel - Corylus avellana
Common Hawthorn - Crataegus monogyna
Midland Hawthorn - Crataegus laevigata
Common Beech - Fagus sylvatica
Common Ash - Fraxinus excelsior
Holly - Ilex aquifolium
Juniper - Juniperus communis
Crab Apple - Malus sylvestris
Scots Pine - Pinus sylvestris
Black Poplar - Populus nigra
Aspen - Populus tremula
Bird Cherry - Prunus padus
Wild Cherry - Prunus avium
Sessile Oak - Quercus petraea
Pedunculate Oak - Quercus robur
White Willow - Salix alba
Goat Willow or Sallow - Salix caprea
Crack Willow - Salix fragilis
Bay Willow - Salix pentandra
Common Whitebeam - Sorbus aria
Rowan (mountain ash) - Sorbus aucuparia
Wild Service Tree - Sorbus torminalis
Yew - Taxus baccata
Small Leaved Lime - Tilia cordata
Large Leaved Lime - Tilia platyphyllos
Wych Elm - Ulmus glabra

|Unusual Trees For Small and Medium Sized Gardens

Judas Tree - Cercis siliquastrum
Chinese Stewartia - Sterwartia sinensis
Katsura Tree - Cercidiphyllum japonicum
Foxglove Tree - Pawlonia tormentosa
Black Mulberry - Morus nigra
Strawberry Tree - Arbutus unedo
Turkish Hazel - Corylus colurna
Wych Hazel - Hamamelis mollis
Mountain Snowdrop Tree - Halesia monticola
Tupelo - Nyssa sylvatica