Plant a Tree for Posterity

by Peter Worsley
Assistant Editor
This England & Evergreen magazines
Alma House 73 Rodney Road
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire  GL50 1HT
Tel: 01242 537900 Fax: 01242 537901
editor@thisengland.co.uk
www.thisengland.co.uk

This England magazine of Cheltenham is pleased to announce a twelve month campaign to encourage readers to plant a tree for posterity.

Firstly, we recommend the Tree Council, the leading tree campaigning charity and an umbrella body for over 150 UK organisations working to promote the importance of arboriculture within our changing environment. They encourage planting more trees of the right type but just as importantly in making sure they end up in the right places. In addition they try to make the public more aware of how to improve all ecosystems, large or small, and how to provide better care for trees of all ages by adopting more constructive and effective methods.

You can contact the Tree Council at:
  71 Newcomen Street
  London, SE1 1YT
  Telephone 0207-407-9992
  info@treecouncil.org
  www.treecouncil.org.uk

What else can you do? If you have a garden centre nearby then why not pay them a visit? Maybe you even have a tree nursery. In any case why not treat yourself to a day out? Many have a café or restaurant and almost all have a dedicated member of staff who will be pleased to help you choose the right specimen. Prices range from just a few pounds for a sizeable sapling to hundreds of pounds for specialised imported exotic varieties.

We do not, however, suggest you purchase one of the latter but we do recommend you consider acquiring a small flowering ornamental tree for your garden. It will give great pleasure and will also help the birds when the berries appear later in the year. Maybe you might consider buying one for your children, grandchildren or an elderly neighbour? If you are keen on fruit trees then they need not break the bank either with plenty of varieties to choose from.

Apple, plum and pear trees are the most common and easy to grow in our temperate climate but there are plenty of others. Seek advice if you are not sure which one to select. For those without a garden why not sponsor a tree somewhere else? If you cannot find a scheme locally then the Tree Council will point you in the right direction.

Alternatively, you can go to www.treecouncil.org.uk and find out who your local tree wardens are. They would love to hear from you and so would we.

A free Online Virtual Tour of Kew Gardens

The amazing Explore Kew Gardens website, now FREE ENTRY, allows the "Virtual Tourist" to travel around the world-famous botanical gardens, exploring the extraordinary collection of trees and plants assembled there.

Explore Kew Gardens follows the success of the award-winning Explore the Taj Mahal website launched in 2000. Please note: Explore the Taj Mahal is now FREE ENTRY as well.

Explore Kew Gardens contains fifty 360° panoramas, and forty narrated "mini-movies" describing many aspects of the fascinating history and development of the gardens.

A CD-ROM which contains extra-large panoramas can be purchased from the website explore-kew-gardens.net

ONLINE VIRTUAL TOURS

Gardens-Guide.com is continually updating our selection of Free 360° panoramic tours of beautiful gardens online. View the list here.

WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE
INSCRIBES THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW, ONTO THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST.

The historic landscape garden features elements that illustrate significant periods of the art of gardens from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The gardens house botanic collections (conserved plants, living plants and documents) which have been considerably enriched through the centuries. more...

Note that no special software or plug-ins are required by our"virtual visitors" . The company has received many accolades for the quality of its pictures.