Apparently this kind of activity has been going on since time immemorial. Turns out that a large beech tree can provide enough oxygen for the daily requirements of ten people. At the same time trees help to lock up the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.
All that, and they look good too.
Plant a tree in your garden or support one of the organisations that plant trees on your behalf in cities ort woodlands.
And what a great idea for a present for someone – especially the increasing number of people who, like ourselves, already have quite enough stuff about the place. Two organisations, Trees for Cities and The Woodland Trust, offer the opportunity to donate a tree as a gift.
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GB , 15 Aug 2005
we were given three trees for a wedding gift which i really appreciated. since then I have given trees to others – particularly people who have everything – for birthdays. I have used the woodland trust and can recommend them. they do a certificate and information about the woodland you selected.
Walthamstow, GB , 19 Aug 2005
late last year, i read an article by george monbiot, lamenting the loss of traditional english apple trees (do a search on his website). in brief, there were once about 400 different varieties, but now due to supermarket demands there are now less than 10% left. and further, in january this year, the eu passed a directive that all land not deemed agricultural will lose £200/ha subsidy/year. apple orchards are not deemed agricultural, so its inevitable that more orchards will be grubbed up and even less apples remain. i tracked down an old geezer that still knows about and grows traditinal apple trees, bought 2 for the back yard (£50) and am looking forward to traditional apples next year. lovely!
Walthamstow, GB , 19 Aug 2005
also, check out www.futureforests.com to see how you can contribute to cleaning up your carbon emissions through systematic planting of trees.
Godalming, GB , 17 Oct 2005
Last year we gave my dad some trees for his 80th birthday as he likes forests. They are in a Woodland Trust forest not too far from where my parents live. I’ve just done the same for my cousin’s daughter who is about to be christened. The recipient gets a certificate to mark the occasion, which makes it special, as well as instructions for where to find the area the tree(s) is/are planted in.
22 Dec 2005
We’ve just bought 50 trees for our young grandson’s Christmas present via oxfamunwrapped and think this is a brilliant idea.
Godalming, GB , 28 Dec 2005
Hubby gave me an olive tree for Christmas. I think it will need to go in the garden fairly soon, but I’m not entirely sure how to make it happy. We live in a fairly sheltered area, but still get frost from time to time and it doesn’t like temperatures below zero apparently. It doesn’t like getting waterlogged either, so it will probably need to go in a pot as our soil is fairly heavy.
Gloucester, GB , 11 Feb 2006
Planted two trees this January – a self-pollinating apple and a black mulberry. One is fast fruit but the other is very slow fruit indeed!
Stroud, GB , 20 Mar 2006
Yeay! Just bought a self pollinating apple in a pot for our miniscule garden. I’d hated being without a fruit tree to call our own, having had what amounted to an orchard in a past life; this one will only ever be tiny, but it is at least there, and will presumably have some minor impact on the environment as well as hopefully providing apples before we’re too much older.
07 Apr 2006
I have about 20 trees I need to plant this winter. I’ve put it off for a year now. They really need to go in. I SHALL DO THIS
10 Apr 2006
11 trees planted, 8 camelias and 100 + bulbs :-)
15 Apr 2006
Bought an olive tree which will stay in a large pot in the garden and be put in the unheated greenhouse in the winter.
22 May 2006
I have planted the apple seeds and can’t wait to plant out my treelings as soon as we have our own house (June sometime). We have bought as gifts acres of Rainforest from, www.rainforestconcern.org
Hull, GB , 21 Jun 2006
Tried it in pots, the back garden and latterly through the Woodland Trust.
05 Jul 2006
Planted four fruit trees in garden to replace aged and dying pear tree (no fruit for 5 years)in Oct 2005. Reluctant to commit as have dudious gardening skills. Now enjoying watching first crop growing. Inspired to add blueberries, strawberries and blackcurrants in bid to grow more at home for family meals.
22 Aug 2006
Managed to do this, even with out having our own garden! My youngest daughter left her nursery this year to start school, so instead of the usual bottles of wine to say thank you we bought an apple tree for the nursery garden!
31 Aug 2006
Cool idea-thanks! Have just dedicated a tree from the Woodland Trust as a christening pressie. Groovy!
13 Sep 2006
I planted trees for each of my 2 boys (yew & oak) at our local nature reserve as they have a list of trees they want to expand their woodland.
17 Sep 2006
One very wet weekend in January 1991, I participated, with a group of volunteers, in a tree planting project organised by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV). We planted up a large field on a farm that the local council had just acquired and planned to develop as a country park. Despite the weather, it was a very rewarding task and I promised myself that I would come back in a few years time to see how it had got on.
Earlier this summer (only 15 years later), I finally revisted the site and was overjoyed to see the magnificent woodland that had grown up. The woods had been well managed and were now a central feature of a popular recreational area.
It’s an old cliche that we plant trees for the benefit of future generations, but we can often enjoy them in our own lifetimes too.
Levenshulme, Manchester, GB , 13 Oct 2006
Our local councillor heads up friends of Highfiled Country Park which is just next to our house. During Reuben’s birth celebration he offered to plant a tree for Reuben in the park – how cool is that?!
08 Feb 2007
We have planted four trees in our garden recently. Also a little orchard has been planted on the other side of our garden wall by the local community. Our school is about to plant an orchard with 200 trees too.
GB , 14 Mar 2007
I planted a number of acorns and some Norway spruce (i.e. Christmas tree) seeds in a pot over the winter. Nothing yet now it’s March, but I did dig around in the pot and discover that at least one of the acorns has roots growing out of the bottom of it. There looks like there might be the beginnings of a Norway spruce just starting to show.
Note: The book “Change the World for a Fiver” provides a packet of five Norway Spruce seeds, which are the ones that I planted!