Welcome to our first newsletter of the summer. First, a note about ambitious planting targets - globally and closer to home.
Trillion Trees
The Trillion Trees Vision is to see “one trillion trees regrown, saved from loss and better protected around the world by 2050, thanks to determined and collective action by all sectors of society.”
This vision, from three global conservation organisations, was endorsed by governments at the Davos Forum earlier this year but the target date was brought forward to 2030. The media picked this up as meaning a trillion genuinely new trees by then, but there is some latitude by including in the total trees that ‘may have been lost’. It could be that the world economy may not now be able to afford such a commitment.
Southwark trees department put in a very large application for funds for new trees just a few months ago, so there is a willingness to greatly increase the tree cover in our streets and parks, but of course money may now be harder to come by.
We have some gaps in our streets in Herne Hill where we're looking to the council to plant new trees or replacements for those lost. But it's just as important that we look after existing trees with extra watering where necessary, do minor maintenance where we can, provide extra protection where required and promptly report any bigger problems directly to the council through their website.
Lost trees
Unfortunately we’re about to lose two more trees in Herne Hill. One is a very large old London plane, located on Elmwood Road at the foot of Frankfurt. It’s got extensive decay at the base by the roadside, where you can see several dark cavities, and is scheduled to be felled very soon. Any big plane with significant rot presents a danger.
The other is a dead hawthorn outside 19 Elfindale, to be taken down after July 7. It had several galls, abnormal lumpy growths, on its branches. Both removal notices say the lost trees will be replaced.
Street leaders
It’s our aim to get a street leader for every street where we operate. Street leaders are the main point of contact for Herne Hill Tree Watch volunteers on their road, but they also help organise watering rotas, find extra hands for any jobs that need doing and talk to their neighbours when it comes to choosing where new trees should go and which species they prefer.
Street leaders are very useful to us and the work isn’t a great burden. If you’d like to become one, please let us know. We'd like to meet all our new street leaders soon so please let us know when you'd be free for a tree walk along your road and a friendly chat about what needs doing there over the summer. Bring a neighbour if you can. If you're working at home the best time for us would be 10 a.m. on a weekday.
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We still haven’t got any volunteers living on Herne Hill or Casino Avenue, so if you’ve got friends there perhaps you could mention our group.
New planting
Some of you have already made suggestions for places where you’d like to see a tree planted, either in a new spot or to replace an old stump or fill an empty tree pit. Please keep your ideas coming - not just locations, but the type of tree you’d like. In the next two or three months we’ll have to send proposals to Southwark for the 20 or so trees that we’ve been awarded funding for.
It could be that before too long we’ll be getting involved in tree planting as well as maintenance and watering. Phil Barwell, Senior Arboricultural Officer at Southwark’s tree section, told us the council envisages that there will ample opportunities in the future for community groups like Herne Hill Tree Watch to be involved with tree planting and woodland creation across the borough.
Oak saplings
Many of you will have heard, either through Charter School or your street email list, that Extinction Rebellion is offering a large number of oak saplings for planting in the local area. We asked the council tree department and they confirmed their existing policy that all new street trees must come from a recognised supplier which is certified as following biosecurity best practices.
There are many pests and pathogens that could be spread by planting donated trees which would put existing ones at risk.
Street tree choices
Lots of trees are just not suitable for streets because our pavements are narrow and can become uneven and dangerous. Residents also worry that they can cause subsidence and block out light.
A large part of the council’s maintenance budget is spent on dealing with old trees that have become too large for their location. Many meadow trees such as oak, ash, sycamore, horse chestnut, cedar and pine are just not suitable as street trees and they don't flourish unless they can spread their roots. They're far more suited to parks and open spaces.
Council tree departments tend to have a preferred list of trees that are proven to grow well in streets, that are not too dense and are fairly decorative. The street trees that seem to be popular in Southwark are ginkgos, cherries, chanticleer (columnar) pears, crab apples, small limes, upright silver birches, liquidambar (sweet gum), tulip trees and other small or medium-sized decorative trees. Every now and again they'll experiment with a few different types.
Larger trees should be planted in our parks where they can flourish, provide oxygen, improve air quality, ameliorate climate change, conserve water, preserve soil and support wildlife. They may live for hundreds of years in the right location.
There's also a tendency nowadays to prioritise trees that are best suited to withstand the higher temperatures and drier conditions that are expected in the coming decades. We may not always agree with the council’s choice of tree for our particular location, but there is an overall strategy at work.
Maintenance work
During June we carried on with urgent maintenance, working on Beckwith Road, Burbage Road, Herne Hill, Hollingbourne Road and Ruskin Walk to remove unwanted tree cages, stakes and watering bags, prune rampant basal growths and saw off torn limbs from trees.
But now lockdown has been eased further we’d like to get more of you involved and we’ve started sending out emails suggesting street-by-street work groups. We hope you’ll take part - it’s a lot of fun and very educational.
Outside taps
Volunteers have also continued watering vulnerable young trees, which is much appreciated. Even when there have been rainy days, saplings need a good soaking - ideally a full 50-litre Treegator bag - once a week for their first two summers on the street, a bit less in spring and autumn. Otherwise they’ll soon wilt and stop producing new growth.
But water is very heavy to carry, so to help you with your load we’re developing a network of taps in people’s front gardens that they’ve said we can all use.
Here’s the list so far:
BURBAGE ROAD - no. 29
ELFINDALE ROAD - no. 53
HOLLINGBOURNE ROAD - nos. 48, 50 and 51
WARMINGTON ROAD - no. 12.
The manager of the car wash on Herne Hill, between Casino Avenue and Danecroft Road, has also said you can fill up watering cans there if you speak to him first.
Any more offers to share your outside tap would be very welcome.
Great trees of Herne Hill
This month it’s the turn of the rare Mongolian lime (Tilia mongolica). There are fewer than 200 on London’s streets, but Burbage Road is privileged to have five of them in the short stretch between Half Moon Lane and Turney Road, where our postcode area ends.
Their toothed leaves distinguish them from the commoner, more frequently planted native limes: the large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos) and the small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata).
The blossoms on all the limes have almost gone now and the heady scent you can smell in May has faded. But the fruit is developing, hanging from pale, narrow, leaf-like bracts.
You can see Mongolian limes outside nos. 62/64, 77, 80, 91 and 116 Burbage, but lime trees were a favourite of Victorian housebuilders and there are lots of other species along the street. There’s a remarkable stretch of 30 very tall, closely spaced large-leaved limes between Half Moon Lane and the doctor’s surgery at no. 2 Burbage. Their brilliant yellow foliage in autumn makes a stunning display.
These 30 trees would once have been pleached, meaning selected branches and twigs at head height would have been stretched out horizontally to intertwine with the next tree along, eventually creating a clipped hedge on top of a row of clear trunks.
Many Victorian front gardens in Herne Hill were planted with pleached limes, but they’re very time-consuming to train and maintain. Still, you can see several impressive survivors, particularly along Winterbrook Road and Stradella Road.
If you get the chance, right now is a good time to go and admire the best pleached lime hedge in the area, at 26 Half Moon Lane, stretching down Stradella. It’s a double-decker and it’s looking glorious.
Blossom report
We’re now well into summer, and soon we’ll switch from highlighting flowering trees to suggesting where you can see attractive fruit and gorgeous autumn colours on our streets.In the meantime, though, here’s a stunning late bloomer. It’s another rarity: a hibiscus (Hibiscus resi) on Beckwith Road.
You’ll probably know hibiscus as an exotic garden shrub, native to China, but not as a standard (the term for a tree with a clear trunk). The young Beckwith tree, outside nos. 31/33, is just coming into bloom and should give a fantastic display of deep pink flowers throughout July and beyond. Don’t miss it!
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