Memorial trees in honour of Queen Elizabeth II have been planted in Thanet, with more planned in the new year.
As part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project trees have been planted by volunteers including those at the Sunken Gardens in Westbrook, members of Thanet Biodiversity, Thanet, Westgate and Minster councils, Foreland Fields School and St Laurence junior school.
A Queen Elizabeth Field Maple was planted in Lymington Road at the end of the Tree National Tree Week earlier this month by Westgate Town Council. The tree was donated by the Thanet Urban Forest group.
Thanet Urban Forest has a second Queen Elizabeth Field Maple which is due to be planted at Marshside Scout camp in Minster in the new year.
For the last two years tree and biodiversity warden Peter Hasted has been volunteering with Westgate Town Council to encourage, protect and promote trees and biodiversity. He has successfully highlighted a planting site for Kent County Council which is between King Ethelbert School and Ursuline College and is hoping to invite the community out for the tree planting towards the end of January.
Peter said: “Westgate has low tree canopy coverage at 6% unlike its leafy neighbour Birchington at around 12%. The figures are still way below the national average of 28 to 36%, depending on which studies you read – so there are still lots of trees that need to be planted.
“We continue to look for suitable sites to plant and establish trees and welcome any opportunity to plant with local landowners. When stablishing trees, they often do not get the attention needed to become mature. Leaving trees to fend for themselves before they have got their roots down is the main reason for the tree to fail, making the whole exercise counterintuitive so it is well worth allocating at least two thirds of resources into establishing the tree.
“As a rule of thumb try to give your tree one year of establishment for every meter tall it is, so a five metre tree requires five years of establishment. Consider buying a smaller one if you want to see them thrive into maturity and you don’t require instant impact.
“As a member of the community tree nursery collaborative, Thanet Urban Forest Tree Nursery has been tending to saplings over this year’s growing season while keeping busy collecting and sowing seeds to produce local province trees. Fleshy seeds such as acorns, chestnuts and sweet chestnuts have been sown and protected from small mammals feeding on them, while other seeds are being stored ready to germinate in the spring.
“The nursery is made up of a number of small satellites, including back yards, gardens, driveways and any other available space while continuing to look for a more suitable long term site to grow trees for Thanet.”
Anyone who would like to plant a tree in memory of Queen Elizabeth can find information on https://thaneturbanforest.org/ or contact Peter via Westgate Town Council or Thanet Urban Forest
