I meant what I said. About trying to grow a tree. Right now, on the condiments rack of my fridge, there are six neatly labelled clear plastic bags, each containing a handful of different tree seeds. Meanwhile, in my north-facing back garden, in an assortment of cracked, tagged and colour-coded pots, lies another batch of …
Tag: trees
a tree story and a seed of hope
I began my journey of discovery through trees during a winter tree walk on New Year’s Day, but my love of trees had been slowly growing in the background for much longer than that. It’s hard to say exactly what brought it to the surface at that particular moment. Maybe it was because I’d inherited …
some memories of trees
Before I was born my family nearly moved house but my big sister rejected the new house my parents had chosen because it did not have any 'good climbing trees in the garden'. Consequently, I grew up in a house with a garden that had two huge wild cherry trees growing side by side at the end …
willow weaving beneath the weeping willow
Last month, I tired my hand at willow weaving. Beneath the weeping willow in Tottenham’s Chestnuts Park I joined local residents to help weave a series of round willow pods – their intended destination: the branches of the London plane trees which grace the park’s central path. Fortunately for me, willow artist Angie Baker had already created …
new adventures in tree ID
Lately, I've been starting to look at trees in a whole new light. I've been starting to look more closely at their leaves, and not just for their beauty's sake but because it is the best way to identify their species. In the New Year, when I vowed to lead a more tree-filled life, one …
The seven sisters
I said that I would begin my arboreal adventure by getting to know the trees in my neck of the woods. So it seems about time that I told you the story of the Seven Sisters – the trees my area of London is named after – and the story of how I came to …
walking the line (and the woods)
I love the way that London’s green and wild corners are revealing themselves to me little by little. One day, as I was jogging around Finsbury Park, I noticed a steady stream of walkers and cyclists seeping in and out of a narrow passageway above a railway bridge. Curious, I crossed over the bridge …
conservation in the cemetery
So I spent Valentine’s Day in a graveyard cutting down trees... First I attacked a patch of ash and sycamore saplings with loppers. I looked on as a holm oak was toppled and then I helped cut up the branches and stash them out of sight behind a large gravestone. Later, I sawed down a …
a journey through coldfall wood
Last Saturday, I dressed in layers, rode the 144 bus to Muswell Hill in my adopted borough of Haringey and followed local woodsman Iain Loasby on a journey through the history of ancient Coldfall Wood. My arboreal adventure had begun… London may not be the first place you’d expect to find ancient woods or indeed …
back to my roots: a winter tree walk
I began this year the way I begin most years: with a winter tree walk. I was staying at my parents' house in Birmingham over the New Year, and during a brief dry spell (of rain, not alcohol), I took a stroll around the neighbourhood, assorted family members in tow. We walked a way I've …
Little Wild Tales 