Plant a tree to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee
COMMUNITIES, schools, gardeners and companies are being encouraged to plant trees in an initiative to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
The Queen’s Green Canopy scheme has been launched to encourage people to plant trees from the start of the tree-planting season in October this year through to the end of 2022, to mark her 70 years on the throne.
The scheme will also highlight 70 irreplaceable ancient woodlands across the UK and identify 70 ancient trees, and create a pilot training programme for unemployed young people to plant and manage trees.
Schools and community groups will be able to apply for three million free saplings from the Woodland Trust as part of the project.
The Prince of Wales was joined by the Queen for the first jubilee treeplanting in the grounds of Windsor earlier this year, during the treeplanting season.
In a video message to launch the initiative, Charles urged people to join him to “plant a tree for the jubilee – in other words a ‘tree-bilee’.
“It is absolutely vital that more of the right species of trees are planted, in the right places, and that more woodlands, avenues, hedgerows and hedgerow trees and urban planting schemes are established, whilst ensuring that we also protect and sustain what we already have,” he added. Charles described planting a tree as a “statement of hope and faith in the future” and said planting trees and hedgerows and protecting existing woodlands and forests were costeffective ways to protect the planet.