Welcome to our Plant a Tree page! As you can see, Wilderhood Watch members have been very busy over the past two years planting native trees and hedges in local schools. Please contact us if you know of a school or other local green space which would benefit from some tree planting.
We source most of our trees from the Woodland Trust but would be very happy to receive any saplings you find growing in your garden to pass on to the St Albans Tree Action Group. Just put then in a pot with as much root as possible and contact Danielle at danni.andy@virginmedia.com. As well as the Woodland Trust, schools can also apply to the Tree Council to receive free packs of orchard and hedgerow saplings.
On December 3rd 2021, volunteers from Wilderhood Watch and the St John Fisher PTA planted 105 trees in the grounds of St John Fisher School, St Albans. We used the ‘Year round Colour’ tree pack which is being offered free to schools by the Woodland Trust. Wild cherry, silver birch and rowan trees were planted along an exposed brick boundary wall at the edge of the playing field. Hawthorn, dogwood and hazel saplings were planted in the corner of the field around existing trees, creating a woodland area with natural pathways for the children to follow.
Other tree projects coming up soon will hopefully include planting a 100m long native hedge at the Oaklands Apiary, funded by Affinity Water.
Local tree seedlings tend to be much better at getting established than saplings brought in from elsewhere and planting them reduces the chance of spreading diseases. We are so lucky in St Albans to have a magnificent disease-free Elm growing in Clarence Park. Guided by Heidi from Wilder St Albans, on Nov 17th 2021 we carefully cut 51 hopefully disease-resistant suckers from the ‘Mother Tree’.
Wilderhood Watch members planted trees in our neighbourhood in the Winter of 2018/2019 as part of the Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback Campaign.
On January 19th 2019, we planted some more trees at Bernards Heath Junior School – 27 in all, a mixture of silver birch, wild cherry and rowan.
To help raise money for seeds and trees, we had a Wilderhood Watch stall at the Sandringham School Christmas Fair on December 7th 2018. Items for sale included organically grown pollinator friendly seeds, greetings cards and knitted Christmas tree decorations. Thank you to everyone who came along to support us!
On November 30th 2018, we planted thirty trees at Bernard’s Heath Junior School, to create two mini copses which will hopefully eventually provide shelter for the children and habitat for wildlife. They were mixture of Silver birch, Crab apple and Wild cherry.
Also, on October 10th 2018, our Wilderhood Watch team planted a hedgerow at Bernard’s Heath Infant School, in collaboration with parents, Year 2 children and the PTA. Between us, we planted ninety saplings of Hazel, Hawthorn, Dog rose, Crabapple and Dogwood.
