London Elms Week
12th-19th February 2023
Following a hugely successful campaign to bring healthy elm trees back to London, this year Elms4London has distributed 77 proven disease resistant elms across 22 London boroughs, many of which are to be planted during the Elms4London Tree Planting Week, 12th-19th February.
Recipients range from local Friends groups and municipal park managers to iconic sites including The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Hampstead Heath and the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Every tree is going to a deserving local group which has identified a suitable planting site and demonstrated an ability to plant and care for their young elm. These are all proven disease resistant clones which have every chance of not just surviving but thriving in the centuries to come, and represent an important step towards reversing the decline of this majestic species.
The Elms4London charity has been able to provide these landmark trees free of charge thanks to the generosity of our sponsors – Bartlett Tree Experts, the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and, for 2023, Treework Environmental Practice.
The 2023 Elm Tree Planting Week builds on the success of our inaugural event in 2022 when 33 disease-resistant elm trees were planted in 17 boroughs across London, marking a significant turning point for the fortunes of an important species which was such a key feature of the city’s landscape until the devastating arrival of Dutch elm disease in the 1960s.
Mark Lane, who chairs the group behind this campaign says: ‘It has been a particularly successful campaign this year, with a significant increase in applications for trees. We partner with a number of specialist British growers including Langthorns Plantery, Joseph Rochford Gardens, Frank P Matthews and the Tree Musketeers, and therefore were able to source sufficient disease-resistant trees to meet the demand, but none of this would have been possible without the generosity of our sponsors, who we thank most sincerely.’
For details of individual events please contact applications@elms4london.org.uk
Further information can be found on the Elms4London website, www.elms4london.org.uk