Doris day

We seem to have been reasonably lucky not to have lost too many trees to storm Doris yesterday, but this large Sycamore did succumb. Adelaide Avenue was closed briefly but the tree was pretty quickly removed by the council's contractors.

As you can see, the heart wood was rotten (see the dark brown staining in the chopped boughs?), and going to look at the stump today, it's clear that the tree was very weakened by disease. 

This is what heavy winds do for us - they clear out weak and diseased trees. Quite often it's impossible to see that the tree is in trouble until it comes down. 

Happily, no one was injured, and no property damaged.

Saw this dust ...!

Anyone know what is happening here? 

Pictured this Wednesday near the corner of Harefield and Breakspears Roads, this maple tree (Acer saccharinum) appears to have been hollowed and then flushed out by the rain, possibly by some sort of borer. 

We welcome any suggestions as to what may have caused this and what it means for the tree. Of course, we are always interested in pictures and reports of other street trees in distress so please let us know.

PS. We're meeting with our Green Scene colleagues next week to look at it more closely. 

Funding confirmed - a further £18K for street trees!

Brockley Society is thrilled to confirm new funding for street trees in Lewisham. The number of plantings will double due to a grant from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as part of his plan to increase London's tree cover by 5%. The grant has been awarded to the partnership between Street Trees for Living (Brockley Society's newly rebranded street tree campaign) and Lewisham Council. It is worth £18,000, and will fund an extra 75 street trees. It is hoped even larger amounts will be available in future years. This week members of the campaign have inspected six low tree-cover wards within the borough to identify those streets which will most benefit from the extra tree plantings. Street Trees for Living is extremely grateful to its partners at the council who put the bid together at the end of last year against an extraordinarily tight deadline.

During street surveys it became clear there is tremendous opportunity to green our streets further by planting trees within front gardens of both houses and flats. Street Trees for Living is proposing a pilot scheme under which owners and tenants can purchase and plant subsidised trees in their front gardens. Particular emphasis will be on those streets where pavement planting of trees is problematic due to space, parking or subterranean pipes and cables. To this end Street Trees for Living is asking for an enthusiastic volunteer to help make this unique idea happen. Please contact Dom at trees@brockleysociety.org.uk if you are interested.

Street Trees for Living

Street Trees for Living is the new name for Brockley Society's street tree campaign. We are delighted to report that the total raised since 2012 looks set to be enough to fund 250 street trees - with about half of these already labelled and planted. In the last year alone it raised £18,000. This was from a Brockley Assembly grant, fundraising events and a fantastic 70% from local residents. 

Flowering cherry in a Lewisham street 

All this has allowed us to bid for a similar amount through a scheme offered two months weeks ago by the office of the new Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. His objective is eventually to increase London’s tree cover by 5% (from 20% to 25%). This would be achieved by supporting local communities, businesses and civil society in improvements to neighbourhoods through tree-planting and associated activities. The present bid would fund 75 additional street trees along the streets of Lewisham, many in Brockley ward. There are strong hopes of success. If all goes well, further bids will be possible. 

This activity was part of Brockley Society’s new Street Trees for Living programme, run in partnership with Lewisham Council. The creation of the programme is marked by exciting new projects for the year ahead. These include continued efforts to raise community awareness with the launch of a schools outreach project. The committee would welcome requests from local schools for information talks to students, as well as their participation in the Street Trees for Living logo competition (details to be issued soon).

Street Trees for Living is currently managing several schemes of multiple planting. These will become apparent within Brockley ward in Foxberry Road and Vanguard Street, as well as across the borough. These successes have often been the result of neighbours coming together to develop a planting scheme for their street. If you'd like to discuss the role of tree co-ordinator for your street, or are interested in helping Street Trees for Living in any way, please contact Dom Eliot on trees@brockleysociety.org.uk 

Street Trees for Living

Brockley Society Tree Committee