Planting trees in December

Plant before Christmas, Clive advised this summer, the advice of one who has created a woodland (which I contributed 10 maiden hair trees).
Cut the meadow for 2-3 years then leave ever wider margins each year for natural regeneration, advised Crispin at the recent Blyth Cluster meeting. It will keep bramble down and give strength to the base of any saplings which develop
Richard introduced me to Cowdray Park where we saw the remarkable Swamp Oak with huge leaves and Red Oak with red tinge and pointed lobe leaves. Ah so there is a wide variety of oaks, I realised now little I knew. These we planted when Richard came up this month.

I am grateful for the advise and inspiration of others on this learning journey. And I am so glad to have this project now, at this time in my life, at this time in our politics. As christmas approaches, and the standard dialogue goes: what are you doing for christmas, and the answer returns with a family, I feel these new trees are like my family. The old woodland my ancestors, who root me, who i look up to, learn from, respect, gain my sustaining income from. The land, the planting are the looking out, the learning, connecting, they remind me I am alive.

MJ, Tom, Kim and Marion came to my call of planting, and we got almost all of section 7 replaced – MJ and Tom doing the lions share. Some joyful help arrived from Family Forest School active that Saturday which came out to learn how to wiggle on a space to help it into the clay earth.

Micael, his mother Lesley and sister Laura came to plant out oaks grown by him. His face lit up when he saw Roger (once Fram), the cockerel hand reared by him, now wild in the wood – he could no longer catch him. Last night I saw how he had survived the nights, he roosts on the fence. We planted Micael’s out on the area of specialist trees.

I planted out the Judas Tree beside the hibernaculum, north of the land towards edge of the wood. I first came across this tree at the stage of my life when I knew very little of trees and was found this tree as a gift for Frances Ronaldson, for her garden in Barns, where I had a room for a while. A good tree for a small garden I was advised. I wonder how it is growing now?

All the ‘exotic’ trees come from the aptly named Jurassic Plant Nurseries who i found via a search on internet, and I return there with delight. They package with such care, the site is good, price not bad, but above all I like their story, with Hungarian (?) based originator (Dr Zoltan Hamori) in North Wales.