National Tree Week, the UK’s biggest celebration of trees and The Tree Council wants as many people as possible to connect with, learn more about, benefit from, and maybe even help plant, these magnificent mainstays of our landscapes.
Traditionally marking the start of the winter tree planting season, National Tree Week (NTW) 2024 takes place from November 23 to December 1.
Now just shy of its 50th year, it brings urgent focus to the need to establish trees across a country that can currently only claim around 13% canopy cover – against a European average of 46%.
A one stop shop: To help connect people and trees, The Tree Council’s official NTW webpage – www.nationaltreeweek.org.uk – is seeking to become the one stop shop for all planting opportunities, events, talks, tours and more, taking place throughout the UK during NTW. We’ve developed an easy to use interactive map to help people search their local area.
Michael Hunt, our tree expert has been out and about and this is a close up of the flowers of Prunus Jugatsu Zakura which is in flower today so a great start for tree week.
It is this time of the year he goes in search of these cheerful trees which flower from late October which is interesting because its name in Japanese is Jugatsu- Zakura which means cherry of the tenth month or October cherry.
Most years here in the U.K. certainly in north Buckinghamshire they tend to flower in November but this year it has flowered since late October so a little early like quite a few plants this autumn.
Folk name of this tree is O-Eshiiki Zakura this after the O-Eshiki,a Buddhist service held on the 13th of October and the anniversary of the death of Nichiren founder of a sect of Buddhim; interestingly tying in with Jugatsu meaning Cherry of the 10th month
