One new sapling amongst the troubled others on the central island at the city end of the London Road.
Here’s the official word on that new planting on the London Road from Keith Rowe – who is Team Manager for Parks and Greenspaces at B&NES.
The trees in the central reservation in the London Road have been suffering for some time and they clearly haven’t been happy in the substrate that they were planted in.
Rather than removing them all and replanting in the same way, we decided that it would be better to investigate the problems by carefully lifting the tree in the worst condition.
On doing so, we’ve found evidence that the roots have not extended out beyond the root ball and therefore whatever they were planted in wasn’t very inviting!
The team have dug the hole out and refilled it with a mix of good compost and soil to provide a better medium for water retention and root growth. We have also selected a smaller tree as they are more likely to establish in difficult environments and after the first few years, will then often outperform the larger specimen trees.
Before a decision is made on any of the other trees, we are keen to monitor this new plating to see how it takes.”
Fingers crossed.
As long as someone is prepared to water it now…crazy time to plant a new tree in full leaf in a particularly dry Spring! Trees have a much better chance of flourishing if planted in the autumn or very early Spring. JF