The Queen’s Green Canopy
Last year, 11 oaks, 11 elms and 11 apple and pear trees were gifted from The Queen’s Green Canopy to Hampstead Heath. The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is a nationwide initiative to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth II by planting a million trees across Britain. An Alder from the ‘Tree of Trees’ living sculpture displayed outside Buckingham Palace during the jubilee was also donated and planted at Golder’s Hill Park.
Although the Jubilee year ended last December, the QGC project was extended to the end of the tree planting season this March with His Majesty the King as a patron. Staff from the City of London Corporation, Heath Hands and local community volunteers got stuck in planting the trees in January.
The elm trees were planted as an avenue on the Heath Extension and the new oaks have were planted on Parliament Hill below the Tumulus, marking an old field boundary line identified on historic maps of the Heath. The QGC apple and pear trees will be planted in the Old Orchard, near Athlone House, restoring it as the orchard it once was. This will offer fruit for the community and for wildlife. Our staff and volunteers joined in with planting their own trees on the boundary line together with City of London Corporation Rangers.
With the freezing conditions, it was a challenge cutting the turf to start off the holes for planting, but the sandy soil beneath was surprisingly dry and easier to dig. The soil here is part of the Claygate Beds layer, where the Bagshot Sands that form the Heath’s hills mix with the London Clay beneath. This provides an ideal nutrient-rich, well-drained soil for the trees to grow in. A water-retaining gel and watering tubes were added to the holes to keep the trees going during the dry summer months.
Elm tree with Heath VIPs.
Volunteers planting a new oak tree.
The growing trees will be looked after by the Heath’s Conservation Team as they settle in. The oaks should last for centuries, becoming glorious spreading veteran trees supporting a wealth of wildlife and marking the historic boundary, a fitting memorial to Queen Elizabeth II. We’re very pleased to have been involved in their planting.
You can read more about the experience of one of our volunteers planting their tree here.
