Haringey is the latest London borough to join Trees for Streets, and among the first UK councils to come on board.
We’re delighted to welcome London borough of Haringey to our national street tree sponsorship scheme. Our aim is to plant thousands of trees in streets and parks across the borough over and above what the council is able to plant with existing budgets, by raising sponsorship donations from local residents.
Haringey is one of the greenest boroughs in London, and we’re proud to count Alexandra Park and Finsbury Park among our green, open spaces. But our streets need more tree cover, and that’s what this project is all about – greening our streets to improve air quality and improve our health and wellbeing, making our neighbourhoods better for everyone who lives here.
Cllr Mike Hakata, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency and Deputy Leader of Haringey CouncIL
Our online app makes it easy for anyone to sponsor a tree in their neighbourhood by providing a few simple details, and making a donation. The council then assesses the chosen location, and if it is suitable, arrangements will be made to plant a tree the following winter: the best time to plant young trees to ensure they grow and thrive.
Why are street trees important?
Street trees do so much for us:
- improve air quality by acting like natural filters
- capture carbon dioxide and produce oxygen
- absorb air pollution
- improve our health and wellbeing – both physically and mentally
- protect us from flooding
- create shading and cooling – so important in towns and cities
- make the neighbourhoods where we live that bit nicer
Beyond sponsoring a tree, there are lots of other ways for people to get involved. Once each street tree is planted, it will need watering every week throughout the summer for 3 years to give it the best chance of survival, and any litter or weeds will need removing too, to make sure it thrives.
Street tree watering tips:
- It’s best to water in the early morning or evening when it’s a bit cooler, so the tree can absorb as much of the water as possible before it evaporates in the sunshine.
- Young trees need 50 litres of water each week during the summer – that’s 5 standard watering cans, or 25 empty 2l drinks bottles!
- If the tree has a watering pipe, pour half of the water down the pipe and the other half on ground around the tree trunk. If the tree has a watering bag, simply fill that.
- Get into a regular habit – at Trees for Streets we like to remind people on our social media channels to water trees on #WateringWednesday, but you could give your nearby tree a daily watering can full Monday to Friday instead, or do it all at the weekend – as long as it gets a good long drink.
- You can use rainwater, washing-up water or bath water if you like – trees aren’t fussy!
