Eve has lived in the Addiscombe area of Croydon for 14 years. She loves her neighbourhood, and wanted to do something that would benefit everyone – so sponsoring a street tree was the perfect solution!
A RETURN VISIT
We’d first met Eve last September (2021) when she requested to sponsor a tree in her street through Trees for Streets. We’d paid her a visit, along with Richard, Croydon’s Tree Officer, partly to survey the location she’d requested and also to thank her for supporting the initiative. As there was an existing tree pit, it was very easy for Richard to be sure that his contractor could plant a new tree at this spot.
Six months later we heard from Richard that the tree had been planted, so we decided to pay Eve a return visit to see how it had all gone.
Regreening the street
Addiscombe is an area of Croydon that already benefits from some lovely street trees, but there’s lots of scope to plant many more to green up the whole neighbourhood.
Eve’s street has several empty tree pits, and so she sponsored a tree to put one back where another grew before. She has also taken on the responsibility of watering the tree during the summer months, which will give it the best possible chance of growing strong and healthy.
“I’m hoping my neighbours will join in and help with the watering – I’m told that it’s almost impossible to overwater a tree, and the weather has been so dry over the last few summers. We all need to do our bit to help, and trees give us so much back.”
Strong enough to weather the storm
Eve told us that the council’s contractor had turned up the day of storm Eunice to plant the tree. She’d been a little worried whether the new tree would still be in the ground next morning, but she needn’t have worried. The contractor had planted a very substantial 3.5 meter, 7 year-old blossoming cherry, held securely in place by two wooden stakes and ties.
I’m so excited now that the tree has been planted.
I’m very pleased with it, I’m really glad I did it. I’ve seen people come along and stop to look at it. It’s certainly been noticed.
Eve
A friendly neighbourhood
Eve’s neighbourhood is very friendly, and she gets on well with her neighbours. While there are some street trees around, there is definitely room for more.
Eve says “I hope lots more people will get involved with this scheme – it’s a really good idea, and will benefit everyone who lives nearby for years to come.”
Plenty of room for more
Croydon is a large borough with plenty of scope for more trees to be planted in streets and local parks. If you’d like to work with us to support more tree planting, you’ll find it easy to sponsor a tree in a location of your choosing through this website.
Croydon Council is working with our charity to make it much easier for its residents to make a donation to further street tree planting, and make the area greener for everyone.
