Pablo was the very first person in Cambridge to sponsor a street tree through our app. He lives in Trumpington with his family. His sponsored street tree was planted in early March 2022.
Cambridge – the first city to join
Cambridge was the first city council to join the Trees for Streets national street tree sponsorship scheme, and although the scheme was only launched there in Spring 2021, lots of residents have already taken the opportunity to sponsor trees outside their homes.
Pablo’s main reason for sponsoring a street tree is the positive impact that trees have on our immediate environment.
Trees play a vital role in our environment, we need more on our streets. They are key to a healthier and greener neighbourhood.
I also want to encourage wildlife to the street, my young son and I like to watch the squirrels and birds.
This is a great initiative, and will make such a difference to the community.
Pablo
A vision for the street
The Trumpington area where Pablo lives has quite wide streets, and there aren’t lots of mature trees around, so it gets very hot during the warmer months of the year. There is lots of space to plant trees in the grass verges along the side of the road, which will give the houses and their residents some much-needed shade and shelter.
Cambridge City Council Tree Officer Matthew Magrath had a particular tree in mind for this spot outside Pablo’s house: a Field Maple.
tough, but beautiful
It needs to be a tough, resilient tree to survive in this street, because the ground is hard, dry, and compacted.
This Field Maple (Acer campestre, ‘Red Shine’) should do well here, especially as Pablo has volunteered to water it over the summer and keep an eye on it.
Matthew
Matthew describes what the tree will look like over the coming seasons:
It’s an elegant tree that has beautiful foliage which starts out red in spring, changing through dark green and then finally yellow in autumn. It also has attractive cork-like bark.
Watering street trees can be very expensive for councils to do, so it’s great that Pablo has volunteered to take on the responsibility of watering this tree during the warmer seasons. Doing this for the first 3 years after planting gives a street tree the best chance of survival, and means his family and neighbours will enjoy its benefits for many years to come.
Pablo is delighted with the new arrival on his street, and is helping to spread the word about tree sponsorship among his friends and neighbours, so we look forward to seeing lots more sponsorships in this area.
PLAY YOUR PART – SPONSOR A TREE
It’s easy to sponsor a tree in your neighbourhood – click the yellow button below to get started and choose the spot where you’d like a tree to be planted, then give us a few details and we’ll do the rest.
