Commemorating trees

Many thousands of trees will be planted by the end of 2012 to commemorate the Queens Diamond jubilee, just as they have always been planted to mark important people and events. Despite industrialisation and global economics, the ever increasing exploitation of natural resources, and the bent towards technological progress the symbolic power of trees seems as strong as ever in our collective cultural conscience.

The story of trees runs in close parallel to the story of human society, far back in history to our forest dwelling ancestors.  In pre-history vast areas of the earth were covered by forest, which would have provided shelter, food and firewood. The endless potential of wood as a resource played an ever greater role as economies developed and today the contribution of trees to human society continues to evolve, with the synthesis of Taxol (a cancer drug) from Yew,  the planting of trees to neutralise urban pollution and the use of forests to absorb the capture carbon. So perhaps the continuing power of trees is not a surprise after all.

The symbolism of trees is woven into the fabric of our language, from family trees to common sayings, and almost all trees are afforded their special meaning. Aside from their usefulness, it is often the physical stature and longevity of trees that provides the symbolism appropriate to great occasions, and the oak tree epitomises this perhaps more than any other tree.

At the 7th Berlin Biennale art exhibition this year, 320 self-seeded birch trees from the area around the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were transplanted to the streets of Berlin as a living memorial to the holocaust.  This merges contemporary art with a powerful commemorative message, and perhaps the traditional meaning associated with birch trees, that of re-birth and renewal, is also an appropriate one.   

Closer to home, the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire demonstrates the importance we place on trees as a way of commemorating the past. It is designed to recognise and remember the sacrifices of the armed and civil forces. So here an avenue of chestnuts, the timber from which truncheons were originally made and some of which were grown from conkers from Robert Peel’s garden, has been planted to mark the service of all the police forces in the UK.

There are of course many other good reasons for planting trees and the potentially disastrous plight of the nation’s ash trees provides an added incentive. Urban designers in Denmark, which has lost 90% of its Ash, have responded by no longer planting streets with avenues of single species. Variety will be an important part of the strategy to avoid widespread devastation.

If you want to plant a tree, early winter is an ideal time. For more information go the RHS and Woodland Trust websites.