The National Trust has revealed it will be planting blossoming tree circles across the UK ‘to signal reflection and hope’ post-pandemic.
The charity will plant the trees in and around urban areas over the next five years in towns and cities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust wants to create a British equivalent of Japan’s ‘Hanami’ or ‘flower viewing’ – the popular custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers.
Planting is currently under way of the first garden at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, which is set to be completed this spring.
This blossom garden will include 33 UK-grown trees, including cherry, plum, hawthorn and crab apple, to represent the 33 London boroughs.
The charity hopes it will be a place to remember all those who have lost their lives, honour key workers and ‘reflect on the city’s shared experience of the pandemic’.
The National Trust and partners are looking to spring blossom to help signal reflection and hope with their plans to plant blossoming tree circles in cities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the next five years. Pictured, blossom design for London
The London blossom garden, created in partnership with the Mayor of London, is in same borough as NHS Nightingale Hospital – one of seven critical care temporary hospitals established by NHS England specifically to treat Covid patients.
‘This new public garden will create a lasting, living memorial to commemorate all those who have lost their lives in the pandemic,’ said Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
‘It will be a tribute to the amazing ongoing work of our key workers and create a space for Londoners to contemplate and reflect on all this global pandemic has meant to our city and world.
‘The blossoming trees will be a permanent reminder of this incredibly challenging time in all our lives and a symbol of how Londoners have stood together to help one another.’
There are more spaces in the pipeline for Newcastle, Nottingham and Plymouth, for which concepts have been drawn up, and other locations expected to be announced soon.
Local residents will be able to use the new blossom spaces as quiet places for reflection, peace and enjoyment.
The conservation charity will work with partners and local communities on the design, tree planting and plans for how the spaces will be used now and in the future, as well as ensuring the sites are accessible and meet the locals’ needs.
As well as a place for reflection, the spaces will be also suited for various events and social gatherings, workshops, festivals and exhibitions once lockdown restrictions are eased.
Planting is currently under way of the first garden at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, which is to be completed this spring. Its location is marked above
Blossom design for London. The final agreed design for the London garden includes 33 UK grown trees including cherry, plum, hawthorn and crab apple to represent the 33 London boroughs. These will be arranged in three circles. Planting is currently underway with the new garden due to be completed this spring
‘It’s a fantastic example of how heritage organisations help make our neighbourhoods more beautiful and improve our physical and mental well-being, and I look forward to seeing this project bloom in our communities,’ said Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
An annual marking of the spring blossom season akin to Japan’s hanami should also bring more people outdoors and boost tourism, the National Trust said.
The annually blossoming tree circles, which are being funded in part from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, will be planted both on and off National Trust land and on already existing green spaces.
1894 artwork by Japanese artist Toyohara Chikanobu shows ladies in the Edo palace enjoying cherry blossoms.
The National Trust project aims to create a British equivalent of Japan’s ‘Hanami’ – the popular custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers. Pictured, blossom in Chidorigafuchi, Tokyo
The project will help meet the National Trust’s ambition to plant 20 million trees by 2030 to help tackle climate change and create new homes for nature.
‘This project is just one element of our ambitions to plant more trees and to address Britain’s need for green space and nature where people live,’ said Hilary McGrady, director general at the National Trust.
‘If, by creating these blossom spaces, we can create areas for people of all ages to take notice and connect with the natural world – while also creating havens for urban nature – that has to be a good thing.’
Brits recognised the importance of access to nature during lockdown and found green spaces beneficial for their physical and mental health, according to previous National Trust research.
In June last year, the results of a YouGov poll for the Trust showed 68 per cent of adults agreed that spending time noticing the nature around them had made them feel happy during lockdown.
Nottingham St Mary’s Rest Garden concept plan. The charity is working with its partners to ensure sites are accessible and meet the needs of local communities
Over a third (38 per cent) of adults also said that time in nature was the moment they looked forward to most each day during the lockdown.
‘Although we suspected that nature was providing the nation some level of comfort during these distressing and unprecedented times, we wanted to get a better understanding of how it was helping people through this period,’ said Andy Beer, director of the Midlands at the National Trust, at the time.
‘The results tell us that people have found spending time in nature or seeing nature has had a positive effect on their mood, and hopefully therefore, helped their mental wellbeing.’
Last summer, a report by Vivid Economics highlighted inequalities in access to green space across Britain.
The report described 295 deprived urban neighbourhoods as ‘grey deserts’ with no trees or accessible green space.
Pictured, a concept plan for a blossom garden for Nottingham Highfields Park, which is on the southern outskirts of the city
In areas where more than 40 per cent of residents are from ethnic minorities, there is 11 times less public green space than in areas where residents are largely white, and it is also likely to be of poorer quality, it found.
In the poorest 20 per cent of households, 46 per cent don’t have a car, so urban parks and green spaces are their only opportunity to have contact with nature, rural beauty spots are beyond reach.
There was huge surge in people’s use of parks and green spaces during the coronavirus pandemic – up 25 per cent by May 2020 compared to May 2018, the Trust revealed.
Green space visits nearly doubled over the last decade from 1.2 billion visits in 2009-10 to 2.1 billion in 2018-19, fuelling a need for more urban green space.