30% of newly planted street trees die within the first years of planting*. That is a huge figure! This is attributed to lack of care, e.g. non-watering, vandalism and poor maintenance. But if the trees’ local community gets involved that failure rate can reduce to just 5%.

Imagine your council planting 100 trees in your neighbourhood this winter. The community getting involved would mean there are 25 more trees on the streets by the end of year 3.

So we’ve created Greentalk, which engages local residents by allowing them to adopt and help take care of trees in their streets and neighbourhood.

If you’re a local authority, community organisation or group planning a tree planting programme this winter and are worrying about what will happen to all the trees in spring and summer, then get in touch with us at [email protected]

You can also see our tree adoption programme in action on Grow Back Together and on Hounslow Greentalk.

* "Our need for city trees is deep-rooted. Can we keep them safe for future generations?" - Sunday Times, 13th September 2020 and Trees in Towns II - A new survey of urban trees in England - Britt 7 Johnson