Treemendous Designs – A Celebration of National Tree Week

Did you know that last week was National Tree Week? This celebration of all things green and leafy started in 1975 and is held at the start of the winter tree planting season each year. The aim of the week is to get communities thinking about how to look after and develop their local ‘treescape’. Events such as wood walks, woodland craft fairs and hedge planting are organised by local community groups, schools and tree surgeries for the duration of the week.

Whether by accident or design National Tree Week also coincides with another celebration known as Tree Dressing Day.  No, this is not where you put clothes on your conifers but rather a symbolic decoration of shrubs both great and small. The idea is that every single tree is important, whether in central London or the Scottish Highlands, and designated trees are adorned with lanterns and ribbons to make them stand out. The roots of the festival are said to trace back hundreds of years to the Himalayas where the Maharaja wanted to build a new palace. He ordered trees to be cut down for their timber but a local woman stood in front of the trees to protect them. Unfortunately the woman fell victim to the loggers axes, as did a number of people from her village. Every year the local community marked the anniversary by celebrating the greenery that remained and so evolved Tree Dressing Day. Here are some snaps from tree dressing events held around the UK.