{"id":12264,"date":"2015-02-20T15:30:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T15:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=12264"},"modified":"2015-03-15T18:25:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T18:25:35","slug":"love-trees-national-tree-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/love-trees-national-tree-week\/","title":{"rendered":"15,000 Free Trees! Will You Find Love Among Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Do you love trees? It’ll soon be national tree week and reading about the event sent my thoughts spiraling backwards.<\/p>\n
I met a tree man who later became my husband, Mr G, at a craft beer festival 19 years ago. He was working as an assistant Arboriculturalist in the Parks Department for Bury St Edmunds Council in Suffolk and I can’t deny that I was initially attracted by his long hair, piercing blue eyes, rugby playing physique and his GSX750. When I learnt he was a nature lover too, the attraction increased ten fold. Ian’s work at the Council included designing planting schemes for amenity trees as well as advising contractors where they could and couldn’t dig their trenches. He worked alongside the planning department advising them about the city’s conservation area and heritage trees and he was a passionate protector of ancient trees and wildlife.<\/p>\n
During those early months, our dates often took place in woodlands where, as we strolled along meandering paths, Ian taught me about leaf shapes and bark patterns. Conversation often included trees and how he remembered the unfamiliar Latin names by abbreviating them. Crataegus monogyna became “crat mon” (Hawthorn) and Taxus baccata became “tax back” (Yew). Little did I know that I would be applying similar techniques to learn the Latin names for plants when I studied horticulture as a mature student.<\/p>\n
One of my favourite memories of those early days is when we camped out in the middle of the New Forest in Hampshire in a two-man tent. We were cocooned for a week in a clearing close to a spot where sunlight beamed down on picnic benches, its rays catching the tiny petals of wild orchids, making them sparkle. We were surrounded by moss-covered ancient oaks and beech lined lanes that week, and it was there that we fell in love.<\/p>\n
Do You \u2665 Trees is the title of this year’s National Tree Week that will be taking place from the 1st to 8th March and it’s difficult not to want to hug and thank every old tree for those memories.<\/p>\n
During Tree Week \u00a0The Tree Council of Ireland<\/a>\u00a0are suggesting we use the opportunity to sponsor, plant, hug, talk or simply walk among trees – to think about them or simply be among them.<\/p>\n The launch of the event that’s being sponsored by the ESB, will take place in Castletown House in Co Kildare<\/a> on 1st March where the Tree Council will be giving away over 2,000 trees and 15,000 during the week<\/strong> thanks to Coillte. On the day they’re promising activities for children, woodturners, Beekeepers, lectures, walks, talks and laughs about trees.<\/p>\n