Cardiff’s urban forest project is preparing for another busy planting season, with plans to plant a further 30,000 trees across the city with support from local communities and volunteers.
Building on five years of successful planting, this season will see new trees planted in every council ward in Cardiff, helping to expand the city’s urban forest and deliver lasting benefits for people, wildlife and the environment.
Since the ‘Coed Caerdydd’ project began in 2021 as part of Cardiff Council’s One Planet Cardiff response to climate change, more than 155,000 trees have been planted across the city. Volunteers have played a central role in that success, dedicating more than 22,500 hours to planting, growing and caring for trees in neighbourhoods across Cardiff.
Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said:
The new trees that have been planted in Cardiff over the last five years will benefit generations to come, making streets cooler, providing important habitats for wildlife, soaking up carbon emissions, and helping clean the air.
Planting so many trees has only been possible because of the incredible support of volunteers and we’d love to see as many people as possible getting involved again this season so we can plant even more. Whether you can spare an hour at a community planting session, help care for young trees in your neighbourhood, or support the work that goes on at our tree nursery, it makes a huge difference.
The impact of the Coed Caerdydd project is increasingly visible across the city.
There are some Alder trees that I remember planting as tiny saplings 5 years ago, said Coed Caerdydd Project Manager Chloe Jenkins,
and now they’re about three times my height. It’s fantastic to see. We plant trees of all different sizes from saplings to semi-mature street trees, and they all grow at different rates, but particularly in some of larger areas we planted in parks and green spaces in the early days, you can really see the change.
Last season 533 new street trees were planted as part of the project and the hope is that even more will be planted this season.
It can be a complicated business, planting street trees, explained Chloe.
You have to take into account things like gas and water pipes, electricity and broadband cables – that can really limit where we can plant. But, trees do a really good job of keeping streets cooler and that can make a real difference during hot weather like we had this summer, so we’re keen to plant as many as we can.
This year’s programme will also place a greater focus on planting on school sites, private land and in community spaces, building on the significant work already undertaken in many of the city’s parks and green spaces.
The trees planted will be a mix of mainly native species along with some non-invasive ornamental species suitable for climate change adaptation. Increasingly the project will be planting trees grown from locally collected seed at the Coed Caerdydd nursery which was established early in the project
Free tree giveaways for Cardiff residents will also return this planting season, giving more households the opportunity to bring the benefits of trees and nature into their own gardens.
Community planting events will begin shortly, with opportunities available across the city for people of all ages and experience levels to help Cardiff’s urban forest continue to grow.
To find a volunteering opportunity near you, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/coed-caerdydd-46791623513