ALT In the National Trust magazine’s ‘Balancing Act’ feature for summer 2025, tilted ‘Right Tree Right Pmace’ Vincent Crump looks at how the Trust works out where best to plant trees and reforest from its own land to urban streets. The feature starts with a sunlit close up of a young tree growing against the darker background of nature trees.

ALT Picture of the last page of the ‘Balancing Act’ article - on page 25 of the National Trust magazine - with a photo of trees in Lewisham, south east London, where the Street Trees for Living (STfL) has planting more than 3,000 trees, each with its own detailed plan to ensure it’s the right tree in the right place with following care by local volunteer tree ‘guardians’.

ALT Text from page 27 of the article that features Street Trees for Living in Lewisham.

ALT Marie-Claire Denyer, co-founder of Street Trees for Living (STfL) says “every tree needs its own individual care plan. “First, we have to study maps of public utilities to ensure our street trees won’t damage underground pipework, and do CAT scans to find any electrical cables. “That’s just the start. I’ve 84 separate columns of data to fill in for each sapling, detailing everything from whether it needs a stake or protective cage to its mulching, weeding and watering regime.”