The Lord-Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight, Mrs Susie Sheldon, planted a tree in the grounds of The Isle of Wight College as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) initiative earlier this week (21st November).
The tree is a beautiful multi-stemmed Silver Birch (Betula Pendula), which formed part of the 21-metre-high ‘Tree of Trees’ sculpture, designed by Tom Heatherwick for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The Tree of Trees, made up of 350 saplings and erected outside Buckingham Palace over the summer, was illuminated by Her Late Majesty The Queen as the first of a chain of 1,500 beacons lit across the UK and Commonwealth.
Following the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, each county in the UK was invited to apply for 1 of the trees; the Isle of Wight has been extremely fortunate in receiving 2 trees, and the other 1 is located at Pan Meadows Country Park.
Lord-Lieutenant Susie Sheldon, who is the King’s representative on the Isle of Wight, said:
“It is very exciting to be planting one of the ‘Tree of Trees’ at The Isle of Wight College, as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project. The college is a great location for the tree, whereby students, staff and visitors for years to come will be able to see and enjoy it.”
This is the first Royal engagement at the Isle of Wight College since the appointment of principal, Ros Parker OBE, in September:
Mrs Sheldon continues:
“It means a lot to the students and staff of The Isle of Wight College to have been chosen to receive this beautiful sapling from the ‘Tree of Trees’. The tree is now under the expert supervision of the college’s skilled horticulture department and takes pride of place on the campus”.
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It is becoming increasing hard to find British trees to plant free from the risk of catching newly imported diseases now.
We have imported Ash die back, Horse Chesnuts, Oaks, and of course Elms are all at risk. Seems to be a very clear message from nature, to not import anything living which does not originate from this land, UNLESS very well checked for disease, pests and future likely issues, and then only import it IF it is better than what we have here already and is really needed or return such before issues arise.
Perhaps Robert Jenwick the British minister would do well to do likewise.