‘Chatty’ tree gets new lease of life in Denbighshire

Work is underway to provide a crop of ‘chatty’ trees to boost support against climate change impacting on Denbighshire’s landscape.

Denbighshire County Council’s local provenance tree nursery at St Asaph has launched a project to protect aspens.

The Council’s tree nursery is funded by the Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project and Local Places for Nature grant.

Staff at the nursery are working to boost species numbers of trees including black poplar, wild service tree and oaks by sourcing seeds from the local area and growing them on.

Now they are turning their attention to growing aspen which has properties for rapid growing helping sequester carbon and also providing dense canopies to cool landscapes down.

Folklore surrounding aspens in Scotland, earned the tree the nickname the ‘old wives tongue’ due to it being very chatty through the rustling of its leaves. It was also thought to be a protect charm to plant near your home to protect against theft.

Aspens are a vital pioneer species that beavers love and trees grown at the nursery will also support the Denbighshire Beavers Project on Green Gates Nature Reserve.

The trees also host a wide range of biodiversity like ash an oak and can survive for thousands of years. Root systems and leaf litter can also improve nutrient-poor soils and stabilize riverbanks, supporting flood management.

To increase the number of trees the team are using vegetative propagation, cloning from its root system which is backed by research as natural seeding of the tree has become limited over time due to changing wetter weather conditions in the UK. Seeding conditions require hot dry spring and summer months.

Cuttings are taken and planted into trays; these are then stored under a propagation tent at a certain temperature and humidity level. The growth is monitored until the trees are large enough to be potted on.

Keegan Blazey, Tree Nursery Officer explained: “Myself and my colleague Sam Brown were trained by Dr. Jenny Wong on Aspen propagation and conservation in the UK. We initially took root cuttings in March with minimal equipment and hoped that the weather would be on our side.

“Luckily we have been afforded enough heat to grow the cuttings, though in some cases we lost whole batches to heatwaves over the weekend as well as to fungal disease, largely due to too much airflow or too little.

“However, after fine tuning our little set up we’ve manged around 90 cuttings which are now 20-60 cm in height and around 25 seedlings (20-40 cm). Time is the main factor for us, but we are tenacious and will keep trying.”

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are very proud of our tree nursery team for breathing life into this project to boost aspen in the county. Increasing its numbers will help us combat elements of climate change we are facing and also give the tree a chance to thrive once more in Denbighshire.”