A Planting Guide for Bigger Projects

Reviewed by

“The Easter Trees planting guidance covers the bases well. It gives people the correct pointers and the information they need so as not to impact on sites of nature conservation importance, and rightly recommends trees of local provenance that you would expect to find in the ecosystem, in preference to non-natives.”

Professor David Hill CBE, Founder and President, Foundation For Nature

The golden rule: right tree, right place, right reason

A tree is one of the best things you can give a place - but only where a tree belongs. The single most important step in any larger planting is to look hard at the ground you have and ask what would do the most good there. Sometimes that’s a blossom grove. Sometimes it’s leaving an open, flower-rich meadow exactly as it is. Getting this right at the start matters far more than the species you choose later.

First, do no harm: where not to plant

Some habitats are more valuable left open than planted with trees. Please don’t plant on:

Species-rich or old grassland - meadows that have never been ploughed are irreplaceable and often richer in wildlife than young woodland.
Wetlands, marshes, heathland and peat - these store carbon and support rare species; trees can dry them out.
Permanently wet ground - most trees simply won’t thrive there anyway.
Archaeological features - if there’s any chance of buried heritage, speak to your county archaeologist first.
Sites with rare or protected wildlife, and anywhere designated (SSSI, ancient woodland) - these need expert advice before anything happens.

If you’re planting near a main river, you may need to talk to the Environment Agency first. And it’s always worth asking whether natural regeneration - simply letting trees seed in from nearby - would do the job. On many sites it gives tougher, better-adapted trees for free, and it’s often the most nature-friendly choice of all.

Native first, local provenance first

For anything beyond a few ornamentals in pots, lead with native species. Native trees support far more wildlife than introduced ones because our insects, birds and fungi evolved alongside them. Happily, several natives are as beautiful in blossom as any ornamental cherry: wild cherry, bird cherry, blackthorn, hawthorn (the ‘May’), crab apple and rowan. Ornamental cultivars still have a place - in containers, formal settings and small urban spaces where a native won’t give the effect - but on open ground and ecological sites, native should be your default.

Provenance matters as much as species. The tree you want is one of local or regional provenance: grown from seed collected in your part of the country, so it is already adapted to your soil, rainfall and season. Ask the nursery where the seed came from, not just where the tree was potted. A native species raised from stock on the other side of Europe is not the same tree ecologically as the one you would expect to find in your own hedgerow.

Right species for the site - and the climate

Match each species to the soil, moisture and exposure it will actually face, and mix your species. A planting of one kind of tree is one disease away from disaster; a diverse mix is resilient. On provenance (where your trees’ seed came from), current thinking is nuanced: for native and conservation planting, local or regional provenance is generally best, because those trees are adapted to your conditions - but with the climate changing, it’s sensible to include a proportion of stock from a little further south to build in resilience for the decades ahead. Diversity of species, ages and origins is what makes a planting last.

Biosecurity: buy UK-grown, and ask where it was raised

Britain has lost millions of trees to imported pests and diseases - ash dieback, oak processionary moth, and the looming threat of Xylella. The simplest way to protect your project and the wider countryside is to buy UK-grown stock and ask the nursery to prove it. Look for the UK and Ireland Sourced and Grown (UKISG) assurance or Plant Healthy certification, which mean the trees were grown here under good biosecurity, not shipped in. This is the single most responsible sourcing decision you can make.

Designing for wildlife

A great planting is more than rows of trees. Build in a mix of species and ages, an understorey of shrubs, and open glades or edges where light reaches the ground - edges and clearings are where most wildlife lives. Link your planting to existing hedges, woods or green corridors so wildlife can move through. Leave any deadwood where it’s safe to; it’s home to a huge range of life. Blossom and berries (blackthorn, hawthorn, crab apple, rowan) feed pollinators in spring and birds in autumn.

Orchards and local heritage

Orchards are one of the loveliest bigger projects, and traditional orchards are a priority habitat in their own right - grassland, blossom and old fruit trees together support a remarkable amount of wildlife. Britain has a wonderful heritage of local county varieties of apple, pear, plum, damson and cherry. When you plant an orchard, choose a mix of varieties for good pollination (or self-fertile anchors like Victoria plum, damsons, Conference pear, quince and medlar), pick the right rootstock for the size you want, and manage it gently - low input, room to breathe. The People’s Trust for Endangered Species, The Orchard Project and the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale are all excellent for variety advice.

Planting and establishment

Plant bare-root stock in the dormant season (roughly November to March); potted trees can go in more flexibly. Don’t plant too deep - the old soil mark should sit at ground level. Use peat-free compost, firm the tree in, mulch well to hold moisture and suppress weeds, and water through the first two or three summers - most losses are simply from drought in year one. Expect to replace a few and plan for it.

Protect without plastic

The old plastic spiral guards have become a pollution problem in their own right. Where you need protection from deer or rabbits, choose plastic-free or biodegradable guards, fencing, or generous spacing, and commit to removing and recycling any guards once the trees are established. Many projects now go guard-free where they can.

Where Easter Trees sits alongside other tree organisations

Easter Trees is not woodland creation, and it is not trying to be. The Woodland Trust and organisations like it do the hard, serious work of getting trees into the ground at scale, with the science and the land management behind it. Nothing we do competes with that, and if your project is genuinely about creating woodland, they are who you should be talking to.

What we do is smaller and sits alongside it. Easter Trees is about single trees in gardens, churchyards, school grounds, verges, parks and community spaces: trees outside woods. Our job is appetite. We give families a reason to want a tree at a fixed moment in the year, one that comes round again every spring, and then we point them at the people who already know what belongs in the ground where they live. For schools and community groups, the Woodland Trust’s free sapling packs are often the best way in, and we will happily help you apply.

Who to ask, and when to get expert help

You don’t have to know all this yourself. Your local Woodland Trust or Wildlife Trust, and your council’s tree officer, will happily advise on what belongs in your area. For orchards, talk to the PTES or The Orchard Project. And do get proper advice before planting on or near any designated site, ancient woodland, archaeology, or watercourse, or if your project is part of a development where Biodiversity Net Gain applies.