The online guide includes details of the trees’ common and botanical name, origin and heritage as well as a little bit about their value and significance to our arboreal collection. An accompanying map also shows where the trees are located in one of 11 Commonwealth Hub Parks around the city.
Commonwealth Hub Parks were created pre-Games twinning local schools with commonwealth countries and our parks as part of a Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy project. The ongoing initiative gives pupils the chance to visit their partner park and participate in a variety of practical, active and outdoor learning experiences alongside the parks’ staff. Young people find out how people live in different parts of the world and how all our actions impact on the environment, both here, and in the furthest reaches of the Commonwealth.
The final guide of 60 specimens, available online at www.glasgow.gov.uk/commonwealthtrees was drawn up from nominations received from schools, community groups, public and a newspaper competition to promote and celebrate the discernable beauty of some of the rarest, unusual and native and exotic tree specimens contained within Glasgow’s parks.
Councillor Alastair Watson, executive member for sustainability and transport, said: ”The variety and range of exotic and rare trees is an asset to the city.
“We have some of Scotland’s finest tree collections and when taken as a whole can be considered a ‘super’ arboretum. Their diversity reflects the role many individual landowners have played over the centuries, collecting and planting specimen trees from around the globe.
“I hope that the guide will encourage people to get out to explore and enjoy our parks. They provide homes for a wealth of wildlife and are quite simply, very beautiful, especially in the spring and in the autumn.”
This project has also helped the council and partners compile an inventory of Glasgow’s most notable trees that will contribute to establishing a National Heritage Tree Collection of Scotland (NTCS) as Scotland’s national arboretum.
The guide was developed in partnership with the Glasgow Tree Lovers Society, Glasgow City Council and Central Scotland Green network.
Links
Glasgow City Council: ‘Glasgow’s top Commonwealth 60 trees – trail guide published as voted for by people of Glasgow‘
Central Scotland Green Network