BTC/119/2017 - Barrell on...The shocking state of trees suffering in new developments. Horticulture Week Opinion (January 2017)
Drive anywhere in the UK and you will find tree planting on new
developments in a dreadful state. Dead trees, dying trees, strimmed
trunks, long stakes instead of short, no mulching, planting too deep,
poor nursery stock, wrong species, unsustainable locations, and the
absence of any coherent design strategy are the most obvious.
Name a bad practice and the landscape industry is delivering it in
bulk, all amid a public façade promoting precisely the opposite. Of
course, there are exemplars, but the majority that I see are shameful,
evidencing a failing landscape profession within a failing planning
system. While research and innovation have moved forward at pace,
implementation on the ground is a distant aspiration, so can it be
turned around?