Woodman, spare that tree!

Only in this case, the woodman was asking us (the Friends of Linda Vista Gardens) to spare this little chap. We are turning this bank into a meadow grass and wild flower bank, by firstly killing off the dandelions and coarse rye grass that was there. That'll take a few years! We'd asked Monmouthshire County Council, who own the gardens, if they would fell a few trees on the bank, one which is dead, one near to death, one conifer that is incongruous and far too big, - and this sapling, which we thought was nothing special.

Wrong!

The woodman, Nigel, told me today that it was planted by a squirrel years ago. He dug up the seedling and nurtured it, and when he felt it was big enough to cope by itself, he planted it back and guarded it with a little fence (now gone). It is an edible walnut (as opposed to a timber walnut), and they aren't that common. So I promised him we would spare it and give it pride of place!