trees – Lee Manor Society

12/07/2025

Watering street trees in very hot weather

Many local residents are collaborating with organisations like the Lee Manor Society to plant more street trees. This is helping green our local streets and reduce air pollution. It’s an expensive business putting in new trees so if you’re lucky enough to have a newly planted tree near you, it’s important to help it survive in the current hot weather. So, we are urging you to water these trees every few days with a watering can holding at least 5 litres of water, more if you can manage it.

You may wish to check with your neighbours to see if others are doing this also and agree to share the job. Most street trees are planted with a plastic pipe to pour the water into which goes into down to the tree’s roots. If there is no pipe, then water the area around the tree (not the trunk) as it’s the whole root ball that needs water most.

Top tips:

– The best time to water is in the early morning as this helps to minimise evaporation and gives the tree water to use throughout the day.

– If morning time isn’t possible for you, then water in the evening. Try to avoid watering in the hottest part of the day though.

18/12/202418/12/2024

Replacing the dead trees in Southbrook Road

By Charles Batchelor

More than a dozen households have responded to the Society’s proposal to match-fund the planting of trees in Southbrook Road. We have set aside funds to spend on the planting and invited residents to provide a similar amount.

The death of several of the aged cherries has left Southbrook Road particularly denuded of tree cover though the Society plans to roll out the programme to other local streets in future years.

Much of the £395 charge per tree is accounted for by labour costs, digging up the pavement to create a tree pit. Working with Street Trees for Living, the charity managing Lewisham’s street tree programme, we have surveyed potential planting sites.

Some residents have expressed an interest in trees offering either spring blossom or autumn colour. A final decision has yet to be taken on the varieties to be planted but they will comprise a small number of tree types rather than a single variety. This will make the trees less liable to succumb en masse to any of the many viruses that can affect them. Planting will take place in the winter of 2025.

17/10/202404/11/2024

Time May Be Up For Our Avenues

Update: Another tree in Micheldever Road is infected with Bracket Fungus.

The Honey Fungus which has infected several of the lime trees in Micheldever Road, and elsewhere in the Conservation Area, is a symptom of a timing problem which will affect street trees throughout London. That’s the verdict of Paul Wood, the aptly-named the author of London’s Street Trees, who spoke at the Lee Manor Society Annual General Meeting.

Paul Wood speaking to the Lee Manor Society AGM

“We are reaching that time when a lot of trees that were planted in the Victorian and Edwardian periods are reaching the end of their lives,” he said.

Mt Wood was asked what strategy he would recommend for replacing the trees, as they are likely to continue disappearing over the next decade.

“I love consistent avenues of trees. It kind of makes something look really grand,” said Mr Wood. “But what happens in the future is that they all tend to die at the same time because they’re the same age, and particularly if they’re clonally identical, which often street trees are because they’ll be produced by grafting. So, they will be totally identical. They will all pretty much succumb at the same time.

“Maybe a way to think about it would be to have two different trees, which would allow the avenue to mature, and, if one species succumbs, the other species doesn’t.”

The remains of a lime tree which was infected with honey fungus

Mr Wood believes much more needs to be done to protect urban trees. “I feel like Natural England should be providing a register, like the buildings heritage register, and maintaining a list of trees which have great value to the townscape,” he told the meeting.

Mr Wood’s talk covered street trees all over the capital, including Mulberry trees in Lewisham which he said were originally planted in schools for the children to dance around.