Just been in Perthshire, Big Tree Country, the deciduous trees had shed most of their leaves but the colours were still beautiful in the bracken and myriad mosses and fungi.  The Dukes of Atholl planted millions of trees over hundreds of years changing the landscape. In the mid 19th century the arboretum was established with exotic species stretching from Dunkeld House to the Hermitage now dissected by the A9. The magnificent trees need to be managed and some species are planted to replace others nearing the end of their lives, carefully surrounded by fencing, to protect them from deer. They form part of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden collection.

We also have trees to manage in the church garden and recently some have been trimmed along the side of the church hall and overhanging Old Glasgow Road. We have a slice of the trunk of the Horse chestnut which stood at the church gate for over one hundred years, I hope that we can count the rings on this piece and maybe identify the years 1976 and 1984 when we had a ‘drought’, seemingly the rings are much narrower in these years. The tree could be older than the church building as I believe there was an avenue of trees down to the big house and ours could be part of it.

We hope to plant a tree in the church grounds for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to mark her achievement. The tree will be a native of the UK, thirty one species to choose from to suit the soil type and conditions in the garden, to be planted when the roots are dormant. The ones planted for the Queen’s grandfather’s Silver Jubilee near Powburn Toll are sycamore unfortunately the commemorative plaque is now missing from its very sturdy iron pole. These are not native to the UK and thought to be introduced by the Romans. Nicodemus climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus!