Latest news with #TreeoftheYear
NZ Herald
11 hours ago
- General
- NZ Herald
The Good Life: The mighty Greytown gum
Greytown has been celebrating trees generally for much of its life. Photo / Greg Dixon Greg Dixon is an award-winning news reporter, TV reviewer, feature writer and former magazine editor who has written for the NZ Listener since 2017. The sign is emphatic. 'Historic Tree', it declares, pointing at the tree in question, an old gum which is so enormous it almost certainly doesn't require a sign to get you to notice it. The giant exotic must be as tall as a four-storey building. This is the sort of thing you expect to find when promenading in Greytown, the most genteel of South Wairarapa's three main townships. The townsfolk appear to be very, very proud of their colonial heritage and are quite meticulous about labelling it. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that every house and business on the main street, which happens to double as SH2, has a small sign on it describing the building's provenance, proclaiming things like, 'This tōtara cottage was built in 1853 by the Rev James Cuckoo, the town's first religious crank. He was hanged in 1888 for blasphemy.' I might have made that up, but you get the olde worlde picture. In a town so interested in celebrating its colonial built-history, it comes as no surprise to the visitor that the village's current burghers also honour – and festoon with signs – the more notable colonial plantings, as well. This isn't something new. Greytown has been celebrating trees generally for much its life; the country's first Arbor Day was marked in Greytown on July 3, 1890. Which brings us back to the 'Historic Tree'. It, along with a slap-up lunch at the White Swan Hotel (make sure you have the dumplings and the crème brûlée) was what brought us to fair Greytown on a fair winter's Saturday. Listed as 'the Greytown Gum', the Eucalyptus regnans is one of the six finalists in the fourth annual Tree of the Year competition, a contest run by the NZ Notable Trees Trust. Also competing this year is a Morton Bay fig in Auckland Domain called 'The Fairy Tree', the 'Phantom Rātā' in Bay of Plenty, a redwood at Rangiora Borough School, 'Te Herenga Ora', a cluster of tī kōuka (cabbage trees) in Christchurch and 'the Chook Tree' at Waianakarua in North Otago. The last is a macrocarpa which looks a bit like a giant chicken. To strengthen that claim, it has a giant fake egg next to it, which is chicanery if you ask me. To qualify for the competition a tree has to be 'special' to a community and also have a bit of a story to it, which Greytown's 'Historic Tree' most certainly has, according to one of its three signs. It reads: 'Samuel Oates Gum Tree 1856'. The story goes that our gum tree was one of 12 seedlings pushed in a wheelbarrow over the Remutaka Hill track from Wellington in 1856 by a bloke called Samuel Oates, a task given to him by one Charles Rooking Carter, whose name now graces nearby Carterton. As anyone who has ever driven over the Remutakas will tell you, they're bloody steep. So it is no surprise that on arriving with the seedlings in Greytown, Samuel Oakes decided to wet his whiskers at the Rising Sun Hotel (since deceased). It was while slaking his thirst with local ale that three of the 12 seedlings were pinched from his wheelbarrow by person or persons unknown. What is known is that all three were then planted in various parts of Greytown. Now, 169 years later, only the one with the three signs remains, making the Greytown Gum the sole survivor of not just history, but of a highway robbery. Which means the emphatic road sign has it all wrong. It shouldn't say 'Historic Tree', it should say 'Historic Crime Scene'. While Michele and I were admiring the Historic Crime Scene, two young women stopped to have a gander at it as well, so we told them about the gum being in the Tree of the Year competition and encouraged them to vote for it before the ballot closes on June 30. One shook her head. 'I'm going to have to vote for a native,' she said earnestly. There was a pause. Then she turned to the giant gum. 'Sorry,' she said.
Otago Daily Times
06-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Chook Tree a finalist in national competition
The Chook Tree in Waianakarua in North Otago is a finalist in the Tree of the Year competition. Photo: ODT files Three trees from the North Island will go up against three from the South Island, including a tree from North Otago, in a national competition. The Chook Tree in Waianakarua, north of Palmerston, has been named as a finalist in the Tree of the Year competition. The competition was launched this week and the public was invited to vote for their favourite from a shortlist of six trees across the country. In a statement, the NZ Notable Trees Trust, which runs the competition, said the Tree of the Year was a celebration of the iconic trees that shaped the country's landscapes, memories and communities. The competition shared stories of trees that held cultural, historical, and personal significance — drawing inspiration from the long-running European Tree of the Year competition. Last month, New Zealanders were encouraged to nominate a single tree that held special meaning — not a whole species, but one tree with a unique story. The aim was to highlight the deep-rooted connections we share with these living treasures. NZ Notable Trees Trust trustee Brad Cadwallader said the heart of the competition lay in community engagement. "These trees are part of our shared story — they hold our memories, mark our histories and shape our landscapes." Voting has opened and will close at midnight on June 30. This year's winner will be announced on July 5. Last year the award was given to a northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta) nicknamed ''The Walking Tree''. The distinctive tree is near Karamea Cemetery on the West Coast. Tree finalists The Fairy Tree, Auckland Domain St Luke's Gum, Greytown Rangiora Borough School Redwood Te Herenga Ora, Burnside High School, Christchurch The Phantom Rātā, Lake Ōkataina The Chook Tree, Waianakarua, Otago — APL
Express Tribune
10-05-2025
- Express Tribune
UK court convicts duo of felling historic tree
An English court found two men guilty on Friday of the "deliberate and mindless" felling of one of the UK's most iconic trees, an incident that sparked national outrage. A jury at Newcastle Crown Court found former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, guilty of criminal damage for the 2023 felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap. It had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian's Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England. The tree was so striking it featured in the 1991 Hollywood film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. They were convicted after around five hours of deliberation on two counts of criminal damage: to the sycamore and to the Roman wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it. Prosecutors had told the court that the two men used a chainsaw to cut down the tree. It was, they said, "an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage", which they filmed on Graham's phone and shared with others. Speaking after the conviction, Northumbria Police's Kevin Waring said: "We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism, but that term has never been more relevant than today. "At no point have the two men given an explanation for why they targeted the tree — and there never could be a justifiable one," he added. Graham has "been in custody for his own protection after an episode in December", his lawyer Chris Knox told court on Friday. Gale Gilchrist, from the Crown Prosecution Service North, said that "in just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its (the tree's) historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction. "We hope our community can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted today," she added. The pair were jointly charged with causing £622,191 ($832,?821) of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian's Wall, an ancient Roman fortification stretching from northwest to northeast England. The two men have been remanded in custody - Carruthers for his own protection. They will be sentenced on July 15. The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years, winning the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year in 2016. Efforts are underway to see if it can be regrown from its stump or seeds. The National Trust, which owns the wall and the tree, said it has grown 49 saplings from the sycamore's seeds, which will be planted this winter at sites across the UK. AFP
Metro
02-05-2025
- General
- Metro
One of London's ‘Trees of the Year' could be felled to build council housing
One of London's 'Trees of the Year' could be cut down to make way for council housing. The Pagoda Tree, which is around 70-years-old, sits in the centre of Mitcham's Canons heritage site in Merton, south London. It was named the borough's Tree of the Year in 2019, with the area seeing nearly £5 million of National Lottery investment in recent years. But the council owned land has now been named as one of four sites where 93 new homes are set to be built. A report from the Royal Horticultural Society has said the tree faces an existential threat. This is despite original plans submitted in 2019 calling the tree a 'focal point of the scheme and a key retained landscape feature'. The council's said: 'Should the tree be retained, it was likely to suffer some significant, unavoidable impacts both above and below ground which, when taken together, amounted to a well-justified argument for removal and replacement of the tree.' The surrounding canopy will also need to be removed to make way for the homes, which 'will greatly diminish the tree's local visual amenity value' and 'compromise the tree's ability to photosynthesise and produce energy'. More Trending Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage Group said: 'The tree is an extroadinary specimen and part of the large collection of mature trees across The Canons grounds. 'This arboretum is the result of careful selection and planting in the grounds over many years. 'The nursery site is now the focus of attention for a significant housing development by Merton Council's own development company Merantun Development.' Merton Council has been contacted for comment. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Enjoy the warmth while you can – it's fizzling out just in time for the bank holiday MORE: Man killed his neighbour, 74, in row over shutting a gate in Covent Garden MORE: Man denies murdering schoolboy, 14, who was nearly decapitated in sword rampage
NZ Herald
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Men deny felling of iconic Sycamore Gap tree near Hadrian's Wall
'Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover and travelled back towards Carlisle,' where they lived, he said. 'They still think it's funny' He said a video of the act recovered from Graham's phone was shared by the two men with 'the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw, and a tree falling'. The next day, in a voice message from Graham to Carruthers, Graham said 'it's gone viral. It is worldwide. It will be on ITV news tonight,' Wright said. 'They are loving it, they're revelling in it. This is the reaction of the people that did it. They still think it's funny, or clever, or big.' The pair are jointly charged with causing £622,191 ($1.4 million) of criminal damage to the tree and £1144 ($2584) of damage to Hadrian's Wall, an ancient Roman fortification stretching from northwest to northeast England. When AFP journalists visited the site in the Northumberland National Park after the tree was felled, there were spray paint marks on the stump and it appeared to have been cleanly cut. 'These are men with knowledge of how to fell a tree of this size, had access to a wide variety of equipment and the relevant equipment, worked together to carry out tree felling and had a close friendship at the time,' Wright said. He also said the two shared jokes on social media about an 'operation' they carried out on the night of the felling. The felling triggered intense feelings in Britain and jurors were asked if they had any emotional connection to the much-loved site during the selection process on Monday. The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years. It was the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year in 2016 and was used for a scene in the 1991 blockbuster film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner. Efforts have been under way to see if the tree can be regrown from its stump or seeds. The National Trust conservation body, which owns the wall and the tree, said it has grown 49 saplings from the sycamore's seeds, which will be planted this winter at sites across the UK. The trial is set to last several days.
