6,000 trees were planted in a single weekend – a hugely rewarding community effort that is now dense with life. This community forest provides shade, buffers high-particulate pollution, and is improving soil structure. It’s also growing exceptionally fast.
Five hundred meters from a large industrial estate in Hitchin, this hedgerow of 2,000 native species now buffers sound and filters pollution. Before a single sapling went in, a large group of volunteers removed more than a thousand bramble roots.
The college playing fields were edged with land that needed managing. Mowing demanded manhours that were saved by planting a mini forest. This was the second time the students worked with Dream For Trees, and this forest was larger.
Natural England and the Local Government Association published the first UK government trial of Miyawaki planting across 16 urban sites. The results were a resounding success for Miyawaki advocates.
The results confirmed what Miyawaki advocates had argued for years, that Miyawaki is more successful than normal planting.
Dream For Trees took the opportunity to support Phuket’s mangrove forests by helping students propagate and grow seedlings that they then planted in the mud of existing mangrove forest edging the ocean.
Students at our partner UWC school in Phuket nurtured mangrove seedlings to a size able to cope with the larger storms caused by the climate crisis. Boats transported seedlings and students to the low tide mud flats of Phuket’s mangrove eco system for planting.
The Woodland Trust’s State of the UK’s Woods and Trees 2025 found that between 2020 and 2024, the UK met an average of 45% of its annual woodland creation targets. Woodland butterfly populations have declined by 47% since 1990; woodland birds by 37% since 1970. The report calls for the current rate of woodland creation to be tripled. The UK government’s target is to plant 30,000 hectares of new woodland by March 2025. On current progress, according to a report published today by Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee, it is planting less than half that rate.
The neighbourhood around Thornton Grove Primary has just 3% tree canopy cover against a 24% target — rated highest priority for tree planting in the UK. On 2 December 2025, every child and teacher in the school worked alongside Dream For Trees to plant at least one tree each
A planting day starts with bare ground and ends with a forest. Between those two things: a community of volunteers — different backgrounds, different ages — working together in the soil. Most come back. Some bring their children. That’s what this is for.
