The Argyle Street Ash (Photo By Talesfromthecanopy – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=170150598)
Dear Readers, there have been some magnificent trees nominated for the Tree of the Year competition (links to previous competitions below), but the winner of this year’s award gladdens my heart. The Argyle Street Ash is the only tree on Argyle Street – legend has it that its seed arrived in the 1850s, when some people living in the lower tenement planted some primroses, not knowing that the ash seed was hiding among the flowers. By 1951, the tree was already 75 feet tall, and was recorded in James Cowan’s book ‘From Glasgow’s Treasure Chest’ as being ‘as straight as a mast‘ and ‘quite the most graceful ash that I have ever seen‘.
By Richard Sutcliffe, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81889878
The tree has survived the Clydeside Blitz, which killed 1000 people and injured 1200 in 1941, after the Luftwaffe dropped 272 tonnes of explosives and 1650 incendiary bombs on Glasgow. More recently, the tree is also standing firm against a more recent threat – ash dieback. The man who nominated the tree, David Treanor, is an arboriculturalist who has been looking after the winner. Treanor notes that although the tree has been affected by ash dieback, it is still in good health and has 75 percent of its canopy intact. He suggests that this might be due to a variety of factors:
- The dead leaves of the tree, which contain the ash dieback spores, are quickly blown away and don’t linger around the trunk
- The tree is isolated
- The higher heat and lower humidity in the city, especially with the tree butted right up against the warm walls of the tenement, means that it’s much harder for the ash dieback fruiting bodies to develop.
Treanor argues that just because a tree has been infected with ash dieback, it doesn’t mean it should automatically be felled – some trees can clearly shake off the infection, if only given a chance.
Whatever the reason for its survival, this is a fine, fine tree (and the first tree in Glasgow to gain a Tree Protection Order). I am delighted that the Tree of the Year is a street tree this year, and I think I’m right in saying that it’s the first street tree to win the award. Hooray! And may the Argyle Street Ash thrive for many more years to come.
Thank you for this very interesting post!