Local students plant young elm trees in Brockwell Park

Students from Elm Green School have worked with Lambeth's Trees team to plant a brand new small woodland with a dozen young elm trees in Brockwell Park.

Lambeth Trees have been working to extend the cover of elm trees in streets and park by planting 70 hybrid trees – bred to resist Dutch Elm disease.

The trees planted last week included Ulmus 'Rebona' and Ulmus 'New Horizon', created by crossing clones of a Japanese and a Siberian Elm at a Dakota research station in the 1990s.

These trees are bringing elms back to the local landscape and creating habitat for the rare white-letter hairstreak butterfly, which is completely dependent on Elm trees for its caterpillar stage.

Lambeth is focusing on planting Elm trees in areas that we know already support small white hairstreak populations, including Brockwell Park and Vauxhall Park.

Before joining Lambeth for planting, the students from Elm Green School (all in their mid-teens) researched the significance of the elm tree via the Elms4London website.

The trees' cultural significance in Lambeth is clear from all the places named after them. As well as Elm Green, other schools in the area are named Elm Court and Elm Park. Most significantly is the whole area of Nine Elms, between Battersea and Vauxhall.

Pupils from Elm Green School worked hard to plant the trees, which arrived in big containers and required deep holes. Some students had never planted a tree before, while others have been supporting growing families since their childhood.

The small woodland planted in Brockwell Park will be dedicated as a Queen's Green Canopy Woodland, while Elms4London sponsored four of the trees through their sponsor Treeworks.

A spokesperson from Lambeth Council said it was "delighted to receive funding to support the Elm tree programme along with wider tree restoration from DEFRA's Local Authority Treescape Fund".

Lambeth Council has more community tree planting planned in Brockwell park next winter as part of the Rewilding Brockwell North project.