Name: Gail Dimson
Volunteer Since: 2012
Volunteered as: A tree guru and as a connecting link between ReForest London and the Friends of the London Civic Garden Complex
Reflections on Volunteering: The Friends of the London Civic Garden Complex became acquainted with ReForest London when they had a display at our Greenhouse Tour in 2008. The Theme that year was “Focus on Environmentally Friendly Gardening”. ReForest London has since participated in 2012 with the theme “Native Plants and Trees” and in 2013 “All about Trees”.
After I became a “Guru” with ReForest London, ideas of how our group could help began to evolve.
In January 2013, the Friends LCGC organized a planting event at the Civic Garden Greenhouse with ReForest London. We donated the pots and ID tags and the City donated the soil. We potted approximately 522 Red Oak, 162 Burr Oak, 180 White Oak acorns, plus 50 White Spruce seedlings. For the next 4 months, the pots were watered by the volunteers and City staff until they were picked up by ReForest London in June.
As our group is focused on “growing” in the City of London, it certainly is fitting for us to contribute to ReForest London’s Million Tree Challenge to keep our City green. There is a great deal involved in this project. What comes first is awareness and educating the citizens of London on the importance of planting trees. With climate change and invasive non-native insects, and diseases this message needs to be heard. The Friends LCGC will help with getting this message out.
The Friends LCGC volunteers are very keen on helping ReForest London and we hope to continue and expand our involvement with them.
Thanks for all your help and support Gail!