Here is my final selection of tree news articles from around the world in 2017. Click on each of the pictures if you would like to read the full stories.
Yolka – from pagan origins to Soviet celebrations
Hannah Weber in the Calvert Journal tells the story of Russia’s New Year Tree…
Hello Wood builds festive trees
Budapest-based architectural firm Hello Wood has continued its annual tradition of constructing wooden Christmas trees, this year expanding the programme with five trees in European cities, reports ArchDaily – with some lovely images…
A year contemplated in tree time
Thanks to Hollis Marriott for pointing out this piece on Atlas Obscura describing 2017 from the point of view of some of the world’s oldest trees…
Into the Woods: Trees in Photography
An exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London until 22 April 2018 draws on works from the collections of the museum and the Royal Photographic Society…
The Grandchildren Trees
Blogger Pat Webster had 10 grandchildren and planted 10 maple trees, in a triangle like the pins in a bowling alley – but what would she do with an 11th grandchild…
Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees
Actor Dame Judi Dench made fascinating discoveries about trees in a recent BBC TV programme, although I missed it – but the Guardian tells all…
Oranges are not only for fruit
Chef James Wong suggests using orange leaves in mulled wine…
Hurricane tree recovery campaign
Climate Action reports that US-based telecommunications company Verizon has pledged to plant more than 250,000 trees in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico as part of its tree restoration efforts in the areas affected by hurricanes Harvey and Irma…
We love cars so much, we destroy nature for them
Guardian nature writer Patrick Barkham says putting spikes on trees to stop birds pooing on cars is a symptom of our dysfunctional relationship with the living planet…
Beach bronze tree sculpture plans rejected
An artist’s plans for a bronze tree sculpture on a Ceredigion beach in West Wales have been rejected by the council, says the BBC…
Inside a magnificent Tree Cathedral
The Telegraph visits The Cathedral of Trees, planted in 1986 near Milton Keynes in England…
Consultation to scale back disease response
In Northern Ireland Forestry staff have proposed a scaled down response to the tree disease known as ash dieback in favour of more cost effective measures, says the BBC…
Winnipeg firefighters rescue cat from tree
As temperatures plummeted, firefighters in Winnipeg rescued a cat from a tree, according to CBC News…
In two years we’ve lost enough trees to cover Spain
New figures from Global Forest Watch show that forest destruction is on the rise globally, in spite of a slate of pledges and commitments, says the Guardian
The roots of Oakland’s tree logo
For years, the logo for the city of Oakland was just a tree – a dated design that city workers derisively called the broccoli – but it all changed in the 1970s, says the San Francisco Chronicle…
Bid to save endangered island species
The Pacific Daily News reports that the local community in Guam could save an endangered Marianas tree species, Serianthes nelsonii, found nowhere else on earth…
Arboreal fossils reveal unusual structure
Cut into the trunk of a pine tree, and you will see a familiar series of concentric rings, but a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA reveals that the world’s oldest trees had a very different structure – Scientific American explains…
Loss of Star Wars tree may not be end of its story
I haven’t yet seen The Last Jedi, but here’s an article in the Hollywood Reporter for Star Wars purists – all about the ancient tree that grew at the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant…
Tree die-offs may spread in the American West
Ponderosa pine and pinyon forests in the American West will die off faster as the climate warms, reports the New York Times…
Giant Maori tree that reduces visitors to tears
It is the largest kauri tree in the world and being up close to ‘the lord of the forest’, a sacred Maori site, is a powerful experience, Matilda Battersby tells the Guardian…
A world of connection
Biologist David George Haskell illuminates that unmistakable conscious presence in his lyrical new book, The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors, according to the Portland Press Herald…
How tall trees move sugars
A nine-member team of scientists, mostly from Harvard, shed light on a longstanding debate over the dynamics involved in sugar transport in trees, says phys.org…
Ken Pattern: A tribute to tree of life
A Canadian artist honoured trees in the way he knows best, through his works in a solo exhibition at gallery Hadiprana in Kemang, South Jakarta, reports The Jakarta Post…
World’s best tree-house hotels
The fascination with treehouses around the world has inspired some of the most fascinating and unusual architectural creations, says Forbes…
FernGully Grove is home to near-record size Sitka tree
The Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) has located the last unprotected old-growth Sitka spruce groves on Vancouver Island, near Port Renfrew, reports KamloopsBCNow…
The Arborealists: The Art of Trees 2017
The Guardian reviews a London exhibition by a collective of artists known as the Arborealists…
Taiwan’s natural wonders revealed
A few of the natural wonders of the least accessible parts of Qilan Mountain are gaining global exposure thanks to an Australian team determined to educate people around the world about forest ecosystems, reports Focus Taiwan…
EU ‘must not burn the world’s forests’
A flaw in Europe’s clean energy plan allows fuel from felled trees to qualify as renewable energy when in fact this would accelerate climate change and devastate forests, claim authors of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in the Guardian…
Best chocolate comes from stressed trees
The Economic Times reports on a study that found cocoa trees exposed to stressful conditions produce tastier chocolate…
And finally…
Test your knowledge with this tree quiz
Some leafy questions and answers, all about trees, from GardenandGreen…
The Squirrelbasket 
What a fascinating post I love it. !!! HAPPY NEW YEAR PAT
Happy New Year to you, too 🙂
Thanks for the links, Pat. The fossil story was really interesting–radical new info! A friend sent this one a few days ago, I thought it was pretty neat, maybe you’ll enjoy it: What 2017 Was Like for the World’s Oldest Trees https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/worlds-oldest-trees-2017/
best wishes for 2018 🙂
Thanks for that – I have added it in and tweeted it.
And have a wonderful 2018 🙂
It will take a while to read all these! So, taking a pause after the first two – wondering why the Russian tree is sideways and why people build cones and call them trees . . . to wish you Happy New Year!
https://looseandleafyinhalifax.blogspot.co.uk/
Just as you have put that post aside for later, I feel I really must catch up with all your Halifax blog posts. I usually see them and enjoy them but they really need to be savoured as there is so much goodness in them!
I am finding it hard to make time for social media at the moment, with working full time and not being able to use my work computer for anything like that.
Anyway, all the best for 2018 🙂