The Dorchester will spend its 80th birthday in gardening gloves. The upscale hotel will plant 80 long-lived trees in a programme they're calling Future Great Trees.
London is one of the greenest capital cities on Earth, as can readily be seen in satellite pics. But we can always use more leafiness, especially as the great planes of the Georgian and Victorian periods enter their late middle-age. Urban tree-planting charity Trees for Cities is encouraging investment in London's arboreal future.
The Dorchester's contribution will see 80 large canopy trees rooted into the soil of the capital. New ash and oak will be planted around Hyde and Green Parks, with ornamental pear, sweet gum, field maple, Alaskan birch and gingko popping up in as-yet undisclosed locations about town.
The project is inspired by the famous (and listed) plane tree outside the Dorchester on Park Lane. The first new tree will be planted on Monday 14 November on Deanery Street, a few bough-lengths from The Dorchester's main entrance.
