Thank you volunteers! 

As part of the project, we were pleased to hold a Community Tree Planting Day at Swedenborg Gardens on Saturday 24th October 2026. Despite the rain, we had an impressive turn out of over 50 volunteers! Throughout October we also ran tree planting workshops with local schools and community groups. 

Together we planted 17 beautiful trees, over 100 hedging whips and spread a section of wildflower meadow seed, to bring new greenery to the park. 

It was fantastic to see people from the local community coming together to enjoy and care for the nature around them. It's your time, energy, and grubby gloves that make these days possible and we couldn't have done it without you!

Why did we plant trees here? 

Tree planting in Tower Hamlets is a priority for Trees for Cities - it is classified as high risk on the Greater London Authority's climate risk map and is one of the lowest tree equity boroughs in London. Healthy and climate resilient green spaces are vital for local residents to thrive in their communities. 

Swedenborg Gardens is a park in Tower Hamlets between a school, a community centre and a housing estate. Our aim is to benefit local residents by providing future shade, species diversity, pollution mitigation and visual interest to paths and spaces in the park. 

Our suggestions for tree planting are:

• to increase planting and tree cover as pollution screening from the nearby roads
• to diversify the existing species so that they are more climate resilient
• to add ornamental trees to shade more of the open spaces. 

We are taking care not to affect the main open space used for sports and events, and keep clear sight lines through the park. 

The 20 new standard trees (at least 1.8m tall, 8-12 years old) and multiple hedging whips (0.5m tall, 1-2 years old) would sit alongside existing trees planted by Trees for Cities and local residents in 2018 and in 2010. 

New trees are most vulnerable soon after planting, so Trees for Cities are committed to watering and caring for them for 3 years after planting, after which their care is handed over to Tower Hamlets Council. 

Thank you for your feedback! 

Our teams conducted community engagement activities in August and September 2026 and received valuable feedback on the initial design. Input from residents, park users, local stakeholders, and council staff/maintenance teams are being considered in parallel and will inform any amendments to the design.

Please get in touch with us at community@treesforcities.org with any questions or comments, or sign up to get involved!