Gardeners must 'check trees now' or risk missing 'dangerous change'

Gardeners across the country have been urged to "check now" for a potentially "dangerous change" in their gardens following the havoc wreaked by Storm Darragh.

The storm, which ripped through areas with gale-force winds of up to 58mph inland and reaching 67mph along the coast, also caused widespread power disruptions. Up and down the country there were reports of fallen trees blocking roads and damage to gardens.

While a fallen tree is an obvious sign of damage caused by extreme weather conditions, Saul Walker, head gardener at Stonelands House in Dawlish, says it is important to check your trees for hidden damage. Speaking on the Talking Heads podcast, Saul says now is a crucial time to check your trees for root movement.

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He explained: "It is worth going out now and checking those trees, even those you think are healthy just to see if there is any root movement in any of the root plates. What you can sometimes find is that a root plate will suddenly lift and then go back down again."

Walker warned: "You might not actually see that happen and that can be quite dangerous as well because you have no idea that that tree is off. So just check around those root plates and see if there has been any movement and see if there's anything you need to make a note of."

Saul suggested that in a gardener's worst-case scenario, trees may need to be removed. He acknowledged that while gardeners often develop an attachment to their trees, it's typically the ones already suffering from illness that succumb to severe weather, reports the Express.

He commented: "Gardeners can be quite sentimental. We're quite emotional about our trees but like all living organisms they need to come to an end at some point.

"You generally will find with trees that if they are taken out by a storm, it's very rarely a very healthy tree. Generally those trees that do come down are the ones that are hiding a little bit of illness, you'd be surprised when you start cutting into a tree that has come down that you will find that rot or a big bracket fungus that you did not know about and it saves you the problem."

"The good thing about storms is that you try and make sure no one is in the garden when these things happen. I'd rather it maybe happened in a storm that it just happened out of the blue."

Saul continued by mentioning that oak trees are "notorious" for losing branches or falling without warning, which he claims can actually be "a little bit more dangerous" than being in a storm.

Podcast co-presenter Lucy Chamberlain, known for her work with Gardeners' World Live, recounted an occasion from her early days at RHS Wisley in Surrey, saying: "It was in the summer and it was a dry spell, and it suddenly decided to shed a huge, big, in all intents and purposes healthy-looking green limb.

"There were leaves on it, you didn't notice there was anything wrong at all, but that's what oaks will do. That fell onto the shop and luckily, the shop was closed because it significantly damaged the building."