MyGardenOfTrees 

Future Trees Trust has joined an international research consortium named “MyGardenOfTrees” led by the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL that looks to develop a prediction tool that will help woodland managers plant forests better adapted to climate change. The project focuses on two species: European beech and silver fir.  

The network consists of more than 300 trials, and Future Trees Trust plans to plant 1 per species, totalling around 2000 trees. This will provide the consortium with an invaluable dataset on northern oceanic climatic conditions. 

Common garden experiments within the project include classic provenance trials, in which seedlings from different geographic locations are grown in the same spot. The trials are then repeated multiple times across Europe to observe and model the performance of different provenances under different conditions. However, “MyGardenOfTress” provides a unique twist to the basic provenance trials. By setting them in both natural tree-stand settings (“micro gardens”) and “classic” plantation format (“macro gardens”), we will be able to observe differences in provenance performance across these settings. Additionally, mother trees from which progeny are being planted in these trials have been genotyped. Allowing for answering a multitude of different scientific questions, like, for example, searching for resistant candidate genes that would make our forest more resistant to particular threats. 

At Future Trees Trust, we view the consortium as a means to strengthen scientific excellence and the international presence of our group. It also strengthens national collaborations and provides a unique learning environment for state-of-the-art forest genetics.