Raising public consciousness through Tree of the Year
David Treanor
The 170-year-old ash. (Douglas Crawford/Tree Wise Urban Forestry)
When I began working in arboriculture nearly 20 years ago, my work was practical and technical: chainsaws, ropes, pruning and removals. Yet I always knew that arboriculture was about more than just managing risk or amenity. My role would one day extend into interpretation – helping people understand why trees matter, not just how to maintain them.
That sense of purpose crystallised through one tree in particular: the Argyle Street Ash in Glasgow. This 170-year-old survivor was crowned the Woodland Trust’s UK Tree of the Year 2025 in September. Its victory is more than a celebration of a single ash. It is a recognition of the role that urban trees play in our shared lives, and of the stories they hold.
How the nomination came about
The nomination was born out of curiosity. Like many arborists, I was observing the rapid decline of ash across the UK due to ash dieback. Yet this tree – standing alone in one of Glasgow’s busiest streets – seemed to be holding out. That led me to research and write ‘Iconicity in isolation’, published in the ARB Magazine in summer 2025 (issue 209, page 69).
Through that research I uncovered layers of human connection: families with memories of the tree, historical accounts of cat rescues and storms, and even tales of its origin. One story tells of primroses brought back from a holiday in the 1850s, with an ash seed hidden in the soil. My own map work pointed instead to a more prosaic truth – that it was the last survivor of a planted row. But I came to see that both fact and folklore matter: fact appeals to reason, while folklore appeals to pathos. Together, they give the story resonance, opening people to the idea that trees carry meaning as well as history.
A counter-narrative of hope
The Argyle Street Ash felt like a counter-narrative to loss. While the nation was grieving the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree and the Whitewebbs Oak, here was a story of hope and defiance. The ash was not untouched by disease, but it resisted inevitability.
At a time when so many ash trees are felled prematurely – sometimes through opportunism, sometimes through miscalculation – this tree became a symbol of retention, patience and regeneration. It reminded me that the value of a tree does not end when disease appears, and that too often we reduce trees to the value of their timber rather than their meaning.
AA campaign that took on a life of its own
I submitted the nomination without expecting much. In my naivety, I hadn’t realised that only one tree on the shortlist would be chosen through a public nomination. Nor did I realise ours would be the only urban tree on the list.
It was only after the shortlisting that the Woodland Trust’s two key messages were revealed: first, that beyond ecological value, trees are cultural landmarks; and second, that many of the UK’s oldest trees lack legal protection.
UK Tree of the Year 2025: the Argyle Street Ash, Glasgow. (David Treanor)
A quirk of history: the aerial tram cables that ran beside the tree from 1897 to 1962 prevented its removal.
Our tree ticked both boxes perfectly. The Argyle Street Ash had long been recognised by Glaswegians as a cultural landmark, and it was also the subject of Glasgow’s first tree preservation order in 1980 – a living reminder of how fragile and necessary protection can be. From that moment, I knew I had to get behind the campaign fully. Momentum built quickly. A Facebook post reached 200,000 views. A QR-coded poster on a fence in front of the tree invited people to pause and reflect. Analytics from the dedicated campaign website revealed visitors from around the world. The BBC filmed. Politicians engaged.
Most moving of all, the campaign reunited the Lilly family across continents. Their ancestors had lived in the tenement behind the ash from the 1930s to the 1960s and, in many ways, were its first stewards. Descendants in Glasgow and as far away as Australia reconnected after decades apart, brought together by their shared bond with the tree.
For me personally, it came at a time when my body was less capable of the physical demands of tree work and I was searching for purpose. The campaign showed me that everything I had learned in arboriculture could come together in a new way. Like a pot-bound plant moved into open soil, I felt released into a wider purpose.
With this new orientation I needed a direction. I had to ask myself: ‘Why am I doing this?’ The answer came in Freeman Tilden’s principles of interpretation: ‘Through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation, protection.’
Those words became my compass. They reminded me that our task is not only to keep trees standing, but to help people value them while they are still here.
Lessons and myths dispelled
On one hand, the campaign united tree lovers behind what quickly became the people’s tree. Yet some of the same misconceptions repeatedly resurfaced. The ash acted like a mirror, reflecting back on those who insisted that felling was the only solution. That certainty often arose not from evidence but from the tension created by a complete aversion to a falsely perceived risk or a misunderstanding of how trees work.
In truth, only a quirk of history – the aerial tram cables that ran beside the tree from 1897 to 1962 – prevented its removal. And because of that, this single tree now stands as living proof, dispelling many of the myths the campaign evoked so often on social media:
- That roots inevitably damage buildings
– yet here is a tree that has stood safely beside a tenement for 170 years.
- That ash dieback means immediate failure – yet here is a tree declining more slowly than most.
- That urban trees cannot endure – yet this one stood for 65 years alongside electric tram cables, when no skilled arborist existed to remove it.
What the win means
Being named UK Tree of the Year 2025 proves that urban trees can carry national significance. The Argyle Street Ash is not ancient, nor rural, nor vast. Yet it has become a cultural landmark. It is a reminder that if we allow trees to remain in situ – even when they challenge our assumptions – they can store history, gather memories and eventually tell their own stories.
What’s next?
Winning UK Tree of the Year is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a bigger conversation about how we treat urban trees.
The Argyle Street Ash is loved by urbanites. People recognise it as part of their city whether they live in Glasgow or not. It dispels one of the most common myths:
‘That tree needs to be cut down because it’ll be damaging the foundations.’ Too often, categorical assumptions are delivered with absolute assuredness – but they are wrong. The Argyle Street Ash challenges that. It shows how we can confuse the subjective for the objective, miscalculate risk and make poor decisions out of fear.
On visits to Madrid, Oslo, Amsterdam and London I’ve seen what’s possible. These cities are further ahead in their arboricultural thinking. They’ve learned to live securely in uncertainty, allowing imperfect trees to remain in place, and in doing so those trees have become inseparable from the city’s infrastructure and culture. Glasgow and other cities can do the same.
The Argyle Street Ash is more than a survivor. It is a mirror and a symbol – of resilience, civic pride and a different path we can take if we choose to see urban trees not as liabilities, but as living assets.
As the tree now goes forward to the European Tree of the Year competition, my hope is that it encourages a better understanding of how we manage not only ash affected by dieback, but urban trees more widely. Even if it means challenging orthodoxy, the lesson of the Argyle Street Ash is clear: when we consciously and proactively retain trees, they become more than witnesses – they become teachers, inviting us to learn the stories written in their living forms.
Conclusion: From feller to storyteller
The Argyle Street Ash has taught me that arborists are not only technicians. We are interpreters, advocates and cultural custodians. Our role is to connect trees with people, so that both can thrive together.
For me, this journey has been less about changing roles than about realising them. From feller to storyteller was always where my path was leading. This campaign has simply revealed it more clearly.
David Treanor works as an arborist in Paisley, Renfrewshire.
David has tried to trace the origins of the old photograph of the Argyle Street Ash, including via the Mitchell Library, but so far to no avail. If you have any information about the photograph or the photographer, please get in touch at arbmag.editor@trees.org.uk and we will be pleased to credit the image and share the information with David.
This article was taken from Issue 211 Winter 2025 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.