THIS year has been one of special celebration for member of Trees for Dorset.

The charity, which nurtures appreciation and knowledge of the county’s trees and encourages schools and communities to cultivate their own trees, has had a special year of planting to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

This autumn, in line with the planting season, Trees for Dorset donated and dug in 10 trees in towns and villages across the county.

And at one special planting in Poundbury, Prince Charles helped a group of schoolchildren plant their own tree when he made one of his regular visits to his architectural project.

The trees provided included native species such as oak, silver birch and rowan.

Rarer trees included the honey locust at Osmington near Weymouth and the wild service tree up in Parrott and Axe.

Hilary Power from Trees for Dorset said: “It has been a very successful series of events for us. We were not sure how well it would go, but every village we contacted responded to our offer of a donated tree and we were delighted with how enthusiastic they were.

“We also managed to get Prince Charles to dig one in when he came to Poundbury, and this was particularly nice because he paid attention to the children who were there with the tree as part of a school programme.

“He was in a hurry but he still stopped and chatted to them.”

For further details about Trees for Dorset, contact info@trees fordorset.co.uk or Rachel Palmer at 14 Cologne Road, Bovington, Wareham, Dorset BH20 6NR.