Tree of the Year 2025 winner: Why we need more people like Argyle Street Ash's eloquent champion
Glasgow’s Argyle Street Ash has been standing up to the devastating disease affecting the species
Glasgow's ‘Argyle Street Ash’ was a wildcard entry in this year’s Tree of the Year competition after it was nominated by a member of the public, so to emerge as the winner may have been something of a surprise.
However, that particular member of the public was consultant arborist David Treanor, who obviously knows a lot more about trees than most of us. After working on the ash several times, he found himself impressed by its beauty but also its resilience.
Mentioned in a 1951 book by James Cowan, who called it “quite the most graceful ash I have seen”, the tree has been holding its own despite the arrival of the devastating ash dieback disease. Writing in The Scotsman before the competition, Treanor said: “In an era of mounting ecological strain, the symbolism of this lone ash is hard to ignore. It’s a survivor. And survival, especially under pressure, matters.”
We should be glad that an elegant, meaningful tree found an eloquent, knowledgeable champion. However, that “ecological strain” he wrote about is very real, and the natural world needs all the champions it can get.
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