Argyle Ash competes for European Tree of the Year

Being lifelong tree lovers, the team at LAA enjoyed a BBC Scotland story shown on TVNZ One News this week about a 170-year-old ash tree in Glasgow, lovingly referred to as a ‘defiant giant’.

David Treanor is the main arborist who looks after the ash tree on Argyle Street in Glasgow. It stands at 75ft (23 metres) tall. He said the tree had 'defied' all odds by continuing to survive ash dieback - a destructive fungal disease that eventually kills mature trees.

The tree’s fame grew last year when it won the Woodland Trust competition’s UK Tree of the year for 2025, and now it is competing for European Tree of the Year.

Speaking to Radio Scotland, Treanor said: "We were so happy it won UK tree of the year. It was the people's tree, it was the only publicly-nominated tree and the only urban tree as well, which made it completely unique amongst the crowd of others. For many years it was known as, 'the oldest tree on Argyle Street'. It's 170+ years old, it's older than the light bulb, older than the telephone, and has seen everything from horse-drawn trams to Teslas”.

Treanor: “"This is a story of survival we want to share with the public. Trees are often cut down far too soon. Especially this one being so close to a building, people have this idea that trees and buildings don't mix but they really can coexist and this one shows that."

Voting for European Tree of the year opened on 2 February and the contest features 12 trees, all with a story to be told, that were selected from the national rounds. A secret voting round begins on 16 February and vote counts will be hidden until the end of voting on 22 February.

Due to the small size of some of the countries taking part, a new "tree point system" has been introduced to ensure fairness and balance in the results between countries with different population sizes. You can find out more about the competition here.