Sowing your seeds: Identifying trees

Each of the three species is easily identifiable when grown.

Alder has a grey-brown bark with square plates. It can be found most commonly beside open water and in wet soils.

When young, Silver birch has a shiny red-brown bark that changes later to pink-white with grey horizontal bands, before turning white. Silver birch is widespread on acid light soils and peats; it can also be found in woods, moors and heaths, mostly on damper soils.

Scots pine is one of only three conifers native to UK. Its upper bark is a scaly orange-brown and the tree is commonly found in old parks, heaths, northern uplands and planted woods.

Your seed pack contains more than 300 seeds and many of them – with a bit of care and luck – could become seedlings. Both the alder and silver birch are fast-growing broadleaved trees. All three should be quite easy to grow and strong enough to produce healthy saplings.

Each of the three types of trees will grow in most parts of Britain but some will be suited to particular areas more than others.

The more schools that take part, the more trees we can plant.

Next step...

Now click on 'Timeline' on the left of this page to find out how to make sure you plant your seeds at the right time.