Tree of the Year: Scotland's Wilfred Owen Sycamore and Argyle Street Ash make top ten shortlist

Two Scottish trees have been shortlisted for the coveted UK Tree of the Year competition.

The Woodland Trust announced the shortlist of ten of the UK’s best trees on Monday, including not one, but two in Scotland.

Edinburgh’s famous Wilfred Owen Sycamore, which is over 100 years old, made the shortlist.

The tree, which sits at the entrance of Edinburgh Napier University, has a rich history connected to famed war poet Wilfred Owen.

The site where the tree is planted was formerly a military psychiatric hospital, known as Craiglockhart War Hospital, and in 1917, Owen was sent here, having suffered shell-shock on the Western Front.

Violinist and actor Thoren Ferguson using the violin made from the Wilfred Owen Sycamore tree in Edinburgh. Allan Shedlock/Woodland Trust

He met Siegfried Sassoon at the hospital, who became his literary mentor and encouraged him to write.

The Woodland Trust said the pair may have sat beneath this sycamore in the hospital grounds during their rehabilitation.

When a large branch of the tree was removed for safety reasons in 2014, local instrument maker Steve Burnett crafted a violin from the wood to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the war’s outbreak and honour Owen’s memory.

The violin has one of Owen’s poems inscribed inside it and has been played at many concerts and events.

Also included in the list is Glasgow’s over 175-year-old ash tree on Argyle Street.

The lone Argyle Street Ash is a much-loved local landmark. Tree Wise Urban Forestry/Woodland Trust

The tree, also known locally as The Lone Tree of Finnieston or The Only Tree on Argyle Street, stands alongside the tenements on one of the city’s busiest streets.

In recognition of its cultural and ecological value to the city, the tree was the first in Glasgow to be protected by a tree preservation order.

In his 1935 book, From Glasgow’s Treasure Chest, James Cowan records it as “a very tall ash tree, its highest branches reaching far above the top windows of the tenement. It is quite the most graceful ash I have seen.”

Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch is among the tree’s more modern admirers: “It must have good genes to have made it. It’s hip now because it’s in Finnieston, but I say it was always cool.”

Scottish trees have proven popular in the competition, with the Skipinnish Oak of Lochaber in Scotland winning UK Tree of the Year in 2024.

Voting is open now and closes on September 19, with the winning tree announced on September 26.

The winner will go on to represent the UK in the next European Tree of the Year competition.