MyGardenOfTrees

A participatory science project for climate-resilient forests in Europe

What is MyGardenOfTrees?

MyGardenOfTrees is a participatory science project supported by the European Commission and led by a team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL. The aim of MyGardenOfTrees is to evaluate the growth and regeneration capacity of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) through experimental gardens across Europe. Observations obtained from these gardens will be used to develop a prediction tool for foresters to help them build forests better adapted to climate change.

Would you like to join us?

Join us to be part of a scientific project and to build future forests resilient to climate change!

If you are a forest manager, a forest owner, or an interested citizen (e.g. biology teacher) with relevant authorization from the forest owner, you are welcome to join us! We will help you set up your micro-garden with seeds from various provenances, track the germination, development and growth of trees for 5 years or longer, and share your data with us.

Are you already a participant?

Your observations are valuable to us. Please let us know if you need help.

Thank you for your engagement with MyGardenOfTrees! We try to make the observations as intuitive and effortless as possible for you. Our team is constantly improving the protocols and the mobile app. 

Would you like to have an overview of the future participants ?

MyGardenOfTrees in a nutshell: check out the amazing comic created by Sakál Design and learn about what we do.

NEWS

September 2022

While the silver fir collection is almost completed, the beech season just started

In most regions, silver fir cones mature before beechnuts and should be collected first. Hundreds of kg have been collected in Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, France, Germany, Czech Republic, North Macedonia and Montenegro. Now the teams are focusing on beech and different strategies are being used for collection.

September 2022

Croatian forests are joining the 2023-2028 trials

Participants are joining us across Europe. Among them, some big institutions: we just signed a cooperation agreement with Hrvatske šume d.o.o., the company that manages most of the forests in Croatia. Hrvatske šume d.o.o is concerned for the threat of climate change and is willing to take an active role for the protection of forests. We look forward to this collaboration!

August 2022

The seed collection campaign has started!

At the end of August 2022, the collection of cones of Abies alba has started in Switzerland, canton Wallis. Many other sites followed in Italy, Slovenia, France, Romania etc. Enjoy the pictures from the field campaign in our Facebook page.