Seedlings of the City

In the Dutch town of Utrecht, spontaneously germinated trees can from now on receive a status label with the text 'Desired Seedling'. Residents can assign these status labels themselves. This demonstrates that they value the trees. This is part of the project 'Coincidental Green – Seedlings of the City'.

Many of Utrecht’s public gardens, parks and flower beds are full of greenery. Most of this has been planted by the municipality. However, some trees have spontaneously germinated and started to grow. These are the ‘Seedlings of The City’.

Coincidental Green Project

The status label must be a signal to the municipality to put the spontaneously grown trees on the Utrecht tree map. At the moment, only officially planted trees are on this map. The label is available free of charge. Utrecht residents can also participate in the project by reporting a seedling. Both can be done via the website ‘Toevallig Groen’ (‘Coincidental Green’, Dutch only).

Some of the most striking trees are portrayed in a 12-part series of articles in a local newspaper and a TV series. In the series, Utrecht residents talk about the personal bond they have with such a seedling that accidentally emerged in their environment. For example, Paulus Mooij takes care of ‘his’ seedling on the corner of Willem van Noortstraat. He prunes it if necessary and watches over the health of the tree: “If it’s not feeling well, it’s a different colour.“