Glasgow’s beloved ash tree takes the crown — and heads to Europe
More than 30,000 people voted in the competition organised by the Woodland Trust, with 27% choosing the Argyle Street ash as their favourite. Nominated by David Treanor, the arborist who looks after it, it was the wildcard entry, going up against nine shortlisted trees chosen by a panel of experts.
This year’s theme was “Rooted in Culture,” celebrating trees that have influenced our cultural lives through poetry, literature, film, photography or local history – and few reflect that better than the Argyle Street ash.
It’s long been loved by locals and passers-by, and even has its own Facebook page.
Writer and historian James Cowan described it in a local newspaper column in 1935 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.” The column was later published in Cowan’s book From Glasgow’s Treasure Chest.
Recognised for its cultural importance, it is said to be the first tree in Glasgow to be given a Tree Preservation Order, in 1980. It survived Victorian industrialisation, the Clydeside Blitz, decades of urban change and development, and has so far resisted ash dieback, the fungal disease that is devastating ash trees across the UK. Situated on one of Glasgow’s busiest roads, it has outlasted everything the city has thrown at it.
In second place, with 24% of the votes, was the King of Limbs, an ancient oak in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. Radiohead named their 2011 album after the tree, having encountered it while recording In Rainbows at nearby Tottenham House. Believed to be over 1,000 years old, its sprawling, octopus-like limbs are the result of centuries of pollarding.
The Lonely Tree of Llanberis came third, with 13% of the vote. Relatively small compared to its competitors, the birch is popular with photographers — it stands at the water’s edge of Llyn Padarn, a mirror-like lake in North Wales, with the Snowdonia mountain range in the background. Like the Argyle Street ash, it has its own Facebook appreciation group.
The Argyle Street ash now goes forward to represent the UK in the 2026 European Tree of the Year competition — a fitting next chapter for one of Glasgow’s most enduring residents.
See the full list of shortlisted entries here.
