Dig It! - Trees - April 2016

Hester Macdonald, contributing correspondent of the BlueBox team, garden designer and founder of the Swiss Gardening School, hosts our regular gardening segment, Dig It! The April 2016 show is all about trees, and how extraordinary they are. Hester heard a lecture by the "grand old man" of French tropical trees, Francis Hallé, and was blown away by the breadth of his knowledge and lots of great and peculiar facts about trees. Did you know that in Japan they are used as early warning systems for earthquakes? And that "forest bathing" or Shinrin-Yoku, has been proven to relieve anxiety, anger and stress, as well as improving our bodies capacity to fight diseases? Luckily, you don't have to go all the way to Japan to enjoy the benefits, you can just get outside and breathe close to a pine tree!