More than 37,000 new trees have been planted across Cardiff in a record-breaking season for the city’s Coed Caerdyddurban forest initiative.
The latest planting season, which ran between October 2025 and April 2026, marked the biggest annual total since the project launched in 2021 as part of Cardiff Council’s One Planet Cardiff response to climate change.
The new additions included more than 530 street trees as well as the first trees grown from locally sourced seeds at the Coed Caerdydd tree nursery.
Since the project began, more than 155,500 trees have now been planted across the Welsh capital.
Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: “The 37,000 trees planted since October last year is the biggest total for any season since the Coed Caerdydd project began and includes over 280 different varieties.
“A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered to work with the Coed Caerdydd team, whether that’s at a planting session or helping out at the tree nursery. That community and that support is central to the project’s success and shows how much can be achieved when people come together with a shared vision for a greener city.
“Planting over 155,000 trees is a huge milestone, but the real success is the long-lasting environmental, health and wellbeing benefits that these trees will deliver for future generations.”
More than 1,500 volunteers took part in community planting sessions during the latest season, contributing over 3,500 hours across more than 230 locations including parks, schools, cemeteries and allotments.
The project also saw a significant increase in the number of larger semi-mature trees planted across public spaces, helping provide an immediate visual impact in neighbourhoods around the city.
Organisers say the growing urban forest will help cool communities during hotter weather, improve air quality, support biodiversity and boost wellbeing as the trees mature over the coming years.
Other highlights from the latest season included hundreds of households receiving free trees through the Coed Caerdydd donation programme, the planting of rare Welsh black poplars and the continued expansion of the project’s Tree Guardians network, which helps care for newly planted sites.
The Welsh black poplars are particularly important for biodiversity, providing food for moth caterpillars and an early source of pollen and nectar for bees and other insects.
The focus of the project will now shift towards maintaining the newly planted trees, growing more stock at the city nursery and preparing for future planting seasons.
Key figures from the project include:
- 155,500 trees planted across Cardiff since 2021
- 37,000 trees planted during the 2025-26 season
- 230 sites planted this season
- 1,537 volunteers involved this year
- More than 21,000 volunteer hours donated since launch
- 280 tree varieties planted this season
Residents interested in getting involved with future planting, nursery work or aftercare activities can find more information through the Coed Caerdydd project online.
