Are trees from outer space growing in British backyards?

On 31 January 1971, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa launched on their Apollo 14 mission to the Moon. While Shepard and Mitchell walked on the Moon, Roosa stayed in orbit, taking photographs and performing experiments. Tucked away in his personal belongings were 500 tree seeds, which orbited the Moon 34 times.

On their return to Earth, the seeds were planted and became the Moon Trees. Saplings were planted across America and the rest of the world. 

In a recent edition of Gardeners’ Question Time, horticulturist Christine Walkden said that 15 Moon Trees were brought to the UK. And now the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and the UK Space Agency are trying to track them down. The RAS would like to plant a descendant of one of the trees as a way of marking the RAS bicentenary, celebrated last year.

When I was researching the Moon Trees, the only reference I found to any coming to Britain was a brief note in a BBC News report from 2005, which says: 

“They went all over Europe – France, Germany, Spain – we know Douglas fir, sweetgum and redwood do very well in Europe. The British Isles got half a dozen.”

However, neither Kew Gardens nor the Jodrell Bank Arboretum has any record of Moon Trees coming to the UK. The RAS would be delighted to hear from anyone with any information on the missing UK trees. You can get in touch via [email protected] or by tweeting @royalastrosoc.

Unless otherwise stated, © Copyright Emma Doughty 2023. Published on theunconventionalgardener.com.

Your articles are out of this world! Keep it up!

Thanks Sean!