Digging deeper - Major bid to save historic British trees

Putting the spotlight on the biggest issues in gardening today

- SALLY NEX

Descendants of ancient trees rich with history could soon be growing in your garden, with the launch of a joint project run by the National Trust and garden centre chain Blue Diamond to preserve trees for the future.

Ten saplings grown from the 350-year-old apple tree that gave Isaac Newton the idea for his law of gravity, still growing at his childhood home at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, are up for auction this year. Next year, you can also bid for saplings from the 2,500-year-old Ankerwycke Yew near Runnymede, thought by many to mark the location of the signing of Magna Carta in 1215 and to be the site of Henry VIII's proposal to Anne Boleyn.

Bidders in the auction process commit to becoming a guardian of the tree's unique genetic heritage. Each sapling goes onto a register held by the National Trust so that, should the worst happen, the charity can draw on a bank of identical genetic material to replace the original with an exact clone. "These trees are not going to live forever," says the Trust's Head of Gardens and Parklands, Andy Jasper. "It's citizen science-getting people to think about their part in conserving these plants."