Lemon Tree Trust

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Lemon Tree Trust

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We support gardening initiatives in refugee communities as a way to restore dignity and purpose 🌱🍋

The Lemon Tree Trust is a non-profit organisation that harnesses the environmental and social impacts of urban agriculture within the context of forced displacement by supporting capacity building, new business development, and advocacy centered on agricultural initiatives based in refugee camps.

08/14/2026

"Gardening has helped me heal, find purpose and feel connected again."

Meet Aveen, Lemon Tree Trust’s Operations Manager in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Aveen has lived in Domiz 1 camp for around 14 years, having fled Damascus, Syria, with her family because of the war. Today, she oversees our community gardening and cooking programmes across nine camps. Aveen brings deep compassion and care to her work, for both people and the natural world, and we're so grateful to have her on our team.

We asked Aveen about the things that still connect her to home and the hopes that continue to guide her life and work. Here are two of her answers from the interview:

🌹 Q. What’s your favourite plant or flower and what makes it special to you?

Jasmine is my favourite flower because it reminds me of Damascus. Its streets, its memories and its spirit.

I also love roses and caring for plants in general. If a plant becomes sick, I feel deeply upset, as though the world has stopped for a moment. I love following every stage of growth and seeing the results of patience and care.

🌱 Q. If you could visit any garden in the world, where would you go and why?

I would love to visit the Kew Gardens, UK, because of its beauty, history and heritage.

I would also love to visit the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London some day because of the creativity and inspiration I have seen there. Lemon Tree Trust had a show garden there in 2018, designed by Tom Massey, who was inspired by the resilience, determination and creativity of gardeners in Domiz 1 camp following his visit to us.

🌱 Read Aveen’s full interview via the link in our bio.

Photos: With thanks to Britt Willoughby and Dirk-Jan Visser.

07/17/2026

Thank you Welat TV for coming to Domiz 1 camp during our 2026 Annual Garden Competitions. Congratulations to all the winners, and to everyone who took part and shared their beautiful home gardens 🎉🌹

07/13/2026

Celebrating our 2026 Annual Garden Competitions! 🎉🌻🍰

This year, nearly 500 people entered our Annual Garden Competitions across nine refugee and IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Over three weeks, communities came together to celebrate the gardens people have created with such care, resourcefulness, creativity and determination, from colourful flower beds and vegetables growing beside shelters, to fig and lemon trees providing shade, fruit and reminders of home.

For many residents, these gardens are so much more than plants. They are places of pride, connection and belonging, where families grow food, nurture beauty and create a sense of home, in difficult circumstances.

The celebrations were filled with many joyful moments as winners proudly received their certificates and prizes, neighbours chatted about their gardens over slices of celebration cake, and there was even dancing as everyone celebrated together.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this year's competitions such a success. Congratulations to everyone who entered their garden and especially to this year's winners!

07/09/2026

Thank you 💛

Thanks to your incredible support, we've already raised £6,789 GBP / $9,105 USD towards our Tree & Plant Appeal.

Every donation is helping families living in forcibly displaced communities create home gardens that bring fresh food, much needed shade, beauty and a sense of belonging. Together, you’re helping transform spaces around shelters into greener, healthier places to live.

Pictured here are just some of the beautiful gardens entered into this year’s Annual Garden Competitions. They are living examples of the resourcefulness, creativity and sheer determination of the communities we work alongside, and a reminder of how gardens can bring life, hope and a sense of sanctuary, even in the most challenging circumstances.

We’re also delighted to share that, thanks to the generosity of our match funder, our Tree & Plant Appeal has been extended throughout July and August. During this time, every donation will be automatically doubled, helping even more families grow gardens at their home shelters, plant trees and green the streets of their densely built neighbourhoods.

Over time, these gardens create shaded pathways and shared green spaces where families and neighbours can pause, breathe, exchange seeds and cuttings, and nurture a stronger sense of community.

Thank you for standing with the communities we support and helping both gardens and the people who create them to flourish.

If you would like to double your impact, you can donate via the link in our bio.

We’ll be sharing more from this year’s Annual Garden Competitions very soon.

06/17/2026

Have you seen butterflies in your garden recently?
هل رأيت فراشات في حديقتك مؤخراً؟ 🦋

06/11/2026

"My name is Newroz. I am from Qamishli in Syria. My family and I came to Gawilan camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 2012, leaving our home behind because of the war.

When we arrived, the land outside our shelter was bare. People threw rubbish there. No one paid it any attention.

I had always grown things. In Syria, a garden was simply part of life.

So we decided to create a garden.

We started with what we loved growing in Syria. Olive and fig trees, roses and narcissus for their colour and scent. We planted vegetables throughout the year too. My husband built a water fountain and together we planted grass so our children would have somewhere to play.

There is something wonderful about eating fruit and vegetables you have grown yourself. It feeds the body and lifts the spirit.

When Lemon Tree Trust provided seeds and trees, we chose what to plant and how to care for our space. I was honoured to win a Garden of the Month award and later first place in my camp in the Annual Garden Competitions.

What had once been a rubbish tip is now a living garden. It feeds my family, cools the air around our home and gives us somewhere to gather.

In summer, temperatures here can reach 50°C. Inside, the heat can be unbearable. In the garden, you can breathe.

I call it "my country's garden." When I sit there, I feel like I am back in Syria.

I hope more families can grow a garden like mine."
_______

Newroz's garden was made possible by the kindness of supporters like you.

This June, your donation to our Tree & Plant Appeal will help more forcibly displaced families create gardens that offer shade, food and sanctuary to their homes and neighbourhoods.

Every gift is still being matched, so whatever you give today will go twice as far.

Help another family like Newroz's to grow a garden. Donate now (link in bio).

Thank you 🍋🙏
_______

You can also watch Newroz's full story, filmed by Ronak Qewas, a journalist from Kobani, Syria, who was herself displaced by war in 2015 (link in bio).

06/05/2026

What’s looking best in your garden right now?

ما هو الشيء الذي يبدو أجمل في حديقتك الآن؟

05/18/2026

As returns, we're reflecting on our 2018 show garden! 🌿

In 2018, we brought the Lemon Tree Trust Garden to RHS Chelsea. Our garden, inspired by the resilience, creativity and ingenuity of refugees living in Domiz 1 camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, was designed by on his Chelsea debut. It won an RHS Silver-Gilt Medal and brought the stories of displaced gardeners to millions of people around the world.

The garden used materials found within the camp itself – concrete, steel, tin cans and plastic bottles repurposed as vertical planters – alongside drought-tolerant herbs, vegetables and fruit trees: lemon, pomegranate and fig, all staples of Middle Eastern cooking. At its heart, an Islamic-inspired fountain fed channels of water throughout the space, representing the vital practice of grey water reuse in the camp. Screens inspired by traditional Islamic geometric design framed the space and an innovation wall showcased the extraordinary resourcefulness of the people living there.

Gardening isn't a 'nice to have'. It is a fundamental human desire to grow beauty and food, to find solace in a patch of ground.

Happy RHS Chelsea Week to everyone who knows that gardens can change lives 💚

Help more forcibly displaced families grow a garden. Our Spring Tree & Plant Appeal is open and every donation is being matched. Donate and watch the full story of our RHS Chelsea garden via the links in our bio.

Photos: .willoughby.photography

05/15/2026

Celebrating the home gardens flourishing in refugee and IDP camps across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq 🌱

Each month, our garden facilitators visit home gardens across nine camps to select a Garden of the Month winner. Every winner receives a plaque, a selection of seeds and a fruit tree, as well as a sign placed in their garden for neighbours to see.

Here are three of our April winning gardens.

Maryam, in Gawilan camp, has created a garden that is as well considered as it is beautiful. A pathway edged with pebbles leads through layered planting, with a low wall separating the main garden from a shaded seating area outside her front door. Vibrant pink roses appear throughout, bringing colour, scent and pollinators.

Iyad, in Domiz 2 camp, has built something closer to a smallholding than an ornamental garden. Defined beds planted with vegetables and fruit trees, enclosed by a hand-built wooden fence, make it a productive, purposeful space that feeds a family and strengthens food security, just steps from the shelter door.

Hamou, in Kabartu 1 camp, had a clear purpose in mind: shade. In the Kurdistan Region, summer temperatures regularly reach 50°C. The canopy he is growing already cools the air around his shelter and the road immediately outside it.

Space in refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps is limited and green areas are scarce. These home gardens began with a seed, plant or young tree and the determination to grow something beautiful from very little in the face of adversity. Gardens like these deserve to be celebrated all year round. They are proof of what people create when they are given the means and the encouragement to grow.

If you've donated to our Spring Tree & Plant Appeal, thank you so much! The appeal is still open and donations are still being matched. Link in bio 🔗

And if giving isn't possible right now, a repost or a share to your story helps us reach more families – thank you 💚

02/05/2026

Thousands of seeds sown and saplings taking root! 🌱💫

Our teams have been busy at the Azadî and Hêvî community gardens, planting summer vegetables and tree saplings to create greener, healthier spaces for local families.

At Azadî, cucumber, tomato, aubergine (eggplant), pepper, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are sprouting alongside eucalyptus, pomegranate and cypress trees, plus seasonal flowers.

At Hêvî, the new polytunnel is full of life (final 3 photos). Despite recent snow ❄️, chinaberry, rosewood, flame tree and broadleaf hopbush seeds have been planted, along with 50 pomegranate saplings. Pepper, lettuce and aubergine seedlings are growing, ready to share with families soon.

Together, these efforts build on what we’ve achieved over the past few years, and with the new polytunnel at Hêvî, we’re now able to grow on a much larger scale. Thousands of plants and trees will reach Domiz 1 camp, Gawilan camp, neighbouring settlements and host communities, expanding our impact even further this year 🌿

👀 Tap through to see our teams in action. Huge thanks to Shalal, Youssef, Browen and Othman, pictured here, and everyone involved in making this planting possible.

Address

Dallas, TX

Telephone

+12149786559

Website

https://linktr.ee/lemontreetrust

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