sapling

He bought 100 saplings, of which 80 survived.

They said there would be a "positive legacy" however, with 49 saplings grown from the tree set to be distributed to charities and organisations across the country.

The saplings are now being given to charities, groups and individuals as "trees of hope".

Dame Judi plants individual trees in memory of friends who have died and, on the day of Dame Maggie's funeral, her gardener found the sapling planted for her fellow acting dame had borne fruit.

Young saplings need moisture to build strong root systems, and the wet weather also relieved stress in some older trees which had been suffering during the parched weather.