Abstract: A tree shelter includes a biodegradable fibrous mat coated with a degradable resin and adapted to be formed into a roll which can enclose at least the lower part of a plant. The mat is preferably non-woven and its structure is preferably impregnated with a second degradable resin which degrades at a different, preferably faster, rate to that of the first degradable resin under the same environmental conditions. Such a shelter has the advantage that once the first resin has substantially degraded over a predetermined time period to expose the mat to the weather, the second degradable resin commences a faster degradation to cause the mat to decompose rapidly into a loose fibrous state and ultimately form a beneficial mulch around the stem or trunk at the base of the plant.