A return to springtime remembering what life for us gardeners prior to this long dry period.
We attended the Cherry Tree Arboretum when it was open under the NGS flag in the autumn and absolutely loved it. We vowed to return whenever we could so when we read online that it would open once again we decided to pay it a return visit. We have seen it described as “The finest UK arboretum created in the second half of the last century.” We are beginning to think this might be correct! Thus we left home at magnolia time with much anticipation.
As soon as we parked the car we realised that magnolias were going to feature strongly on this visit. We don’t grow these in our garden much because they simply don’t fit in with our style of planting, but we enjoy seeing them in other gardens.
Only a few yards from the place where we parked up was a long deep border full of colourful magnolias, several in colours we had never seen them in before.
The set of photographs below can only give a glimpse of them – there were so many.
It was useful having these magnolias planted in short rows within the border because it meant we could walk in amongst them and get to appreciate them so close up. There were so many different colours and shades, so many different sizes and different flower structures.
But there is obviously much more to the arboretum than lots of magnolias and the clue is in the name, Cherry Tree Arboretum. So the next photo just has to be of cherry blossom. The pink looks so delicate against the pure blue sky, the glossy foliage shows touches of red and bronze.
I am not a big fan of rhododendrons but certain colours always catch my eye. This bright shade of purple was one such colour with contrasting white stamens and deeper coloured sight lines for bees to show them the way.
As we studied even more magnolias two fellow visitors told us about some very unusual coloured specimens nearby. When they pointed them out to us a little way further on we decided that it would be worth having a close up look. At that distance they looked almost red. The photos below show the blooms to be such a dark pink that they indeed looked red especially against the blue sky.
From the pinks of magnolias and prunus trees we walked along random paths of gravel, bark or grass as we discovered so many worthwhile trees and shrubs. This bright sunshine yellow tree paeony certainly deserved a close look.
Acers in abundance looked so exciting in the bright light.
Of course I had to look out for my favourite trees of all the betulas or birches. Another favourite tree is the malus in all its guises, so I was on the lookout for both and no arboretum could possibly be without them. This birch had impressively long catkins up to 5 or 6 inches in length.
Many birches have the added attraction of colourful peeling bark, which has the knack of catching the sunlight.
Malus family members, the crab apples can give us stunning foliage as well as blossom or even in some cases both.
Of course, with a collection of over 500 magnolias we came across plenty more very attractive examples as we wandered around.
Another great day out at Cherry Tree Arboretum which we feel may become a firm favourite.
greenbenchramblings 