Category: arboreta

Bluebell Arboretum

We recently spent a morning at Bluebell Arboretum in Leicestershire, a return visit in fact as we visited it many years ago. It is a young arboretum and small as arboreta go which gives it an intimate, manageable feel.

As we approached the wooden cabin that acts as reception, the door creaked open, “I see you have your walking boots on! I wouldn’t recommend you go around if you hadn’t.” Apparently we had arrived the day after a foot of snow had melted onto already water-logged ground. It was wet so we splashed and slid with great care around boggy pathways, but the trees that greeted us made it all worthwhile.

We are great fans of Betulas (birches) and Acers (maples) and here we found many to admire. We admired them for their profile, their bark texture and colour.

Acer griseum is a classic winter garden tree, with its silky-smooth, shiny mahogany bark. the thinnest of slithers peel off, curl and catch the low winter sun. It has a perfect common name, the Paper Bark Maple. It appears to be wrapped in sparkling, shining and very fancy wrapping paper

Another Acer that caught our eye, similarly had beautifully coloured bark, was Acer x conspicuum “Phoenix”. The bark on this Acer though was silky smooth.

The celebrated Snakebark Maples need to be studied close up where the delicately textured and multi-coloured bark can be fully appreciated.

The type of Acers most frequently grown in smaller gardens and arboreta alike is Acer dissectum, grown for its leaf colours, the fresh young growth in spring, the rich summer colour and perhaps most of all for the extravagent autumn colours. But at Bluebell Arboretum we discovered this variety, “Eddisbury” which had another layer of interest and an extra reason for growing it, the beauty of its stems.

Acer dissectum "Eddisbury" — Acer dissectum “Eddisbury”

I am not a great fan of conifers but two caught my eye, both Piceas. One had bark with eye shapes and the other an amazing profile.

If the amazing trees of Bluebell weren’t enough for the gardener to delight in, other points of interest are there to catch the eye. An archway of clematis, a petrified tree stump, a kettle Robin nestbox, a logpile for beetles, an interesting old stump and another stump with rings making a picture reminiscent of an ammonite fossil.

There were too many examples of my favourite family of trees, the Betulas, so they deserve a post of their own. One to look forward to!

Tags acers., garden photography, gardening, Leicestershire, maples, ornamental trees, shrubs, snakebark maple., trees, winter, winter gardens

arboreta fruit and veg garden photography gardening ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs trees

Malus “Admiration” – an impulse buy.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 13, 2011

We had to visit the garden centre at Bridgemere to buy a few presents for gardening friends and relations, so as usual we had to have a wander around their plants. We always enjoy their seasonal displays where the best plants of the time are put together in border-like collections – a great idea if you want to know what is giving best seasonal interest. It was particularly good today as a chiminea was simmering away sending wafts of gentle wood smoke into the cool moist air. We were in search of a couple of specimens of Cornus “Cardinal” to creat a trio with the one we bought earlier in the winter. The garden was crying out for a group of three under the white-trunked trio of Betulus utilis “Silver Queen”.

On the journey there we had spotted a stunning malus on the grass verge that glowed an orangy peach colour. And then by coincidence we spotted one at Bridgemere just after loading a pair of cornus into our trolley and as you can imagine it ended up joining them. Gardeners should never give in to impulse buys especially if they have no idea where the plant in question could be planted. We fell for it. The temptation was too great and we definitely had no idea where it would fit into our garden.

We wandered around the garden with the new malus, trying out various spots and eventually found what we hope will prove an ideal situation in front of a grass to emphasis the fruit colour and near a bronze leaved phormium for contrast. Here it will be in the spotlight in autumn and early winter when the low sun will light up the orange and peach of the fruits and emphasise their translucency.

This malus was new to us and is also known as Malus “Adirondack”. It is a small tree or large shrub growing to just 12ft tall and 5ft wide after a decade – just right for a small garden. We look forward now to its “dense clusters of large waxy white flowers” which follow its dark carmine buds.

Tags crab apples, malus, malus adirondack, malus admiration

arboreta autumn garden photography National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs trees wildlife

Woodland Walk – The new woodland walk at Attingham Park

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 25, 2011

We arrived at Attingham Park, the closest National Trust property to home, for a coffee and wander in the woods, to discover a sign announcing that a new woodland walk was now open. We had to try it out even though it was a miserable looking day. But once in the wood it didn’t matter what the weather was up to as the sky was hidden by the towering trees. The local bird life however didn’t appreciate the weather for they were virtually absent and almost silent, bar Wood Pigeons flying over the tree tops and small flocks of tits moving rapidly through the branches. The one ornithological treat was being surprised by a Treecreeper that swooped down onto the bottom of the tree trunk alongside us and scuttled its way upwards. It seemed totally unaware of our presence.

Lovely rustic seats gave frequent and welcome resting places. The seats were made from logs and slabs of wood felled from the park. The path was soft and relaxing to walk on being surfaced with pine needles or just deep woodland debris. Our footsteps were thus quiet and did not disturb the woodland peace.

A carpet of leaves underfoot and tall trunks on all sides called us onwards deeper into the Attingham Park woods. Logs and branches of all sizes were left in piles to attract and give shelter to insects, including the Lesser Stag Beetle which frequent the understory.

As the colours were so muted under the greyness of the cloud cover, the most striking feature of our walk was the textures found in live and dead wood. Mosses and lichens carpeted stumps and felled trunks with silvers and greens, and the spent dried leaves had settled onto rough textured bark.

This orange oak leaf rested on a fallen tree, its orange matching perfectly the spots of the Coral Spot fungus. Amazing juxtaposition!

Tags autumn colours, country walks, National Trust, woodland

arboreta autumn ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture shrubs trees

Bodenham Arboretum – Autumn Magic

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 5, 2011

We spent an overcast, sunless day wandering around Bodenham Arboretum this week. We have passed its brown sign hundreds of times over the years on our way down to my home county of Gloucestershire and we always declare “We must go there sometime!”. Well, we finally did! Why did we wait so long?

A cup of coffee and a slice of cake enjoyed whilst overlooking the lake was a great starting point, and gave us time to study the map and sort out a route. As we purchased our tickets we were advised that first time visitors should begin with a walk around the Poplar Dingle. So we took the advice and followed the gravel pathway into the dingle, where our eyes were soon treated to the sight of two small Acer palmatum growing and glowing on the banks of a small pool.

Nearby we were struck by a clump of dogwoods which to begin with looked like the usual ones we grow for their red-coloured stems in late winter and early spring, but there was something about these that deserved a closer look. the leaves were painted in pinks and creams of every hue!

Lots of the more interesting trees and shrubs at Bodenham are clearly labelled and this cornus was one of them – Cornus sericea “Hedgerow Gold”.

As we left the Poplar Dingle we moved into an area rich with the reds of acers, but as we entered it we were struck by this row of coloured stemmed willows, glowing in the gloomy light.

After relishing these richly-coloured acers we followed the Five Pool Walk, a trail through a wooded valley studded with small pools, leading to Bodenham Wood. Here the smell of woodsmoke followed us, seeping through the valley sides from the dying fires of woodsmen at work in the valley bottom below us.

As we turned a corner this butter-yellow larch glowed against the deep green of its fellow conifers, but Larix decidua is the exception to the rule. Its needles turn yellow and fall.

Bodenham is full of surprises and as we found the track to take us back to the cafe we met this beautiful armillary sundial. Behind it the clump of trees contained some of the richest colours of our visit, and unexpectedly the colour came from a group of unusual oaks.

We came expecting to be wowed by the rich autumnal foliage colours – the colours of fire – and we were not disappointed, but perhaps the highlight of our visit was the spindle which gave up its shocking pink flowers. Soon these will open to reveal vivid orange seeds. What a rediculous combination, one that few gardeners would dare to put together.