An Appreciation of Trees

What a lovely walk around Fulham Palace gardens we had at the weekend. A big thank you to the Fulham Palace Trust and all those folks who came along, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (I seem to be in a tree induced pleasurable trance in the picture below!)

We discussed the ecology, history, uses and folk law associated with 20 of the magnificent trees in Fulham Palace gardens. The oldest of which dates from over 450 years ago! We saw a combination of natives and exotics, and evergreens and deciduous species, several of which were in flower. We also discussed the importance of deadwood as a habitat for fungi and invertebrates.

The tree species included Lombardy Poplar (Populus nigra Italcia), which are all male! The species is hardly known in it’s female form in Europe. This is advantageous for garden and street planting as it means there are no seeds to sweep up.

The Wellingtonia / Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) was named in Britain after the Duke of Wellington who died in the year of it’s discovery. Sequoia was a native American chief, who invented the Cherokee alphabet.

The mighty Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) is the oldest tree at Fulham Palace, it is around 450 years old! Holm and Ilex both mean holly, and are a reference to the tree’s spikey leaves which resemble the leaves of a holly tree.

We also added bees, butterflies and a Green Woodpecker to our species list for the day. And discovered a carnivorous tree in the grounds!…