Roll-call ofa lifetime’s love ofhonest British trees

Roddy Llewellyn will hop this earthly twig a happy man,knowing that he has planted more than his share of great andmighty oaks and cedars, walnuts and mulberries, Scots pines

and sweet chestnuts. Now he tells the how and why

Scotland’s nativepine, silhouetted atdawn above a loch:time-honoured, it isone of the nine trees

which the writerrecommends us to

plant ‘for posterity’.

COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED112 ANNIVERSARY 2006

HEN my time comes I willhop the twig a happy man,in the knowledge that dur-ing my lifetime I have beeninstrumental in the plant-

ing of thousands of trees. I do not want tosound conceited; it makes me happy to thinkthat I shall leave many beautiful trees thatfuture generations can enjoy.

Before sailing heavenward on a soft, leafybed to that great nursery in the sky, I haveevery intention of planting many more trees.I encourage clients to plant hardwoods be-cause they are longer-lived. It helps, too, ifthey are indigenous (those that have livedon the site of present Britain for the lastthree million years or so, since the post-glacial period), which includes of course theoak, yew, lime, elm, hornbeam, Scots pineand juniper. A beech will seldom live formore than 200 years. I am not including Ro-man introductions such as horse chestnut.

Of course we grow many trees from othercontinents, but they usually live longer, andare more likely to achieve their full stature, intheir country of origin. Look at those vastwellingtonias (Sequoiadendron giganteum)from the mountainous forest areas of Califor-nia. Will they ever grow to the same size in theUK? Since they were introduced to this coun-try only in 1860, we must wait and see. Yetsome of the first cedar of Lebanon (Cedruslibani), introduced to our shores in about 1650,

have matured into fine specimens, matchingthe statuesque proportions of their distantcousins in their country of origin, the WestHimalayas and the Mediterranean.

Oaks are famous for long life. Some won-derful specimens, believed to be between 600and 800 years old, can be seen at BlenheimPalace in Oxfordshire and at ChatsworthHouse in Derbyshire. Some of the oaks inWindsor Great Park are believed to be morethan 1,000 years old. Colin Crosby, the su-perintendent of woody ornamental plants atRHS Wisley, told me, ‘Oaks grow for 300years, stand still for another 300 years andthen slowly die back for another 300.’

Should we be worried about the spread of‘Sudden Death’ disease, which has begun toaffect oaks and other trees? Worst affectedso far is beech, but the good news is that thisdisease, introduced on imported wood (prob-ably from China) like the devastating elmdisease (introduced from North America),has been contained in small pockets of Corn-wall. There is still hope that it will be eradi-cated altogether before it spreads further.

The longest-lived tree in Britain is a yew(Taxus baccata) growing at Fortingall inPerthshire, first recorded by Thomas Pennantin 1769 as having a girth of 56ft 6in. It is reck-oned to be about 5,000 years old. As a saplingit was busy getting its roots down some 3,000years before anybody had heard of Jesus

W

Above: Ancient tree of England, the native oak. Left:cedar of Lebanon, a relative newcomer at 350 years.

COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED 113ANNIVERSARY 2006

Christ. But of course yew is a primordial tree,believed to date back some 200 million years.There are several fascinating types of yew. Ifyou are looking for an excellent green up-right form, you can do no better than to plantTaxus baccata ‘Fastigiata Robusta’ (the ‘ro-busta’ addition to the name is so reassuring).

Then there is the statuesque Spanish orsweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), which, asa mature specimen, has deeply furrowed,light grey bark and those marvellous shinyleaves atop. At Shrubland Hall in Suffolk,where my mother was brought up beforethe house was turned into a clinic, there isan avenue of these beauties, reckoned to bebetween 800 and 1,000 years old.

The spacing of trees can be difficult to getright. Having planted a few parkland trees inwhat was once open space, I have come to theconclusion that if they look too far apart tobegin with, you have got it right. I believe inplanting small. The ‘instant’ effect achievedby planting semi-mature trees at enormousexpense does not pay in the long run. If youplant a 3ft tall tree and a 10ft tall tree, three orfour years later both will be 10ft tall.

The biggest killer of trees is planting themtoo deep. Always plant them so that the ‘rootflare’ is level with, or even proud of the sur-rounding soil. It is better to plant an inch toohigh than an inch too deep. Trees like compa-ny, so when you plant a hardwood, surround it,if you can, with shorter-lived softwoods such as

silver birch and prunus species (the floweringcherries) to encourage the ‘posterity’ tree togrow tall and straight initially. This is how theyall start their lives in the wild. ‘If you observeNature you will have half the answer,’ ColinCrosby of the RHS wisely observed.

He further told me that the popularly con-ceived fact that the root run mirrors the leafcanopy above is incorrect. The truth is thatthe root run is twice as wide as the canopy, ormore. This is an important considerationwhen planning a garden. Initial shaping of atree is very important, especially when ayoung tree forks, as opposed to sending outside shoots at a decent angle. Such forks oftenresult in the death of a tree before its primebecause water sits in them and eventuallyseeps down into the hardwood, causing rot.

My nine ‘posterity’ trees are: native oak(Quercus robur); cedar of Lebanon (Cedruslibani); Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris); dawnredwood (Metasequoia gyptostroboides);Spanish or sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa);walnut (Juglans nigra or J regia); mulberry(Morus nigra); Ginkgo biloba, a relativelyrecent introduction to our shores; and wel-lingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum).

If you are worried about diseased trees,contact the Disease Diagnostic and AdvisoryService, Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge,Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH,01420 23000 (www.forestresearch.gov.uk). ■■

Among nut trees, top in the writer’s hit parade arethe black walnut (above) and sweet chestnut (left).

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