Year 1
The site is fairly exposed from the south, so we have initially planted a ‘windbreak’ of pine species along the north side of the existing hedge (refer to item no. 1 on the enclosed Arboretum Plan).
This will help to provide shelter to those trees planted in later years that may be more susceptible to damage from high winds and will enable a greater variety to be selected.
The ‘windbreak’ consists initially of about 20 trees and comprises Western Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa), Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata) and Corsican Pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio).
Also in the first year we have planted an avenue of about 20 to 25 large trees running along the central path from the main entrance gap in the existing hedge northward to the northern boundary (item no. 2 on the enclosed Arboretum Plan). The avenue is spaced at approximately 10 metre intervals comprising a mixture of trees with an upright structure. These include Oriental Plane (Platanus orientalis 'Digitata'), Sweetgum (Liquidamber straciflua ‘Worplesdon’), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Weeping Silver Lime (Tilia tomentosa ‘Petiolaris’) and the European White Elm (Ulmus laevis).
The arboretum avenue starts with two Giant Redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum), one on either side of the path as a ‘gateway’ (item no. 3). At the northern end we have planted two Blue Atlas Cedars (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’), acting as a magnificent feature at this point (item no. 4) near to where there is an existing seat.
Years 2 to 5
The location of the existing paths naturally divides the arboretum in five separate areas (labelled A to E on the Arboretum Plan). We propose to plant in area E in the second year followed by areas C and D in the third year, area B in the fourth year and area A in the fifth year. In each of the four areas around 50 trees will be planted and will consist of large trees with a canopy spreading habit and sheltered pockets of smaller trees.
The large trees could include: Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani), Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), some of the Quercus family such as the Northern Red Oak, Chestnut Leaved Oak, Turkish Oak and Hungarian Oak; these latter two may fair better than our native oaks in years to come with the effects of climate change, Mountain Gum (Eucalyptus dalrympleana), Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroides), The Chinese Wingnut (Plerocarya stenoptera), the Bitternut (Carya cordiformis), Black Walnut (Juglan nigra), native black Poplar (Poplus nigra subsp. betulifolia). Other trees like Copper or Weeping Beech, Maidenhair Tree (Ginko biloba) and Weeping Willow may be included. All of these would give a great variety of shape and colour from bark and leaves i.e. providing interest throughout the year. In the more sheltered areas, collections of 5-10 trees of small tree varieties such as Magnolias, Japanese Maples, Birches and others will be interspersed among the larger trees.
The Tree Selection page provides more detailed information about each species of tree which has been planted so far and you can use our Tree Locator to find each and every tree in the arboretum.