First Spring visit for me on 15 April at the National Arboretum that is Westonbirt Arboretum. With all my trees leafing out left right and centre I thought there was a good chance that the JM at Westonbirt would also be in a similar state of progress..however this was not the case..it seems the trees at this truly magic place knew better than to leaf out when frosts were still coming thick and fast! In any case I had a wonderful walk round the Acer Glade side for 3 hours on a sunny day and it was delightful. I decided to curtail my pilgrimage and come back and do it all again in a few weeks time. Here’s a few snaps for now..I’ll post here again when I go back in a fortnight.
Very nice R, still looked a lovely day out. Those trees have been around the block or two, they are not young and silly. I think we all have teenager maples in our gardens !!! I can hear mine saying to me, "your not telling me what to do, i'ts my life" Urghhh !!!! Lovely pics R, thanks for sharing your day out with us all. D
Definatly maple heaven R. Looks like you had a lovely day. Your a star for sharing it with us so quickly, Thankyou.
Hmmm... The best moules marinières one can taste are the "moules-frites" you can have in Belgium, isn't it @Shin-Deshojo ? And the best chips (frites, French fries) are also either from Belgium or the north of France, fried in suet (? - you know, beef grease), not oil like in fast-food restaurants. But like they also do in decent fish'n chips shops in Britain. Thanks for posting, nice to see some of the trees some of my seedlings are probably from... ;-)
Westonbirt is a truly phenomenal place..I walked round for 6hours 23,000 steps and probably only saw half! I have taken photos of the name cards of most of the trees on the above photo..
Yes Alain, they are the best here ( but I don't eat "moules" or anything from the sea : / so can only rely on what I heard from normal poeple and my family lol). The French...erm... "Belgian" fries are indeed excellent. Although I think you can eat good food in any part of the world. I am not pro Belgian food as except "moules/frites", "Boulets"/"boulettes" Liégeoises/frites sauce lapin", "carbonnades flamandes", beer and chocolate, there's not much diversity left IMHO. It is always meat and potatoes...or get pizza/durum/chinese/Greek outside. Nothing better than cooking yourself or make a good barbecue : )
Good point, altghout I am in the south and do not eat and travel often to the north part. They have the sea so I guess there's some good meals out there.
I wonder how old an Acer Palmatum would be with a truck like this..these trees were probably 50/60feet tall. Also I got a good idea about the form of different cultivars having seen mature specimens.
I totally agree R, it is so important to see them as they would like to be every now and again, to remind us how to look after our own little trees.
80 -100 years is my guesstimate R. But compared to pot grown maples, they do thicken up so much quicker. So we might be surprised. I know Hugh Angus from the MS would know definatly, as he was the curator of maples at Westonbirt, but he's not on the forum, YET.
I think the ones I took photos of above with the biggest trunks might be even older.. just read this from forestry England: By 1855, much of the Old Arboretum had been laid out, including Main Drive, Specimen Avenue and the three main rides - Holford Ride, Morley Ride and Jackson Avenue. From the 1880s, Robert became too elderly to continue his work in the arboretum, and the dominant figure in the arboretum's development became his son, Sir George. George expanded the arboretum across the valley into Silk Wood, planting new species amongst the woodland that had occupied the site for centuries and creating vast drives with wide verges and bays of ornamental trees. He was also responsible for planting many of the rhododendrons and maples for which Westonbirt Arboretum is so famous today.
Alain Fish and chips not fried in beef dripping in our country is akin to croissant and danish pastries in France not being made with butter No No No !!!!!
