westonbirt arboretum - silk wood
Westonbirt Arboretum Silk Wood walk here we come! We got a bit lost, actually, not knowing where the Old Arboretum was - and so we plunged into Silk Wood not having a clue what awaited us :)
The lesson learned, of course, is to consult a good map and info before you go. But as this was one of my earliest walks, I hadn't quite got as organized as I should!
Still, we saw lots of interesting trees, so here are the best of the photos from Silk Wood.
Liriodendron tulipifera - the tulip tree, one of my favourites. A young tree, this, but with very handsome leaves already.
And here is the tree itself:
**************************************************
Pinus nigra, the black pine or Austrian pine, stretching beautifully up into the sky!
**************************************************
The leaves of Fagus sylvatica Atropurpurea 'Black Swan' - a purple beech with some very dark leaves.
**************************************************
Prunus sargentii - sargent's cherry leaves. This tree is named after Charles Sprague Sargent, an American botanist and director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard.
**************************************************
Acer platanoides, the Norway maple.
**************************************************
Acer buergerianum 'Naruto', a cultivar of the trident maple. I've just discovered that buergerianum celebrates the name of Heinrich Bürger, a German botanist.
This maple has three quite pointy leaves; notice how the sides of some of the lobes curl towards the centre of the leaf.
**************************************************
Magnolia virginiana - the sweet bay, although the label at Westonbirt called it a swamp bay, which makes sense as it is native to the southeast coast of the USA and can be found in swampland.
**************************************************
Cedrus atlantica, of the 'Glauca' cultivar - the blue Atlas cedar.
**************************************************
Here's an interestingly named tree! Xanthocyparis nootkatensis is the Nootka cypress, native to the west coast of North America from Alaska to California. The name refers to Nootka Sound by Vancouver Island.
**************************************************
Thuja plicata, the western red cedar, native to the Pacific Coast and the Rockies. Plicata means plaited, or braided, as this is how the leaves look.
**************************************************
Time for a little colour with Cotinus - the smoke tree or smoke bush.
First, a wonderful Cotinus coggyria against a super sky - then the beautiful blooms of Cotinus 'Grace':
And just to add to the display, a tree cotoneaster, Cotoneaster frigidus:
**************************************************
Quercus ilex - the holm oak or holly oak (holm means holly!) This oak is an evergreen, native to the Mediterranean.
**************************************************
Quercus pyrenaica, Pyrenean oak, native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa!
**************************************************
For some reason I really like Zelkovas! This is Zelkova schneideriana, the Chinese zelkova, a member of the elm family. It has pretty serrated leaves and quite distinctive bark.
**************************************************
Sorbus chamaemespilus - alpine whitebeam or dwarf whitebeam or false medlar. it's a shrub, although I think this specimen is aiming to copy the growth of the trees around it!
**************************************************
Lovely leaves to finish with - those of Crataegus mollis, the red or downy hawthorn:
