{"id":4218,"date":"2019-02-04T12:09:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4218"},"modified":"2019-02-04T12:09:58","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:09:58","slug":"trees-in-reading-2-february-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/trees-in-reading-2-february-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees in Reading – 2 February 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marcus Wheeler led a walk looking\nat trees in Central Reading on the bright and sunny morning of Saturday 2\nFebruary. Following days of snow, a partial thaw and a hard frost, a thin\ncarpet of crisp snow covered the ground. The pavements were mostly clear, but\nthere were still lethally slippery stretches of ice in places. Almost all of\nthe attendees arrived by bus or on foot. Meeting place was the churchyard of St\nMary\u2019s Church. Near the west door is the twisted trunk of an old Indian Bean\nTree. It had been severely pollarded and a younger replacement tree had been\nplanted nearby. But the old tree has since sprouted a number of healthy-looking\nnew branches. In the south-west corner of the church yard is a small\nlollipop-shaped Box tree, quite unlike the usual bushy hedge form. On the\neastern side of the churchyard is an enormous London Plane tree. Marcus pointed\nout the smooth leathery leaves which can be washed clean by rain water and the\nflaking regenerative bark, both features which enable the tree to grow in\npolluted urban conditions. On the north side of the churchyard is a big Holm\nOak. Next stop was the paved area in front of the Old Town Hall, where a group\nof Whitebeams have been planted. The walk continued along an alleyway to the\nchurchyard of St Lawrence\u2019s Church. Trees here included a Judas Tree and a big\nCopper Beech. Crossing the road, the next destination was the Forbury Gardens.\nOn the south side of the gardens, surrounded by a low fence, is the Verdun Oak.\nIt was grown from an acorn collected from the battlefield in 1916. Other trees\nseen here included a Black Mulberry, a Ginkgo, a Handkerchief Tree, a Tulip\nTree and a Paperbark Maple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The walk continued across Reading\nBridge and into Christchurch Meadow. A pair of Wellingtonias had been planted,\none on each side of the bridge. A row of tall Lombardy Poplars line the east\nside of the meadow and a line of Weeping Willows can be seen in the north-east\ncorner. Heading west, a Caucasian Wingnut tree had distinctive dangling columns\nof seeds. Marcus commented that Birches were one of the first trees to\nrecolonise Britain after the last ice age, along with Scots Pine and Juniper.\nAs well as several big Silver Birches, the meadow has a few very white-barked\nnon-native birches. He pointed out that the cones on an Italian Alder were\nsignificantly larger than those on our native Alder. Other trees seen in the\nnorth-west side of the meadow included Black Walnut, Corkscrew Willow, Hornbeam\nand Horse Chestnut with thick twigs and big brown sticky buds. The final\ndestination was Caversham Court. The tall Limes at the entrance are covered in\nMistletoe. An old Black Mulberry has recently split and fallen over, but it\ncontinues to grow from its prone position. Near the river is a tall\nWellingtonia with surprisingly spongey bark. Beyond are a Cedar of Lebanon with\nlevel branches and a Blue Atlas Cedar with ascending branches. On the west side\nis the oldest tree in the garden, an ancient Yew, a \u2018family\u2019 tree. At the\ncentre is a massive trunk. Spreading side branches have dropped to the ground\nand rooted, sending up a circle of younger trees. Snowdrops were flowering\nunder the outer branches. Finally, on the east side of the garden is a big\nBhutan Pine, with its needles growing in bundles of five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n