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Trees gallery - Nostell Priory - page 1 - the kitchen garden
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Nostell Priory is a National Trust property on the outskirts of Wakefield. It has a large area of woodland and parkland, as well as a kitchen garden, all with many unusual, mature and interesting trees. Thanks are due to Paul Dibb, garden and parklands manager, for taking the time to reply to a few of my questions about the trees. This first page is mainy of trees and shrubs in the kitchen garden. A second page moves into the parkland around the middle lake.
Tilia x europea
Common lime
There are lots of limes at Nostell. I struggle to distinguish between broad leaved, small leaved and common lime varieties, and am not sure what this one is. They hybridise readily.
Tilia platyphyllos laciniata
Broad leaved lime
This is a cultivar of the broad leaved lime, with small, narrow cut leaves. It is a medium sized tree, much smaller than the larger tilia platyphllos. This specimen growing in the kitchen garden is the girth county champion of West Yorkshire (according to the Tree Register's Champion Trees list).
Gingko biloba
Maidenhair tree
Two gingkos, close together but very different in shape and habit. Paul, the garden and parklands manager, told me "the bushier one is suckers from a much larger tree that once stood there,possibly planted in the 1700’s. The younger thin tree was planted as a replacement and has just grown to that shape." Paul sent me a photo of the old tree just before felling in 2007 due to the central leader being ripped out during a storm leaving it unbalanced and dangerous.
Cytisus Battendieri
Pineapple broom
Also called the Moroccan broom, as it is native to that country. It is a substantial deciduous shrub growing to 4m, with trifoliatecompound leaf having three leaflets grey-green leaves, and erect racemes a flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem of yellow flowers with a distinctive pineapple scent. Grown in a sheltered location, it is hardy down to −15 °C. And it was in flower when we visited (end of June)!
Cercis canadensis
Eastern redbud
A large shrub or small tree, native to Eastern North America. We visited too late for the show of bright pink buds and flowers that appear on bare wood in spring.
Staphylea pinnata
Common bladdernut
A large shrub growing up to 6m tall. The white flowers develop into papery inflated fruits, giving the plant its common name. Pinnata refers to its leaves - rows of fingers either side of a midrib vein running from the base to the apex of a leaf.
Amelanchier alnifolia 'Obelisk'
Serviceberry
A deciduous shrub growing up to 8m, native to America. This one at Nostell is an upright variety - Obelisk. It produces blueberry-like berries in profusion, following the bloom of small white flowers. We were too early for the fruits, and too late for the flowers!
Mespilus germanica
Medlar
The medlar is a large shrub or small tree, growing up to 8m. Native to SW Asia and SE Europe, but an archaeophyte long established alien plant, i.e. found in the wild before 1500 in Britain, cultivated since medieval times and naturalised in parts of southern Britain where the climate is warmer. The curious fruits must be stored in a cool place until "squishy brown". This process is called "bletting".