For National Tree Week

Liquidamber tree in its autumn finery at the entrance to Chippeneham High Street

It's the final day of this year's National Tree Week today and I want to celebrate the tree which stopped me in my tracks recently. At other times this has been a very big week for me, having organised and helped to plant thousands of trees in south Wales as part of an Earthwatch project in the 1990s. Those days feel like they're part of another life, but it's good to be reminded how important trees still are to me, simply by just being there. 

The pictured tree is towards the end of my walk into town and I must have walked past it hundreds of times, but for once I saw it properly for the first time. It was just as the different combinations of colour from green through yellow and orange to red were at their finest which helped to catch my undivided attention. It's not the tallest specimen in the world, but wow, it really helps to soften the brutalist concrete of the shops behind it.

Liquidambar leaves over the River Avon in Chippenham

Then I looked at the leaves more closely, and realised it's a liquidambar aka sweetgum, a tree I didn't think thrived in our area and I've been quite envious of other places where it does. The link says it can grow up to 20 metres in height, whereas this specimen is around 20 feet, or a third of that size. Perhaps our local conditions and being by the river mean its going to stay a bit smaller, though I see it can take up to 50 years to get up there.

Nevertheless, it's most welcome. Which tree has captivated you the most recently?


Comments

  1. Diana Studer12 December 2024 at 18:48

    I have some ginkgo cuttings leafing out, hope for a 'golden carpet' one day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 December 2024 at 18:55

      That would be wonderful! There's quite a few used as a street tree in this neck of the woods, but none discovered here in Chippenham so far...

      Delete
  2. The bike shed15 December 2024 at 08:38

    I am sorry not to have left a comment for so long or posted on my blog. I have been very ill and only now feel more able to use a keyboard - albeit on a phone! But I have been reading and it helps to see me through. Today I am posting similar comments on many favourite blogs I have read. From a hospital in France…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP17 December 2024 at 11:37

      Goodness Mark, what a shock! I've sent you an email x

      Delete

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