Stewart showed me around the Arboretum. It has over 1000 trees and over 90 genera. He is working with the Arb team and helping them understand formative pruning and early establishment of trees because they are so use to working with trees in their mature state and this is a fairly young arboretum (opened in 1977). Some of the highlights there are champions Prunus cerasifera (pink cultivar) and a Morus alba (early - midsummer) - which I must catch the opening of the leaves are they are meant to be a curiosity.
They are also trying to renovate trees that have been treated badly for whatever reason (neglect, lost information through different people looking after it etc), as well as maintain them. We took off some tree ties and pads around some young Populus nigra trees that had established themselves. There were plastic deer protection around the main stem - but me and Stewart questioned if it is the best method, they don't seem to be good for the wood, harbouring soil and woodlice on the main stem that could lead to rot.
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| Photo 1: Entering the Arboretum via Howard's Field. The distinctive shaped trees are Tillia tomentosa. |
Then there was a team hit on the West side of Battleston Hill (near the Chilean Glade). Me and Stewart did hard renovation pruning to various Mahonias. This is not a job that is done every year, it is uncertain when it was last done, but it has certainly been a while and other shrubs around had formed dense thickets drowning some things out/ fighting for light and space.
We reduced the Mahonia height by about a half, leaving thick stems to form a strong framework. The wood inside was a bright sulphuric yellow, with a corky bark that ripped easily so we had to be careful whilst sawing. We took the height down first then slimmed it down. Stewart also cut harsh back a Berberis that had grown into a large foreboding mass, and started reducing the height of a Griselinia littoralis which had been allowed to grow free form. I also coppiced a Corylus maximus, grading the height of the shrub and making almost flat cuts when it came to the middle, so that the stubs almost formed a mound. It is interesting to bear in mind how one wants something to grow depending on what purpose one wants it for.