Written to celebrate National Tree Week, November 26th – December 5th 2022
I have often thought, if I was a bird flying over St Ann’s Allotments, I would see a woodland. Though when you get down into it the mix of trees is something quite different.
The trees all feel like they tell a story – with fruit trees representing the heritage and allotmenteering of the site, and of course, we have these trees (Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Damson and more!) in abundance, as the naming of the Community Orchard implies!
The hedges follow the layout of the original Victorian pleasure gardens. The hedges are primarily Hawthorn and Privet, though over time we’ve added a number of interesting species to the hedges around our projects, such as Dog Rose and Blackthorn – a ‘wildlife harvest’.
Hawthorn, not only is a great hedge for wildlife but is also of interest itself. A challenge to all St Ann’s allotments volunteers and visitors now – is to chase the ‘Midland Hawthorn!’. Find those with berries (Haws) whilst you still can, and if it has 2 seeds inside, it is a Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata), instead of the much more occurrent ‘Common Hawthorn’ (Crataegus monogyna) which has just 1 seed! We have found just 2 on Urban Nature after a lot of berry squishing!
Moving beyond the older trees and hedges – Hazel and Willow trees represent traditional crafts, becoming bean poles, stakes or pea sticks– a very useful commodity for us even now, in weaving fences, making signs, stakes, supports and plant labels!
Within Urban Nature, we even have a mini-arboretum of native trees: Lime, Wild Cherry, Silver Birch and Yew amongst others planted alongside a rather special Spindle tree – with the wonderful flowers (flowering now in November!) showing the variety and uniqueness of each tree.
So now, our trees not only remember our heritage but also provide for us in harvest and materials. They also give us that wilderness feeling of escaping the City that makes our spaces so magical.
