Last week was National Tree Week and rather fortuitously we commenced the planting of an arboretum. Planting a tree could be considered the simplest and in turn the grandest of undertakings, making ones mark on the landscape that hopefully will go on to flourish for generations to come.
An affinity with the landscape in which I was raised always felt fundamental to the understanding of it, but even more so, fundamental to one's journey through life.
Fagus sylvatica, European Beech, is one entity that seems eponymous with the woods and hillscapes of Hampshire.
The handsome specimen pictured here, a long time favourite of ours, is fern leaved selection Fagus sylvatica var. heterophylla 'Aspleniifolia'. The combination of it's deeply cut leaves with narrow slender lobes and it's broad, low branching crown makes 'Aspleniifolia' unmistakable and deeply lovable. Here the centre piece of our scheme and as illustrated alongside the JCB, this is one very special, weighty specimen.
The process of designing a treescape is an immersive one with an adventure to be found in the story of each species chosen; the planting of it is equally important to us and by far the most enjoyable.
A hard day's graft, the best feeling in the world.
