Here at Heydon Hill Nursery we gave been banging on for ages about prunus cerisifera. It really is a lovely tree, and then the benefit of being able to make jam too. Win win.
Nearly half of English neighbourhoods ‘have less than 10% tree cover’
Conifers and Spring
I was walking through a mixed woodland this afternoon, and noticed how the conifers were all responding, in their own ways to the coming spring, and much sooner than the decidiuos trees around them. The larch buds look like clusters of small flowers, the sitka looks silver and insect like, the scots pine a lovely fresh green and the japanese red cedar like spring blossom.
They may notliterally blossom or have slowly unfurling vibrant green leaves, but their buds do have a beauty of their own.
I think that conifers get a pretty bad press. They seem to be asssociated either with dark, brooding forestry blocks of sitka spruce, and barren forest floors, or in urban settings, with leylandii hedges and neighbourly disputes. However there I believe that theremis so much more to them.
They vary from the feathery and elegant japanese red cedars to the majestic giant redwoods, with so much in between.
The problem I think that people have with conifer is the misconception that they are boring and don’t encourage wild life, that they lack the romance of an oak or beech, but if you look closely thay are beautiful in their own way. They create new growth in the spring and have amazing buds. In the winter their friut of pine cones come in all shapes and sizes. The larch even changes colour to a glorious gold in the autumn, and lovely bright new green needles in the spring
It’s the old adage “the right tree in the wrong place”.
Here at heydon Hill Wood we inherited a plantation of sitka spruce bordered by ancient beech and oak when we bought our woodland.
With careful management and gradual replanting we are recreating a wonderful mixed woodland. We have kept a lot of the spruce and allowed natural re- generation where we have been thinning out and harvesting. The understory now is a wonderful mixture of pioneer trees like oak, rowan, and birch, with planted wild cherry, beech, oaks, robinia and a mixture of conifers like scots pine, western red cedar and japaneses larch.
Conifers also are amazing at capturing carbon , almost 60% more carbon in the early years of its life. They grow more quickly than an oak or beech, for example, so can therefore be capturing carbon while the decidious trees are slowly reaching the point where they can do so effectively.
There are many reasons why a mixed woodland has advantages over planting a monoculture. Another blog post perhaps? I will just finish by saying give conifers a second look, give them a chance. They deserve a place in our landscape and in our woodlands.
Why are hedgerows so important?
by The Soil Association
Wanted to share this post as it says it all.
An amazing 130 species of wildlife live and thrive in hedgerows. Harvest mice, hedgehogs, foraging bats and roosting birds are among the creatures that benefit from food and shelter created by hedges. Plus, the flowers and berries that fill these wonderful habitats attract pollinators and birds. Planting hedgerows creates a habitat where wildlife can thrive.
Stronger soils
As we expect climate change to bring more extreme weather, hedgerows will act as a much-needed barrier at the margins of fields, preventing the fertile farming soil being lost by flash floods. Hedges have deep root structures which help to keep soil firmly in place. This reduces the risk of it being blown away during dry months and helping mitigate flooding in wet ones! One inch of soil takes over 500 years to form, so protecting this resource is important.
Better for climate
50% of UK hedgerows have been lost since World War Two, removed to make way for industrial agriculture. Re-establishing hedgerows can make a significant contribution to the UK’s target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The diverse range of plant life in hedges helps combat climate change by absorbing and storing carbon, which is also stored in the soil below. In fact, research shows that healthy soils store 3 times as much carbon as the atmosphere!
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Where are all the trees coming from?
It is a busy time for the tree nursery as planting season continues, and demand is high this year.
It is fantastic that there is such an eagerness for tree planting, but no one ever asks the question “where are all these millions of trees coming from?”.
Most tree nurseries are stretched to their limits this year to fulfil orders for their regular customers, let alone all the new and huge planting schemes planned. Tree growers are at the mercy of climate change and extremes in the weather that can affect the growth rates and sometimes even the survival of very young trees. Trees take at least two years to grow until they are ready to lift and transplant. They are living, growing organisms and cannot be rushed in their growth just to meet demand. We think that there must be a debate due very soon as to how we are going to manage, here in the UK, to grow enough native species to meet the goal needed for effective carbon capture over the next few years. Watch this space.
Country diary: The outlook is good for this year’s cherry plum jam
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/29/country-diary-the-outlook-is-good-for-this-years-cherry-plum-jam?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other Here at Heydon Hill Nursery we gave been banging on for ages about prunus cerisifera. It really is a lovely tree, and then the benefit of being able to make jam too. Win win.
Autumn Gold
Bracken’s bronze and gold fronds are everywhere in the woods right now.
Seen as an invasive species nowadays. bracken used to have many uses, culinary, medicinal and practical, all over the globe.
The new fronds, called fiddlesticks, are eaten pickled, cooked or raw still in many parts of the world. The rhizomes can be ground into flour to make bread, or in the Canary Islands a type of porridge. The fronds and rhizomes are used to make beer in Siberia
Traditionally bracken has been used for animal bedding (free to gather wild),and then as a mulch. It was used in soap and glass making too.
Now, it comes into it’s own, when the autumn changes the fronds from green to gold to bronze to copper. It is easy to forget that we are meant to despise it and cut it and burn it and eradicate it from our woods. The autumn sun transforms it into shining colours of precious metals.
From little acorns
Red oak seedlings. Acorns planted in March in our nursey.
Red oak. Planted circa 1721 in Ford Abbey.
Pixies, Elves and Tree Magic
We had our first children’s party hosted by Heydon Hill Wood in September.
What a gas. The theme was pixies, elves and woodland creatures, and story teller extrodinaire Micheal Loader entertained.
After making their own fantastical creations from sticks, moss ferns and all things foresty the children were led on an enchanted journey by Micheal, taking in a fairy tale bed and discovering hidden elfin doors that were magically hidden throughout the beech wood .
They then feasted on our homemade sausages barbecued on our charcoal, and finished the party by roasting marshmallows over a fire.
A very Happy Birthday party.
To talk to us about hiring our wood for a children’s party or any event go to contact page.
Tree Giants
Heydon Hill Wood is really proud to have been part of this amazing project, providing much of the timber and Paul being part of the team that built them.
We love being able to see what happens to the timber we sell and it is really exciting to see it transformed into these amazing creatures.
Heydon Hill Wood 