Autumn has arrived on our doorsteps a couple of weeks early, hastened by the cold, sunny spring and the wet summer. The liquidambars (sweet gums) and the birches are already changing colour, and where high winds and heavy rain have spared them you’ll see fine seasonal fruits on the trees.
Council planting schedule
This time of year is when our thoughts turn to planting new trees for the generations to come. The council is already working on a provisional plan for the November to March planting season and we're working with them to make sure any trees lost in recent years are replaced and any commitments previously made are fulfilled. As soon as the official plan is firmed up we'll pass it on to you.
Breaking new ground: the Tree Watch planting plan
In the meantime we have our own budget for planting street trees in locations where there haven't been any in recent memory. With the council bearing the cost of digging new pits, our £17,000 funding from Southwark’s Cleaner Greener Safer (CGS) scheme should be enough to buy more than 30 trees to distribute around the area.
We've been looking at potential sites with members of the council tree team and our street leaders and we've now drawn up a list of around 40 which you can find here. The exact locations are conditional on inspections by the tree officers and any objections we might receive from residents.
Most of the spaces are the ends of small residential streets, where there are often blank side walls of shops or houses and sometimes rows of garages. The majority of these will only be able to accommodate small trees (up to 10 metres height at maturity) but in some cases there will be room for medium-sized specimens (10-15 metres). There are also proposals for planting along main roads where the pavements can take much larger trees (over 15 metres). We need as many of these as we can fit in. The London plane, for one, is by far the best city tree for carbon sequestration and storage.
Suggested species
With the help of Oliver Stutter, a highly experienced arborist who works for both the council and the Dulwich Estate, we've posted a selection of 50 or so tree species that we think will be suitable for the CGS project. Again, this will be subject to confirmation from the tree officers.
The main criteria we've used to make our choices are:
Proven resilience to climate change. This has driven the whole exercise. There’s no point in planting attractive trees now if they’re not going to be able to withstand high temperatures and droughts over the coming decades. However, we’ve happy to accept a small number of cherries, which are very popular but don’t live long and can’t withstand drought and flood. A few maples, a strawberry tree, a dogwood and a magnolia have also made the list.
Contribution to biodiversity. We want trees that will attract pollinators and other insects, which will in turn bring back birds and other wildlife. We’ve indicated the types that are especially welcoming to bees.
Year-round interest. As far as possible, we’re looking for trees that have a good profile in winter, blossom in spring, attractive leaves in summer and fruit and colour in autumn.
A mixture of species. We need more variety on the streets because that will strengthen the tree population and keep it healthy. So you should see more exotic trees and few British natives, which have evolved in temperate open woodland and on the whole won’t thrive in hard paving and extremes of weather. At the same time we have to avoid trees that have been over-planted here like the Himalayan birch (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii), the chanticleer pear (Pyrus calleryana Chanticleer) and the sweet gum sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua).
There will be two exceptions to this last rule, however. Another nine Yoshino cherries (Prunus x yedoensis) will be coming to Winterbrook Road this winter to complete the spectacular avenue that David Langley has built up over the years. And we’ll be looking to continue the very successful magnolia theme along Casino Avenue.
Filling the gaps
All this hoped-for planting will inevitably still leave some gaps along your streets that you might be keen to fill. We’ve found that the council is very responsive if they get direct approaches from a group of residents or from individuals who can demonstrate local support.
You can submit an email request for particular trees in particular spots to our arboricultural officer, Ernst Erasmus, at any time. You'll find all the tree section contact details here. Please cc your message to us.
But you can also do what we’ve done for the past two or three years and apply for funding through the time-limited CGS scheme. There’s a straightforward application form to fill in and we’d be happy to help with the paperwork. Decisions are made by our councillors, Margy Newens and Richard Leeming, so it’s a very good idea to give them details of your application when you send it in. Speak to your Tree Watch street leader too.
The deadline for applications is September 30 and the winning bids will be announced early in the new year. The new programme is for projects to be carried out in 2022/23, so if you’re successful the earliest your trees would be planted is winter next year. Please visit www.southwark.gov.uk/cleanergreenersafer for more information and an application form. Click on the box that reads ‘Devolved Highways Fund’.
October maintenance work
Before a single sapling is planted this winter we need to do a little work on the trees that are already in place. Basal growths (suckers and epicormic shoots) need to be pruned and this is best done when the trees become dormant. Some unwanted tree cages also have to be removed, broken branches trimmed back and weeds cleared from tree pits. We’ll be organising street-by-street work parties next month through your street leaders and we hope you’ll be able to take part. It’s always fun, friendly and educational.
The urban forest at harvest time
This month we’re offering you a guided illustrated walk on the wild side of Herne Hill, a stroll through the late summer harvest of nuts, berries, apples, olives and bean pods in our local tree canopy. Many of the trees here, photographed on a damp and dull day in mid-September, are species that we’ve selected for our upcoming CGS planting project.
The walk starts at 35 Half Moon Lane, where between the tall London planes stands a modest, elegant and beautiful little hawthorn with a crop of brown berries amidst its glossy leaves. It’s the broad-leaved cockspur thorn (Crataegus persimilis 'Prunifolia') and both berries and leaves will soon turn to red as the autumn progresses.
Cross the main road into Stradella Road and walk down to no. 42, where there’s a young and rather showy bastard service tree (Sorbus hybrida or Sorbus x thuringiaca), so called because it’s the wild offspring of two close relatives: the native whitebeam (Sorbus aria) and the native rowan (Sorbus aucuparia). Look at the unique leaves under the crimson fruit: they have scalloped edges, like many whitebeams, but close to the leaf stalk these lobes split into two or three pairs of leaflets that are quite separate, like the rowan.
Right next door, at 44 Stradella, is a grey alder (Alnus incana) bearing pretty little cones, unripe and yellow now but soon hardening and darkening over the autumn until they release their seeds.
Walk around the corner, almost to the junction with Burbage Road, and over on the odd-numbered side of Stradella, outside the garden of 25 Burbage, you’ll see an Indian horse chestnut tree (Aesculus indica) with a nice display of smooth-skinned brown chestnut husks among the long, pointed leaves.
Turn into Burbage proper and walk under the railway bridge to no. 41, where you’ll find one of this street’s many sweet gums (Liquidambar styraciflua) decked in spiky, green, oblong fruits that will stay on the tree for two years, eventually turning black. You’ll notice last year’s crop on the branches alongside the newcomers.
Carry on down Burbage to the little green at the junction with Turney Road, outside no. 105. There, behind the white posts and black chains that are a trademark of Dulwich Village, is a very handsome European olive tree (Olea europaea). The young green olives are hard to spot among the pale leaves, but keep looking and a small number of very unripe fruits will reveal themselves. They’ll turn black later in the year.
Cross Burbage to the even side of the street and at no. 94 is another native: a tall, very upright common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), with a charming display of little red haws or may berries, as the fruit is known, nestling in their bed of distinctive leaves.
A few doors further along, outside no. 62, is another English garden classic, a John Downie crab apple (Malus John Downie). Many of its big, plum-like, red and yellow fruit have already dropped but there are still enough in the gnarled twigs to make a very cheerful sight.
Keep going past the bridge and the doctor’s surgery and at the end of the road, heavily overshadowed by the long line of lime trees, a little Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia) is valiantly struggling to get to the light. It’s another in the family of whitebeams, each with its own characteristic leaf shape. Here, the dark oval leaves, lobed and serrated, make a handsome backdrop to the bunches of pale brown berries in their earthy, rustic shades.
Head off now along Half Moon Lane towards North Dulwich, turning left into Elmwood Road. As you pass the very last house on the left, take in the strange, lantern-like fruit of the Pride of India (Koelreuteria paniculata), also commonly called the Golden Rain Tree. It’s actually growing in a corner of Sunray Gardens but its branches spread above the pavement. The little papery, green ‘bladders’ turn a bronze colour later in the year and have a handful of seeds ripening inside them.
Walk along the park railings and when you get to Red Post Hill take a close look at the Turkish hazel (Corylus colurna) on the pavement build-out between Elmwood and Beckwith Road. You might still see a few clusters of hazelnuts up in the crown - those that haven’t yet been taken by squirrels or dropped to the ground. The edible nuts grow inside a thick green husk covered in soft, wavy, tangled spines.
Go left on to Red Post Hill and walk up the hill, passing a picturesque crescent of houses with a row of four stone pines (Pinus pinea) planted on the grass in front. There’s another thickly planted space a little further up the road and if you turn into the curving path in front of the houses you’ll come across a native holly (Ilex aquifolium) covered in bright red berries outside no. 85.
At the very top of the hill turn left on Herne Hill, then left again when you reach Casino Avenue. The whole Sunray Estate is very thoughtfully laid out in a classic Arts and Crafts garden suburb style and is easily the greenest neighbourhood in Herne Hill. Casino has two very lovely short side roads branching off its main length and the first of these, on your left, is particularly stunning.
At the start of the cul-de-sac, on the grass verge to the right outside no. 45 is a very attractive and vigorous crab apple bearing a heavy yield of tiny, shiny yellow fruit. It’s a Japanese crab (Malus floribunda) and is stunning in springtime too, with red flower buds and pink flowers.
And five doors down, the last stop on our walk, stands a majestic Indian bean tree (Catalpa bignonioides) draped in foot-long (30 cm) bean pods like something from a tropical forest. Step underneath the canopy if you can: it’s very atmospheric and mysterious down there.
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