A walk in Woodbridge looking at some interesting trees led by Martin Minta on 15 October 2022

We began at Notcutts main entrance. Looking towards the car park, the tall conifer on the right – a Swamp Cypress possibly about 100 years old may have been planted by Roger Crompton who established the Notcutts business in 1897, 125 years ago. This is a deciduous conifer, has good autumn colour and likes a damp situation but is growing well here. This variety originates from Louisiana and Florida in USA. Many of the trees we saw on our walk are varieties that originated in other countries all around the world and discovered by plant hunters many years ago,

Going left towards the road and on the right of the pedestrian entrance to the car park is a Persian Ironwood tree with very good autumn colour.

Walking around to the front of the shop and towards the staff car park. On the left is a tall Honey Locust tree and beyond, also on the left, an Australian Ash. Beyond that on the left is a Pride of India which has lost its leaves early. Straight ahead, a smaller tree by the house on the right, is a Golden Ash and it was truly golden when we saw it. On the right in front of the blue house is a fastigiate Tulip tree. This has ‘clipped’ leaves and when a tree is about 20 years old it has tulip shaped flowers often high in the tree so not too noticeable.

Walking back towards the car park, on the left is a vigorous tall Silver leafed Maple, recently successfully incorporated into a new road layout .

Looking right across the car park is a row of colourful Norway maples and hornbeams. On the left is a Weeping Silver Birch, a good tree for a smaller garden as its roots are less invasive than Weeping Willow.

Walking on, past the young Caucasian elms in the shrubbery to the right, there is, on the left of the drive towards Framfield House is a tall Caucasian Wingnut with ash-like leaves and strings of fruit. Introduced into the UK in 1872.  On the opposite side of the drive is an Indian Bean tree. These were introduced to the UK from the USA in 1726. Go to the left to a narrow footpath towards Warren Hill Road.  A Liquidambar or Sweetgum with dark red/purple leaves is on right of the start of the footpath with another smaller Liquidambar beyond. This variety also comes from the southern and eastern USA and was introduced in 1681.

Along the footpath, on the right is a Silver leaved Maple and beyond it, a group of three Himalayan Birch with white trunks and yellow autumn leaves and behind them a couple of River Birch with dark, shaggy bark. Also on the right by a street light and in front of Framfield House is a small young Gingko biloba, also known as Maidenhair tree, this one is about 20 years old. Gingko are the most primitive and ancient type of trees, native to China and originating in the Jurassic age, about 290 million years ago. Gingko trees can be male or female, the female trees have smelly fruits. Biloba refers to the leaves having 2 lobes and no central spine as all other leaves. Because the Gingko evolved before insects it has no pests to attack its leaves.

Next is a pair of small Pride of India Elm trees, which have yellow flowers in August then fruits like Chinese lanterns. Another smallish tree here is an Antarctic Beech from S America, another ancient type with very tiny leaves.  Further along on the right and past the bench is a vigorous Tree of Heaven with heavy bunches of seeds. This variety originally was brought to the UK from N. China in 1751. Not at all heavenly, these trees can be invasive as they spread by suckering. They are also toxic and very difficult to remove!

Squeezed between the Tree of Heaven and an evergreen Holm Oak is a Black Mulberry, the one which produces edible berries not the White Mulberry whose leaves that are the food of silk moths.  Beyond that, amongst several shrubs, is a Strawberry tree, an evergreen with small upright leaves. This produces small strawberry like fruits that are not edible at the same time as it flowers.

Walking up Warren Hill road towards the Old Cemetery there are some Irish Yew trees behind an old iron railing fence. Look for some headstones. These date from the first cemetery in this area built in the early 19^th century in Napoleonic times when there was an epidemic in Woodbridge barracks and over 669 soldiers died between 1804 and 1814. The cemetery was extended later that century, plans were laid out from 1856 and the cemetery opened in 1864, It has an informal style and many plants were supplied by Notcutts Nursery. On the left just inside the entrance and opposite the Lodge is a (small) Great White Cherry planted in memory of Charles Notcutt, who died in 2015.

We took the right fork and followed the path downhill passing a Cut Leaved Beech on the left. There is a beautiful mature example of this tree to the left of The Kitchen in the Garden Centre. Below and away from the path on the left is a Coast Redwood and ahead on the left of the path is a Giant Redwood, a Sequoiadendron. This had only been introduced to the UK in 1853, just a few years before the Old Cemetery was laid out, so it is likely to be an original planting. Both Redwoods originate from California, the former from a narrow coastal strip above San Francisco; the latter, the most massive in the world, from the western flanks of the Sierra Nevada. Feel its spongy fire-retardant bark. These trees evolved to withstand forest fires and the seeds inside the cones will only germinate after being exposed to fire. Coast Redwoods can be coppiced, cut down almost to ground level at regular intervals and then they regrow, and so can last for thousands of years. Their timber was used to build the railroads and towns and cities in the USA.  (‘At the Edge of the Orchard’ by Tracey Chevalier gives a fictional account of the discovery of Redwoods by the pioneers and how the first ones came to the UK.)

Take the right fork at the Giant Redwood and pass an American Red Oak on the left (there is a shiny black headstone just past it) and a large evergreen Holm Oak very close to a large Corsican Pine. Next you will see a Chile Pine or Monkey Puzzle tree, originating from the Andes in S.America. Just beyond that is an interesting horizontal, tiled tombstone in an Arts and Crafts design.  A Weeping Holly is below the path and then on the right a group of dark Irish Yews with an upright or fastigiate goblet shape.  All Irish Yews are female and originally derived from cuttings taken from a tree on the estate of Lord Enniskillen in 1780 in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland. Many churchyards in the UK have English Yews which can live for thousands of years. These have a more spreading shape and were used in the past for making longbows. Most Yews are in churchyards possibly to keep them away from livestock as both the leaves and the berries are poisonous.

An English Walnut is growing opposite the Chapel and also a type of Tibetan Cherry with a distinctive striped bark. Beyond that is a Scots Pine, the only type of native pine in the UK and to its left is a Blue Atlas Cedar which come from North Africa.

Approaching the road, are two young Monterey Pines along the hedge with a Himalayan or Deodar Cedar between them and the Chapel. To the left of the gate are some tall Austrian Pines and below on the left of the path going downhill is a Monterey Cypress with a huge trunk. These trees grow better in the UK than they do in California. Nine of us were needed to give this tree a group hug! We estimated a circumference of about 11 m which must make it a Suffolk Champion.

We then looked briefly into the new Cemetery which was laid out in 1917. We noted some young Liquidambar trees across the cemetery with good scarlet Autumn colour. The main avenue of Horse Chestnuts here are almost leafless. This species has suffered from the leaf miner insects in the summertime in recent years. Phytopheras are a group of fungal diseases which can affect a wide range of trees including Horse Chestnuts and, particularly, Larch trees in the west of the country. Rhododendrons are the host plant for this disease and that is why many common rhododendron are being removed around the country. Neither problem will necessarily kill the trees but they do put them under stress. Walking on towards Fen Meadow with several tall Douglas Firs on the left there is a young Giant Redwood, about 25 years old, in the cemetery. At the top of Fen Meadow look over the laid hedge and see a Monterey Pine in the garden across the track.

In Fen Meadow a Scarlet Oak stands at the top of the hill and Corsican Pines grow by the hedge on the right going down the hill. Looking over beyond the 5 Transition Woodbridge Apple trees (planted 2020) and the WI Centenary (2021) native Rowan tree we could see the mature Cedar of Lebanon growing in the garden of Woodbridge Lodge on Burkitt Road.

Going down the hill we learned that there is an Elm tree at the edge of the wood on the left and there 3 others growing in a line beyond Fen Walk and opposite the Abbey School Playing Field. These elms are not affected by Dutch Elm disease as they are a disease resistant variety, Sapporo Gold. These were probably planted in the 1990s by Suffolk Coastal District Council. Martin also planted several of these in Ipswich during his time as arboriculturalist for Ipswich Borough Council.

We finished the walk by returning to Notcutts via Fen Walk. The walk on a bright and breezy autumn day enabled us to learn about and admire some of the many splendid trees we are lucky to have here in Woodbridge and we all thanked Martin for his time and the interesting facts he had passed on to us.

We hope you find this account of our walk will help you to appreciate the trees too.

Carol Steptoe, 17 October 2022