Friday 26 October 2012

Leaf-peeping at the Castle Howard Arboretum

Acer rubrum 'October Glory' living up to it's name. It's a signature tree in the arboretum at this time of year.

Flaming scarlet: a young 'October Glory' amid the oaks

Browsing the BBC website this morning I found a video segment featuring my friend Raef Johnson discussing autumn colour against the backdrop of the Japanese maples at Westonbirt, where he works. It's currently the fourth most watched video on the BBC site, so congratulations to Raef, but Westonbirt isn't the only place with fantastic autumn colour! The tints this year, at least in this area, seem to be exceptionally good and I took advantage of a bright spell this afternoon to go round the Castle Howard Arboretum to get some pictures of our trees. Lots of colour now and it should get better for a little while to come.


I think this is Acer x freemanii, but there's no label on the tree (!)

Delicate shades are as attractive as the intense reds: Betula papyrifera

Beech trees: Fagus orientalis on the left.

Malus florentina

Hornbeams (Carpinus betulus) and the view to the bridge.

And we have Japanese maples too: a good red Acer palmatum,
grown from seed from Westonbirt.

6 comments:

  1. I love Autumn and the fall colours, Horse Chestnuts particularly good round here at the moment

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  2. 'October Glory' is well named and looks stunning against the background of oaks. Looks like a good year for autumn colour all round.

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  3. The selection of autumn colours at the arboretum is beautiful. 'October Glory' cuoldn't get any more red, such a fiery colour against the sky and the surroundings. Your Acer palmatum has both a good colour and nice finely cut leaves.

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  4. I was there today and wondered what were the trees which have a more shrubby shape and leaves with sawtooth edges which were turning yellowish but some leaves on half the tree seemed to be curling up before turning. they were on the lower edge of the broad walk between the temple of the four winds and the house.

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  5. Dear John.
    Beautiful photos, lovely bright autumn colours.
    Have a nice day.
    Best regards, Iris.

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  6. @Kate: I haven't been into the Castle Howard grounds recently to check what these trees are, but there are a lot of whitebeams ("Sorbus") along that walk and they would fit the description you give.

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