Autumn: planning and planting the picturesque

Posted: September 12, 2012 at 11:46 am Author: Mark Ballard

As the summer draws to an end, I always start to think about our annual planting programme.

Each year we add around 300 new trees and shrubs to the collection, the vast majority of which will have been grown here at Westonbirt in our very own Propagation Unit.

Finding a suitable location where a particular plant will hopefully be happy ever after, soil and light etc..., is always an enormous challenge. But to complicate matters, I also have to consider the role every new planting will play in our historic landscape. Ensuring that the 'picturesque' style, for which Westonbirt is best known around the world, will be enjoyed by the next generations takes a lot of careful thought.

The other day I happened to be thinking about good places for autumn colour around the arboretum, and began trying to imagine which trees will put on the best display this year.

This brought home just how important it is for me to get these new specimens in exactly the right spot, as very often it is the variety of foliage, colour and shape of the surrounding trees that really enhance our most visually pleasing autumn favourites.

I have gained huge respect and admiration for the foresight of the arboretum's founders, Robert Stayner Holford and his son Sir George, as it is their original layout that continues to produces such spectacular scenes throughout the seasons.

The Arboretum Landscape Plan begins with this quote from R S Holford's obituary in the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard (27 February 1892): “…the wonderful collection of trees and shrubs for which Weston Birt is so famous in the botanical world, were formed by Mr Holford … and will be a lasting memorial, not only of his wide knowledge, but also of his almost unerring taste as a landscape gardener.”

It will soon be time to enjoy the autumn in full glory, for yet another year.