Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum

Blog - Tree of the Month

Summer highlight: Pheasant berry

The attractive Pheasant berry shrub is our tree of the month - much loved by game birds such as pheasants for its fruit!...

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Summer highlight: Flowering dogwood

This month we’re featuring the flowering dogwood, a tree with origins in North America that is worth seeking out throughout the year whether it’s in flower or not.

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Spring highlight: Foxglove tree

This month we’re showcasing a highly decorative specimen, the Foxglove Tree. With four species of this tree located in the arboretum, you’ll want to seek them out to experience these ornamental beauties.

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Spring highlight: Chinese parasol storax

Discover more about this rare and very scarcely grown plant, originally from China in this tree of the month blog.

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Spring highlight: Long may she bloom!

Last year we asked you to help us choose a cultivar name for our new Magnolia hybrid, Magnolia sprengeri × campbellii. And with a landslide victory, the name chosen was……Westonbirt Hope...

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Spring highlights: Judas tree

This month we're exploring the Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum). It is one of the first trees you see when arriving at Westonbirt and when in flower with is deep pink flowers you'll not want to miss it.

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Winter highlights: Paperbark maple

The Paperbark maple, Acer griseum is very distinctive due to its flaky-like bark and colour.

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Winter highlights: Dogwood

Posted in: Blog Tree of the Month

During the winter months, dogwoods, such as the red barked dogwood brighten the arboretum.

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Hummingbirds and lantern trees

We're heading to Chile for the tree of the month blog to learn more about the Chilean lantern tree.

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What did Wynter bring back from Chile?

An expedition around the world with Sir Francis Drake brought Winter's bark into the limelight.

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A closer look at a living fossil

Posted in: Blog Tree of the Month

A tree species rediscovered in the 1940s which dates back to the dinosaurs...

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A living fossil down under

Posted in: Blog Tree of the Month

As February draws to a close and we embrace the start of spring we're taking a look at another of Westonbirt's living fossils, which came back from the dead on the other side of the world, the Wollemi pine.

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One of Westonbirt’s rarest trees

This year we will be taking you on a journey around the world at Westonbirt, exploring our collection and learning new things along the way.

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Tree of the Month - June 2018

Posted in: Blog Tree of the Month

Find out why the Stewartia rostrata is our Dendrologist's Tree of the Month for June...

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Tree of the Month - May 2018

Find out why a member of the heather family, the Enkianthus, is our Dendrologist's Tree of the Month for May...

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