Favorite Fotos: London trees

This was much more difficult than expected! I had quite a time weeding down my pictures of London trees to a manageable number, and some of you might think that I didn't succeed too well at this weeding. London just has lots, and lots, of beautiful trees! And they're beautiful both with and without leaves of all colors.

The picture at the left was taken in early October in Bishop's Park along the Thames and is only one of many statuesque plane trees in that lovely park.

From here out, I'll be going in chronological order with the tree pictures, so you can see the progression from late summer to early winter that I experienced.

They obviously take very good care of their trees (although one of our orientation guides told us that plane trees require very little maintenance, and are thus ideal for city living). But it was noticeable that they are preparing for the next generations, as you see trees of all ages in all the parks. Here are some fairly young ones in Hyde Park in mid-September, with a whole flock of swans for accents:


On the left you can see some of Hyde Park's more mature plane trees, lining one of the parks many, many walking paths.

Later the same day, I took the shot on the right, of a particularly large specimen in a very different kind of park, Hampstead Heath. Whereas Hyde Park is flat and manicured (although not as much as Regent's Park, at least in most of its extent) the Heath is very hilly and almost wild by comparison. Fortunately, however, there are good trails throughout it, and I thoroughly enjoyed the long walks I took there on two different occasions.

Plane trees aren't the only kind on offer in London's parks. Here's a very odd specimen that Hal and I saw on our parks ramble in mid-September. We saw trees like this in Green and Hyde Parks, but I think this particular one is in the latter. Anyone have any idea what species this is?


London trees provide wonderful framing devices for some of the city's famous landmarks, as you can see in this assortment, also taken around the middle of September:













On the left you'll see a great example of just how tree-rich London is, in spite of its hyper-urban-ness. This photo was taken in mid-October on one of London's busiest streets, the Victoria Embankment. The charming dragon tells you that you're entering the City of London itself, but just look at all those trees, and all that shade!

By mid-October, as you can see below, Hyde Park was beginning to show its fall colors. This photo was taken, I believe, during our "keep Joan awake" walk the day she arrived and needed to get acclimatized to the eastern hemisphere clock. (Hyde Park's vastness is great for this purpose, provided you're blessed with this kind of weather.) [note: I was wrong about this being during Joan's first day; it was her second. Thanks for the correction, Joan.]


Here is a photo taken a bit later on the same Hyde Park ramble, showcasing several different types of trees, and some of their fallen leaves:


A few days later, I took the photo below, this time in Green Park near Buckingham Palace, a nice example of the kind of groomed groves abundant in both Green and St. James' Parks.


A different, slightly wilder type of grove, is on offer at Hampstead Heath. This picture was taken during my second trip there, in mid-October.


Towards the end of the month, some trees were looking rather bare, as you can tell by the Hyde Park photo below (it was taken near the Serpentine). But, there were still plenty of leaves in evidence, as well. On the right is a photo taken during my one visit to the very manicured sections of Regent's Park, with a glimpse of the somewhat tree-like British Telecom tower in the distance.



On the last day of October, I got my wonderful tour of the Houses of Parliament. But before I met the students and went inside, I took the photo on the left of one of the gnarled trees outside the courtyard between the Big Ben tower and the Palace of Westminster. You can also see, on the other side of the drive, the line of really gnarly trees (they look almost like grape vines, but I'm not sure what they are) that border the inner square.

And, below, you'll see some scenic trees at another famous London location. These are in the garden at Lord's Cricket Ground, which I was fortunate enough to tour about a month later. We're getting late into November, now, and many of the trees are starting to take on their bare, ruined, choir aspect. But they still look lovely, don't you think?


The first week in December, I took a walking tour on my own around the Inns of Court, where some of the trees still had a lot of leaves, as you can see at the left, a shot looking down a courtyard toward the river. However, there were other trees in the complex that were completely denuded, like the ones on the right around the Temple Church.

A few days later I made my last visit to Hyde Park, and you can see how much more wintry the plane trees were looking:


What happens to all those leaves? you might wonder. And who rakes them? No rakes at all, at least given the glimpse I got in Green Park the first week of December of this zamboni-like leaf blower. What a job!


Lovely as even the bare trees are, I don't want to end this tribute to London's arboreal herita with a winter view. How about this fabulous shot of Henry's instead, taken in mid-November in Battersea Park?