Historic house plants avenue of tulip trees (From This is The West Country)

Historic house plants avenue of tulip trees

3:00pm Tuesday 19th February 2013 in News

VISITORS to the National Trust’s Barrington Court house and gardens last week being given the chance to help gardeners plant a new avenue of tulip trees.

The planting of an avenue of trees is a rare event, even for professional gardeners, and the Barrington Court team has been keen to let some of the visitors to the property join in the event.

The new avenue of 75 tulip trees is replacing a famed avenue of Horse Chestnuts, which were much loved but had to be felled after falling victim to a fungal disease.

Tulip trees have been selected to replace the Chestnuts because they are more resistant to current tree diseases and suited to the climate at Barrington Court.

Simon Larkins, the National Trust’s parks and gardens manager for South Somerset, said many of the people who have sponsored the new avenue had been invited to attend and help plant their tree.

“We have had a good response from people and some organisations who wanted to sponsor the planting of a tree in the new avenue, with many of them having been sponsored, often in memory of a loved one,” he said.

“There are still some opportunities left to sponsor trees – the donation of £500 will pay for the tree and its maintenance, as well as a wrought iron tree guard to protect the newly planted tree, replicating the original design of those used for the first avenue over 100 years ago.”

The last few Chestnut trees from the original avenue leading to Barrington Court were felled in early 2011.

The avenue had developed Bleeding Canker, a fungal infection which leads to red rust-coloured liquid oozing from the bark and eventually killing the tree. The disease also weakens the trees, creating a risk of branches breaking off.

“It is not often that a new tree avenue is planted and I am not aware of any recent plantings on National Trust land,” added Simon.

“We wanted to give people the chance to be involved, and to drop by, meet the team and talk to the gardeners about what is being done and even, if they want to, to get their hands dirty and help with some planting.”