Cambridge Botanic Garden
Cambridge Botanic Garden is a short walk from the railway station. I was slightly 'underwhelmed' when I entered because it seems to be a small and cramped site. That portion of the garden is in a narrow plot but eventually the paths led to a large (40 acres) and varied garden. There is something for everyone : roses, ferns, bamboos, water plants, alpines and large beds of geraniums and other well knowm plants. For me, the most impressive part of the garden is its extensive collection of trees. this is a photo of one of my all time favourites, the purple beech. There was much much more to enjoy: a wild pear tree, mountain ash, incense cedar and a spectacular Dawn Redwood.
The Lake
The Lake was created around an old gravel pit in the cornfield which became the Botanic Garden in 1846. The roughly U-shaped Lake was dug out and the soil mounded up in the centre to form a peninsula, which now protects the delightfully named Bog Garden.
" The Lake covers about three quarters of an acre. The Lake provides an opportunity to grow many different water plants. There is dense vegetation emerging from the surface - rushes, sedges and sweet flag – with a little open water at the north end. This habitat provides breeding cover for mallards, moorhens and dabchick, as well as insects such as dragonflies (Odonata).
This part of the Lake also has two trees of the swamp cypress, Taxodium distichum, growing in the water. The eastern arm of the Lake has a very different character. The vegetation is dominated by the waterlilies, through which arise the delicate stems and whorled leaves of Mare’s Tail. The Lake holds a wealth of rudd and other fish which attracts herons and kingfishers early and late in the day. "
" The Lake covers about three quarters of an acre. The Lake provides an opportunity to grow many different water plants. There is dense vegetation emerging from the surface - rushes, sedges and sweet flag – with a little open water at the north end. This habitat provides breeding cover for mallards, moorhens and dabchick, as well as insects such as dragonflies (Odonata).
This part of the Lake also has two trees of the swamp cypress, Taxodium distichum, growing in the water. The eastern arm of the Lake has a very different character. The vegetation is dominated by the waterlilies, through which arise the delicate stems and whorled leaves of Mare’s Tail. The Lake holds a wealth of rudd and other fish which attracts herons and kingfishers early and late in the day. "
Dawn Redwood
Near the lake I found the Dawn Redwood, a very tall 'Christmas tree' shaped tree. It is in the same family as the giant redwoods of California but quite different in at least two ways. The foliage come right down near the ground (in California Redwoods the foliage is at the top). Most striking is the delicate feathery foliage which resembles a fern.
I found this tree so fascinating that I want to quote the garden's website about it:
" One of the most exciting discoveries in the plant world during the last century was undoubtedly that of the deciduous conifer, the Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides.
In 1946, acting on a tip-off and sight of some fragmentary material, Professor Cheng of the National Central University, China, sent an expedition to the remote village of Mo-tao-chi in Szechuan province to collect a complete set of specimens from a stand of recently-discovered, unidentified trees. After consultation with Dr Hu, China’s leading dendrologist, it became obvious that the trees belonged to the genus Metasequoia, hitherto only known from fossil evidence dating back 100 million years, and thought to have been extinct for 5 million years.
However, the seed from which the beautiful and fast-maturing specimen growing on the south-western shore of the Lake here at the Garden was produced, came directly from China. The Botanic Garden’s Annual Report for 1949 declares:
'Seeds of Metasequoia glyptostroboides, sent by Dr Silow from China to Professor F T Brooks, germinated freely. Three of the seedlings have been planted out: one in the Yard at the back of the Range and two beside the Pond [Lake].'
This tree on the south-western edge of the Lake, then, is the first Dawn Redwood to grow on British soil since the Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs dominated the fauna. It was judged one of the 50 ‘Great British Trees’ in honour of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 and features in Thomas Pakenham’s Meetings with Remarkable Trees (1996). It has proved fast-growing: it was 1.5m tall at the time of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne in 1952, 17 metres by the time of the Silver Jubilee in 1977, and was approaching 23 metres in the Golden Jubilee year.
The Dawn Redwood's beautiful ferny foliage is a bright, light green in spring, turning russet-brown with tints of coppery pink in autumn. The strong pyramidal winter silhouette is also very pleasing, making the Dawn Redwood a strong contender for year-round interest."
I found this tree so fascinating that I want to quote the garden's website about it:
" One of the most exciting discoveries in the plant world during the last century was undoubtedly that of the deciduous conifer, the Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides.
In 1946, acting on a tip-off and sight of some fragmentary material, Professor Cheng of the National Central University, China, sent an expedition to the remote village of Mo-tao-chi in Szechuan province to collect a complete set of specimens from a stand of recently-discovered, unidentified trees. After consultation with Dr Hu, China’s leading dendrologist, it became obvious that the trees belonged to the genus Metasequoia, hitherto only known from fossil evidence dating back 100 million years, and thought to have been extinct for 5 million years.
However, the seed from which the beautiful and fast-maturing specimen growing on the south-western shore of the Lake here at the Garden was produced, came directly from China. The Botanic Garden’s Annual Report for 1949 declares:
'Seeds of Metasequoia glyptostroboides, sent by Dr Silow from China to Professor F T Brooks, germinated freely. Three of the seedlings have been planted out: one in the Yard at the back of the Range and two beside the Pond [Lake].'
This tree on the south-western edge of the Lake, then, is the first Dawn Redwood to grow on British soil since the Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs dominated the fauna. It was judged one of the 50 ‘Great British Trees’ in honour of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 and features in Thomas Pakenham’s Meetings with Remarkable Trees (1996). It has proved fast-growing: it was 1.5m tall at the time of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne in 1952, 17 metres by the time of the Silver Jubilee in 1977, and was approaching 23 metres in the Golden Jubilee year.
The Dawn Redwood's beautiful ferny foliage is a bright, light green in spring, turning russet-brown with tints of coppery pink in autumn. The strong pyramidal winter silhouette is also very pleasing, making the Dawn Redwood a strong contender for year-round interest."
Photo Gallery
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The fine print
The original Botanic Garden of Cambridge University was founded in 1762 in the centre of the City. This small Garden was conceived as a typical Renaissance physic garden, inspired by the Chelsea Physic Garden in London. It grew herbaceous plants used in the teaching of medical students at the University.
We owe the existence of today's much larger Botanic Garden, occupying a 40 acre site between Hills Road and Trumpington Road, to John Stevens Henslow, the Professor of Botany at Cambridge from 1825 - 1861.
Henslow laid out the Garden to accommodate a wonderful tree collection. But he also planted his ideas about variation and the nature of species that would be taken up in a revolutionary fashion by his famous student, Charles Darwin.
Date of travel: July 2011
Website for University of Cambridge Botanic Garden
We owe the existence of today's much larger Botanic Garden, occupying a 40 acre site between Hills Road and Trumpington Road, to John Stevens Henslow, the Professor of Botany at Cambridge from 1825 - 1861.
Henslow laid out the Garden to accommodate a wonderful tree collection. But he also planted his ideas about variation and the nature of species that would be taken up in a revolutionary fashion by his famous student, Charles Darwin.
Date of travel: July 2011
Website for University of Cambridge Botanic Garden
