Kings Norton - Kings Norton Park (West Midlands)

Luc wrote us in 2016 regarding an idea for a project of planting some Wellingtonia in Birmingham. In October 2017 we were pleased to hear from him again with the good news that about ten young saplings have been planted in Kings Norton Park. A fine looking mini-avenue! Luc mentioned that recently they have been looking quite bare and not in the best of health. The bareness of the trees may be due to dryness, I have encountered quite a number of trees this year that have a certain percentage of the foliage turn brown. I don't think this is a problem with disease or something insidious going on, and it's quite likely that subsequent years will see an improvement. An example of both the spareness and the browning can be found in Barking Park, Essex. In 2005 it was a scrawny looking specimen but obviously as well as being more established now, in the intervening years there has been plenty of rainfall so it became more lush. In 2013 the tree obviously had had a bit of a water shortage because you can see the browning of perhaps 10% of the foliage. This year (2017) it is looking fine, although as I said some trees this year in other areas have had a slightly tougher time, Luc's I suspect included. In the first few years after planting I try to water the soil around the tree now and again during hot dry periods to give it a bit of a boost, sometimes with feed added to the water.