Trees gallery - Beningbrough Hall

Beningbrough Hall is a National Trust property close to York. It has 8 acres of formal gardens, with a walled kitchen garden boasting over 90 varieties of fruit trees and shrubs, plus an American garden (trees and shrubs), borders, lots of parkland, woodland and a new collaboration with garden designer Andy Sturgeon.

More from the informative National Trust Beningbrough Hall site.

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Abelia grandiflora Abelia - after Dr. Clarke Abel (1780–1826); grandiflora - from Latin, meaning large-flowered or abundant flowers, referring to its prominent blooms.

Glossy abelia

A deciduous or semi-evergreen multistemmed shrub with rounded, spreading, or gracefully arching branches. The fragrant flowers are produced in clusters, white, tinged pink, bell-shaped, to 2 cm long. Unlike most flowering shrubs in cultivation, the species blooms from late summer to well into the autumn. [Wikipedia]

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Acer pseudoplatanus acer - maple; pseudoplatanus - false plane, referring to a superficial similarity of leaves and bark to those of plane trees (genus platanus); variegatum - variegated leavesvariegatum

Variegated sycamore

Not native to Britain, but they have been here for many years and are well established across the country. These broadleaf trees can grow to 35m and live for 400 years. Twigs are pink-brown and hairless. Small, green-yellow flowers hang in spikes, or 'racemes'. After pollination by wind and insects, female flowers develop into distinctive winged fruits known as samaras.

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Arbutus unedo arbutus - Latin name for the tree, unedo - translates as eat only one, probably referring to the bitter taste of the fruits.

Strawberry tree

Native to the Mediterranean, N Africa, and Ireland (possibly linked to bronze age miners' migration). It flowers in autumn, usually as last year’s fruits are ripening. It sprouts easily from the stump, a useful adaptation in areas prone to fires. Despite the Latin name, the fruits are widely consumed across Europe, made into jams and puddings, and a Portuguese liquer called aguardente de medronhos.

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Betula utilis betula - birch, derived from the Gaulish betu- meaning bitumen or asphalt, referring to the tar extracted from birches; utilis - useful, referring to the many uses of the tree; jacquemontii - honouring the French naturalist Victor Jacquemont jacquemontii

Himalayan birch

A.k.a. Himalayan birch, white-barked Himalayan birch or Indian paper birch, a fast growing, deciduous tree reaching 15 - 20 m, native to W Himalayas. It is graceful in appearance and offering light dappled shade with its open, conical crown. In spring, yellow catkins appear, closely followed by dark green ovate leaves. In autumn, the foliage turns golden yellow before falling.

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Callistemon rigiduskallos - from Greek meaning beauty and stemon, stamen, referring to the plant's showy stamens; rigidus is Latin for rigid, describing the stiff, erect branches and narrow, straight leaves.

Bottlebrush

A medium-sized, upright, evergreen tropical shrub that will grow to 5 m in its native habitat, native to Australia. Flowers feature numerous bushy bright red stamens that encircle the stem in cylindrical spikes resembling bottlebrushes. Flowers bloom intermittently throughout the year.

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Cedrus deodara cedrus - from Greek kedros, cedar; deodara - from Sanskrit devadāru, a compound of deva (god) and dāru (wood or tree).

Deodar cedar

A large evergreen coniferous tree reaching 40–50 m, with a trunk up to 3 m in diameter. It has a conic crown with level branches and drooping branchlets. The female cones are barrel-shaped, and disintegrate when mature (in 12 months) to release the winged seeds. The male cones are 4–6 cm long, and shed their pollen in autumn.

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Ceanothus concha

Californian lilac

A large ceanothus growing against the wall on the path between the walled garden and the hall. These can grow to 3m tall, and are one of the few true blue flowering shrubs. They can be fairly short lived.

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Cercidiphyllum cercidiphyllum: Greek Cercis - redbud and phyllon - leaf, referring to the leaf shape's resemblance to the redbud genus cercis; japonicum - of Japan; japonicum

Katsura tree Katsura - Japanese name for the tree (カツラ, 桂).

A.k.a. caramel tree for the light caramel smell it emits during leaf fall, and candyfloss tree because of the scent. A deciduous tree growing 10–45 m tall, a native of Japan and E China. Flowers are inconspicuous and produced in early spring among the opening leaves, with male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious). The fruit is a cluster of two to four follicles a dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that splits open along one side (a single suture) to release its seeds. , each containing several winged seeds.

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Chaenomeles Chaenomeles - from Greek chaino to gape, and melea apple, mistakenly suggesting the fruit splits open; speciosa - Latin, meaning showy, splendid or beautiful; Nivalis - Latin meaning white as snow or snowy. speciosa nivalis

Japanese quince

A.k.a. chaenomeles japonica nivalis. A spreading deciduous shrub about 2m tall and wide, with spiny branches bearing glossy dark green, oval leaves, and clusters of single, pure white flowers 4cm wide, along the bare branches before the leaves emerge in spring, followed by aromatic green-yellow fruit. These can be used to make jams and jellies. [RHS]. Nivalis is a cultivar noted for its pure white flowers, in contrast to the more common red or pink.

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Clematis armandii clematis - from Greek klema meaning vine branch, referring to the plant's climbing habit; armandii - after Père Armand David (1826–1900), a Lazarist missionary and avid plant collector who sent the first specimens from China to Europe.

Armand clematis

A.k.a. evergreen clematis, a large, vigorous evergreen climber with leathery, dark glossy green, drooping, trifoliate leaves up to 15cm long. C. armandii bears fragrant 5 - 6 cm white flowers in spring on the previous year's growth. It may grow to a height of 6 m.

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Cornus kousa Latin Cornus - horn, from the cornel tree, (not clear) kousa - the Japanese name for the tree

Kousa dogwood possibly from dagwood - dags being sharp skewers, which the dogwood could furnish (cf. dagger)

A.k.a. Chinese dogwood, Korean dogwood, or Japanese dogwood. A small deciduous tree growing 8–12 m, native to E Asia including Korea, China and Japan. Like other Cornus, C. kousa has opposite, simple leaves, 4–10 cm long. The fruit is a globose red compound berry 2–3 cm in diameter. It is edible, with a sweet and creamy flavour, and is sometimes used for making wine.

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