Maples

There are a wide variety of maples (Acer sp.) within the park from commonly known sycamore trees to field maples, sugar maples and then lesser known varieties such as paperbark maples and snake bark maples.

If you are by the white house just by Cartland’s conservatory, near the entrance to the plant nursery, then this Paperbark maple, Acer griseum, will be on the grassed area by the picnic tables. The leaves are not the typical shape of a maple tree but instead is a three-lobed leaf. In the picture of the leaves you can see the typical winged seed of a maple, known as a samara.

As you walk away from Cartlands and turn right there is a maple tree on the left hand side of the path. It is in the space between the path and the bowling green. At first glance it does not look like a maple tree as it does not have the typical three pointed leaf that you would see on a Canadian flag or a sycamore tree. However, when the seeds start to form they have the same samara form as all other maples.

The tree is not just unusual in the shape of its leaf, for a maple; it is a snakebark maple, Acer davidii, and has distinctive markings on the bark. The older bark looks dull grey but the newer bark has green, red and white stripes running down it. It is well worth stepping off the path to have a closer look.

This is a paperbark maple somewhere in the pond area – on the right hand side as you look away from the white house . . .

The most common maple in the park is the Sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus, being the third most common species of tree altogether. This one is in a group of four trees along the hedge of the car park by Grange Road along with two Hornbeams and a Horse chestnut

The path running parallel to the main drive splits into two as you walk away from Vicarage Road, towards the white house. If you take the right hand fork and look over to the right you’ll see this tree and the unmistakeable stump alongside it. The tree is a Sycamore. I don’t know what the tree was that stood beside it but countless children have loved climbing and playing on that huge stump.

Almost half-way between playground and car park along the Avenue Road path, this Sycamore is just behind one of the metal benches.

This Sycamore is in a group of trees just by the car park near the Grange Road entrance.

If you walk out of the Grange Road car park to walk alongside Avenue road then you will come across two Sycamore trees. Firstly, tree 729 on the left of the path then 726 on the opposite side just after the fork in the path.

Although this Sycamore is just over the fence it still counts as a park tree – probably all of those on the verge along Avenue Road do too.

In the triangle between the Thrive garden and the path going down the hill towards the railway lines there is a field maple about two thirds down. It has a gnarled trunk with quite a few burrs on it but it looks lovely in Spring. Field maples are usually quite easy to spot from other maples as their leaves are less pointy, more rounded.

Walking away from the triangular area by the Thrive garden, along the path below the colour gardens, there are seven large trees, six of them all together. These six trees share a canopy that spreads over the path. The third one along, from the Thrive garden end, is a Norway maple. It has two short, horizontal boughs, looking like outstretched arms. In the Spring and Early Summer of 2022 it produced so many keys / samaras that they were covering the path.