Time: 1 hour on a Sunday afternoon
Place: Hendon Park
Gathered: None, but not for lack of abundance.
This slow amble around Hendon Park on a day of mixed cloud and sun was undertaken to kill time between other commitments. Little tiny proto-walnuts are beginning to form on the walnut tree. I also had another look at a tree I haven’t identified yet, which has small, hard green fruits. I think it may be Arbutus unedo, also known as a “strawberry tree” – I’ve seen these in gardens in this part of London. If that’s what it is, I look forward to sampling the fruit when it ripens.
Several trees have been removed from the perimeter of the park, but it does seem that they are being replaced elsewhere. Still, I shall miss the two hawthorn trees that had haws the size of small crab-apples! The grass was freshly mown as well, so there wasn’t as much in the way of greens at the edges as there often is in this particular park. I did see one bunch of mushrooms, but they were in poor condition and my phone battery died before I could take a picture.
Elderflower is still doing nicely, and I hope to get on with making champagne this week. I also found a Saskatoon berry tree (Amelanchier alnifolia, although it could be another Amelanchier species) that I hadn’t noticed before, to add to the two already in the park. Those berries will be ripening sometime in the next few weeks, and once they do that they’ll disappear very quickly to the birds.
It is unfortunate that most of the plum trees in Hendon Park have peach leaf curl disease, which leads to withered, premature fruit no good for eating. The cherries are doing better, but I don’t think many will be spared by the birds, and I do know of sweeter, larger cherry varieties elsewhere in London.
The only other thing of note is that a monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) in one of the private gardens has cones on. I may just work up the nerve to ask if I could have one when they ripen.
