With thanks to Royal Parks arboriculturist, Greg Packman, who shared his wealth of knowledge as we walked the smallest of the Royal Parks.

Due to Charles II getting caught picking flowers here for his mistress, his queen had all the flower beds removed and its current name was born.  At the time of our walk, various hawthorns were in flower and Greg reminded us that we were standing on what had been the banks and marshy swamps of the river Tyburn running towards the Thames and the 'thorney island'.  Suggesting these thorn bushes and trees were decendents of those in the ancient landscape. 

The current design of the park dates back to 1820 when the avenues of planes were planted because of their resistance to smoke and pollution.  Growing tall and straight and now in their prime, with high canopies creating a 'cathedral' effect down the avenues.  Dispite the planes popularity in London, it is actually the hornbeam that is the clay loving native tree of London.  We looked at a rare wild poplar, also native, that was commonly used as an area boundary marker and we learned how the female of the species was now endangered due to its drain-blocking fluffy flowers, being replaced in great numbers by hybrids.  In an enclosed area, the Royal Park's Mission Invertebrate is experimenting to see if by grazing rare breed sheep once a year, the insect and wild flower populations increase.

The Green Park has many different landscapes and moods, from the wooded hills and avenues to secluded thickets of thorns, open close-cropped grassland and wild flower meadows.

Greg described the challenges his team face, juggling the landscape with risk management to keep the park safe and useable for the 15 million visitors each year. 

 The Green Park Tree Walk - May 2019