As part of routine park and green spaces inspections, several trees had to be removed so the new trees have been planted primarily as replacements. However, aside from the more everyday varieties of trees such as birches, broad-leaved limes and pine trees, several more exotic species were chosen such as:
A Zelkova (an east Asian member of the elm family) which was planted in the most southerly part of PittvillePark (replacing a eucalyptus which died during the extremely cold winter of 2010)
A Serbian spruce has been planted in the mini arboretum on the north-west side of MontpellierGardens.
A Henry’s Lime (Tilia henryana) has been planted near to the skate park alongside Evesham Road. This continues the new lime avenue which includes several other exotic limes planted during last season.
Twelve of the trees were funded by donations from members of the public via the Council’s tree sponsorship scheme, and one tree was both funded by and planted on Cheltenham Borough Homes land.
Lindsey Mulraine, Tree Officer at Cheltenham Borough Council, said: “Cheltenham’s trees play an important part in shaping the town’s distinctive character, and our parks and gardens contain many unusual and exotic specimens. Our tree section helps to maintain the green infrastructure of the borough by replacing trees that have to be removed for reasons of public safety, or which have died or been vandalised, and they can also enforce the replanting of trees on private land. The choice of replacement trees will vary depending on the location. For example the arboretum in MontpellierGardens allows us to plant exotic species for year round interest, whereas only native species will be included in more rural areas, such as Burrows Playing Fields, to encourage native wildlife.”
If you would like further information about Cheltenham’s trees, including details of Cheltenham’s “Champion Trees”, and the self-guided tree walks in Pittville Park.go to: www.cheltenham.gov.uk/trees,
