Hardy Tropicals UK

billdango wrote:It would look even better if the oak [or any other broadleaf trees] are at least fairly mature and the palm and banana trees are growing underneath the lower branches.

Sounds like the opposite of a good microclimate maker... Shades from the 'high' summer sun, and allows radiational frosts in the winter Unless you're talking about an evergreen one, in which case it would only be half as bad.

The best deciduous tree would be one that is bare in the summer and in leaf in the winter - it would allow the 'high' summer sun and low winter sun, and provide frost protection and greenness when it's needed the most.

got any examples of summer deciduous trees?

Armed with this new info about native and non native species, I've come to the conclusion that back in the dark ages Britain was bland flora wise

Flounder i am sorry that you believe this. However you are wrong. There are so many native species that are so beautiful and exciting. Its just that we as people have chosen to ignore many, and extinct some. Britain used to be one large forest. It was said that there was a time that if a squirrel put its mind to it, it could hop all the way from the southern box woods all the way to the pine forest of caledonia. I believe there is no greater wilderness that can be thought of than wild Britain when our graceful country was one giant forest with lynx wolves bear and wild boar roaming it. To be honest i would swap all buildings, people, art, heritage, even our beloved hardy tropicals and everything else that comes with people just to see what Britain was like, how it should be like.

I'll stick with my non native exotica, thankyou

I have to say that there are no plants more beautiful as some of Britans native flora. I wouldn't change our woodlands for another woodland.

flounder wrote:Armed with this new info about native and non native species, I've come to the conclusion that back in the dark ages Britain was bland flora wise

You are right, come winter with only 3 or so native evergreen trees (Yew, Scots Pine and Holly) the landscape would have been pretty much yellow-brown in the dark ages.

I'm happy with the not very well controlled Rhododendron and Cherry Laurel woodlands on my peninsula

Do we know what grew on the British Isles before the Ice age kicked in when the climate was warmer?

The juniper is another native evergreen tree actually
Also the scots pine is only native to the caledonian forest area. They are naturalised throughout the rest of Britain. They make up our countries part of the Taiga forest, the largest forest on earth. Look it up, its ever so interesting.

Well i guess flounder your lucky you live in the modern age where we can pick whatever plants we want even if they're not as good to the environment.

Yes before the ice age, the rhododendron that is now invasive was actually native, so was the cherry laurel. I think pyracantha was also native. As was sycamore maples and laburnum trees. Not too sure about anything else, its been a while since I've been on this subject so I'm a bit rusty.

stephenprudence wrote:Do we know what grew on the British Isles before the Ice age kicked in when the climate was warmer?

A lot is known, yes (tho' I don't know all the details myself!). But species that were present in previous interglacials which became extinct during the last glacial, don't count as native. To count as native, a species has to have got here subsequent to the last glacial, and to have done so without human assistance.

As Flounder hints, that's actually not all that many species. Britain's natural biodiversity is very low because it became an island, cutting off access to most species on the adjacent European mainland.

doncasterpalmguy123 wrote:Also the scots pine is only native to the caledonian forest area. They are naturalised throughout the rest of Britain.

Scots Pine was native to England until c.1500-1600, but became extinct because of overcutting and overgrazing. But because its [probable] extinction in England was due to human agency, new plantings by man count as native reintroductions, not exotics.

Additionally, 1500-1600 is around the same time that wealthy landowners started planting forestry plantations, and it has been speculated (though impossible to prove) that native English pine sources were used and could still survive in some areas.

I have two types, D. The holly (aquifolium) was here when I moved in nearly thirty years ago and I planted a silver birch around 1990.

I have a English elm .

doncasterpalmguy123 wrote:The juniper is another native evergreen tree actually

I would say Juniper is more of a shrub and very rarely found as a small tree - actually juniper is a rare plant in the wild in the UK.

Doncasterpalmguy, you don't want to take on Conifers... He's BBB (Botanical Brain of Britain)