Westpark's landscaping team plant thousands of plants and trees
They say that flowers, shrubs, and trees are sunshine, food, and medicine to the soul. We agree. In addition to improving the beauty of the Westpark Campus environs, they add cheer and are a proven aid to our health and well-being. It is why our landscaping team have been busy with ongoing planting works.
We have recently planted 4,900 young trees, including 900 birch, 1,100 hazel, 1,300 whitethorn, 1,000 beech and 700 alder. 41 mature, standalone trees have also been introduced around the campus.
Bulb Planting
We have already planted over 14,000 bulbs around the campus, which will mean more wonderful swirls of colour at different times of the year. These include:
Some, worth a special mention, include:
Narcissi Actaea: we went for something special with this daffodil - the flowers are quite different to the traditional daffodil having a ruff of large outer white petals and a small yellow cup edged with orange. Flowering time is April they also make a good cut flower … but don’t dare pick the Westpark ones located along the campus trail!
Narcissi Cheerfulness: The end of March to April is flowering time. These double flowering daffodils have creamy white petals with a white centre and light yellow waves going through them, They are located around the base of the trees as you walk through Westpark’s central park.
Young Tree Planting
We have planted 4,900 whips (small young trees) at various locations around the campus. We have also planted 50 holly trees and 180 wild rose bushes. The whips include:
Mature Stand-Alone Trees
We have added another 41 mature, standalone trees around the campus which included the following:
Some introductions, new to Westpark, are worth a mention:
Cornus China Girl: One of the finest flowering dog woods, they flower in June with unusual large creamy flowers known as bracts. After flowering, a strawberry-like fruit is produced which birds love to eat during the autumn also during the autumn the green foliage turns a wonderful shade of red and orange giving year round interest
Sorbus Sheerwater: An upright oval shaped tree good or a tight spot but where you might need a bit of height this tree produces clusters of berries which are orange/red by late autumn and are a favourite of black birds and thrushes groups of tiny white flowers in the spring are a good nectar supply for bees and other insects.
Ginkgo Biloba: This tree is known as a living fossil as it is the sole survivor of an ancient group of trees that date back beyond the time of the dinosaurs it is also one of the only trees to survive the Hiroshima bomb. They can be extremely long lived the oldest recorded being 3500 years old they were traditionally planted in temple gardens in Japan and China where they were believed to have medical properties which are still in use today. In autumn the leaf’s turn a beautiful golden before falling. It is great to have this tree planted and introduced to westpark this year with such history behind it .it can be spotted in westparks very own central park location in fact we have 2 of them
Planned Projects for 2017
Projects include a large herbaceous style border with a collection of herbaceous plants arranged closely together to give dramatic effect of colour and shape as you enter the campus. The planting scheme will be using swirls of red, yellow, purple, pink, blue,and white colours nestled together to give waves of colours throughout; along with the above, plants such as magnolia, holly, stipa, miscanthus, and hanekechola will be added to carry the colour through the campus. Examples of plants include:-
