In the way that stargazers take pleasure in the stark beauty of November skies, I’ve spent the past few weeks tree-gazing. At home, this has meant enjoying the bare-twigged beauty of the huddle of silver birches surrounding the house as each day more of their butter-coloured leaves flutter to the ground, so that at night I can now see the stars glinting through their silhouetted branches.
Or admiring the line of old beech trees that grow along one edge of the garden as their foliage turns to molten copper, and wondering as to the identity of the person, long gone, who planted them – a gift from one generation to another. Because that’s the thing about trees. Planting one is a statement of hope, a promise to the future, a way of extending a green-fingered handshake down through the mists of time.
But it’s not just at home that I’ve been busy tree-gazing. Last week I had the opportunity to visit Coolcarrigan in Co Kildare, a large, private garden known for its remarkable collection of trees and shrubs, and whose owner, Robert Wilson-Wright, describes himself as “someone who loves growing things. Even as a young child. I was one of those silly boys who kept a window box. But especially I love trees, for their ability to transform the landscape”.
He’s also the sort of person who takes the art of tree gazing to its very highest level. As I write, he’s trekking and tree-gazing his way through the Himalayan mountains as part of a group led by Seamus O’Brien, curator of the National Botanic Gardens at Kilmacurragh. Some of Coolcarrigan’s most venerable trees – for example the horse chestnut that edge the long and winding avenue up to the house, and the beech growing in the surrounding woodlands – are as old as the estate’s large Georgian house and were planted by Wilson-Wright’s ancestors (his is the sixth generation to call Coolcarrigan home). Many others were planted by his father during the 1970s, acting on the personal advice of Harold Hillier, the greatest nurseryman of his day and the creator of the world-famous Hillier’s Arboretum.
The late Sir Hillier’s encyclopaedic knowledge of temperate-zone ‘woody’ plants was considered second to none, while his book, Hillier’s Manual of Trees and Shrubs, is a horticultural classic. So it’s due to his vast store of knowledge and the foresight of the late Mr Wilson-Wright that I was able to enjoy the sight of so many lovely acers lighting up the gardens of Coolcarrigan last week in all their fiery brilliance, including Acer flabellatum, Acer palmatum ‘Corallinum’ and the coral-bark maple, Acer ‘Sango-kaku (or ‘Senkaki’)’. It is also thanks to the generous endeavours of these two men that I got to stroke the papery pink bark of Betula ‘Grayswood Hill’ and admire the beauty of its tawny autumn foliage, to marvel at a young specimen of the cut-leaf beech, Fagus sylvatica ‘Laciniata’, and to pat the mottled, peeling trunk of Arbutus x andrachnoides.
Between them, Sir Hillier and Robert Wilson-Wright’s father planted thousands of choice trees and shrubs in the gardens, amongst them many rare acers, ash, amelanchier, beech, birch, chestnut, crataegus, gingko, hornbeam, and poplar, as well as dozens of different hollies, camellias, cotoneasters, lilacs, cotinus, corylus, philadelphus, mahonia, viburnum and mountain ash.
And then along came the next generation, in the shape of Robert Wilson-Wright, whose own great love of trees even exceeds that of his late father, and who’s spent the last couple of decades adding to Coolcarrigan’s precious collection, sourcing choice specimens from specialist nurseries both in Ireland and the UK. In that time he’s planted dozens of different dogwoods, more acers, styrax, giant redwoods, pines and oaks as well as other rarities, including the lovely Crataegus laciniata, daphnes, azaleas, witch-hazels, and rhododendrons.
Just as importantly, he’s been diligent in ensuring that the planting, both new and old, is skilfully managed, right down to recording the GPS co-ordinates of every single specimen. His advice to those considering something similar? “Only ever plant what you like, and avoid planting too close together. Otherwise you’re depending on someone else to make decisions in the future – and maybe they won’t. And always keep records.”
Wilson-Wright is impressively unsentimental when it comes to pruning/ removing plants that block an important garden view or vista. “You must be willing to do that, as otherwise things quickly look cluttered.” But as befits someone keenly appreciative of his responsibilities as the custodian of the wonderful woodlands of Coolcarrigan, he’s also worked hard to preserve that unique legacy. The garden’s line of ancient beech trees may be reaching the end of their natural life but just parallel to them, he’s planted a new line of young beech saplings, a generous gift to the generations that will come after him.
Many of the more unusual trees and shrubs sold in Irish garden centres are grown and supplied by the wholesale nursery Ravensberg’s, in Clara, Co Offaly. Owner Jan Ravensberg suggests looking out for Parrotia ‘Vanessa’ (nicely upright), Acer ‘Autumn Blaze’ (great autumn colour), Tetradium danielli (great for bees and butterflies), Meliosma veitchiorum (lovely flowers), Magnolia ‘Leonard Messel’, M. sprengeri ‘Diva’ and M. ‘Galaxy’.