Does the book mention any old Thuja plicatas? I was in a garden in North Devon a few years ago and saw one that was labled as the UK's oldest Western Red Cedar. Trouble is, I can't remember which garden it was in. Any help would be appreciated.
My favorite garden on that vacation was called Marwood, just north of Barnstaple in North Devon. Oh, and Kew, of course!

Poor Auntie Beeb . . . wrong again! They really should check their facts ;-)

A Douglas-fir at Moniack Glen near Inverness was already 64m tall in 2005 (Tree Register of the British Isles).

Thuja plicata was introduced to Britain in 1853, so none very old by Pacific Coast standards. Tallest is 47m tall, at Ardkinglas in Argyll. The only ones I'm aware of being cited as from the original 1853 introduction are ones at Dropmore (Buckinghamshire) and Stourhead (Wiltshire), but there could easily be others. Planting data often wasn't kept in those days, or has been lost subsequently.

Resin

hey larry.. where you been ... welcome back

ken

Thing is Michael its not the BBC,they're just reporting what has been said-they're just the messenger and if the Tree Register is involved there must be something in it.

Yet there's nothing about it on the Tree Register website . . . and you'd expect them to put it there first

Resin

Hmmm what about the guys mentioned in the message? How much of an authority are they?

Nothing wrong with them, except that they seem not to know about the Moniack Glen tree!

Resin

Hi Resin

whats the tallest Thuja occidentalis in the uk
also are they short lived here???

Hi Blue Yew,

Tallest T. occidentalis is 18m, in Kyloe Wood (a new UK champion I found last year ;-)

They do seem to be fairly short-lived here, I've never heard of any old specimens.

Resin

@pinresin ... Well having watched them climb the record breaker and talked to them about their methods, they did their research pretty extensively. The Register told them which trees were likely candidates, including the apparent champ in Inverness, but because they climbed them, they got accurate measurements for the first time, which means we can depend on this result more than perhaps previous measurement efforts (which incidentally put this winner's height at 213ft rather than 209ft)> Anyway if they did miss one I am sure they'd leap at t he chance to climb another;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Dunans Charitable Trust

"having watched them climb the record breaker and talked to them about their methods, they did their research pretty extensively. The Register told them which trees were likely candidates, including the apparent champ in Inverness, but because they climbed them, they got accurate measurements for the first time, which means we can depend on this result more than perhaps previous measurement efforts "

Well thats great news, so it WILL be on the tree Register then!

Thanks for the extra info!

Curious, why should climbing the tree give a more accurate result than ground-based laser measurements? How does one keep the tape straight through all the branches? I can't see other than that the tape will have to divert from side to side to pass the branches, so giving an over-estimate of the measurement. I'd have thought laser rangefinder measures would give more accurate results.

Resin

What's the tallest native tree in the UK?

Hi Basic,

Tilia à europaea - 46m (dubiously native; champion individual definitely planted)
Fraxinus excelsior - 45m
Quercus robur - 42m

[Ulmus minor - 46m early last century, but now deceased]

Resin

Tilia à europaea - 46m (dubiously native; champion individual definitely planted)
Fraxinus excelsior - 45m
Quercus robur - 42m

[Ulmus minor - 46m early last century, but now deceased]

Some nice big trees there Resin.Shame about that Elm!(Dutch elm Disease victim?)

"Shame about that Elm! (Dutch elm Disease victim?)"

Not sure - it is an old historical record they cite, and may well be from before the days of DED. Just as likely a victim of WW1 timber requirements.

Resin

BTW should that be Sparsholt College? Or is Sparsholt Cottage its new cuter name?

209 feet is astoundingly tall for Douglas fir grown in a non-native environment. Britain seems to provide the perfect temperate rain-forest environment for giant coastal trees. This tree was planted in 1848.

Douglas fir can reach 220 - 240 feet tall in 150 to 170 years in the Pacific North West.