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200-year old pine trees being replaced
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A programme has started this winter to replace the Pine Trees at the Botanic Gardens.
The traditional look of the Alameda Gardens is predominantly that of a Mediterranean pine wood. This is because, when the gardens were first laid out between 1814 and their opening in 1816, the Stone Pine was one of the main species used.
These pines have now matured into fine specimens, and provide the greater part of the canopy of the gardens, more so that the other main species, the Olives and Dragon Trees.
However, these trees are now about 200 years old and past their prime. A number have been lost in recent years during winter storms, when their weight and the fact that they tend to tilt westwards towards the light have proved too much for them. Others have lost branches. Stone Pines cannot resprout from cut branches and so these will tend to be permanently mutilated.
Because for a large part of their history there was little forward planning when it came to planting in the Alameda, there was in the past no scheme for gradual replacement of these fine pine trees. This has resulted in the risk that, at the current rate, all the pines trees could be lost in the next ten to twenty years.
In order to retain the classical look of the Alameda, a programme of planting Stone Pines has commenced this winter, with six young trees being planted close to the bases of some of the oldest ones. These will be cared for and should thrive, being ready to replace the existing ones as the giants of the Alameda pass slowly away.
• The Stone Pine Pinus pinea is the species that produces “piñones”, or pine nuts. The wooded character of the Alameda that these trees provide serves to attract some species of birds, like Hoopoes on migration, or the Tawny Owl, which is now a resident in the Botanic Gardens.
20-01-10
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