From Vauxhall Bridge to Tower Bridge, the trees lining both banks of the River Thames are almost all London planes. Softening the riverside with their colour and form through the seasons, they breathe calm and quietude into the cityscape.
AUTUMN
We have the Victorians to thank for the majority of the central London riverside trees. As a major part of the rearrangement of the Embankment, after Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s momentous engineering works comprising the new London sewer and the creation of the District Line Underground tunnels, it was decided to line the river banks wherever possible with plane trees. An article from the Gardener’s Magazine, reprinted in The Times of October 1st, 1870, goes into details of the type of plane tree which was planted. They opted for the Occidental Plane (Platanus hispanica). It was easily available and “the best of trees for great cities”, unlike the “Oriental Plane which is comparatively useless, being, above all things, tender in constitution” and likely to suffer during a severe winter.
A short article dated January 5th, 1869, in the Illustrated London News, describes how a few weeks after the meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the planting had begun. “Nearly fifty trees are now in the ground. They are placed at intervals of twenty feet from each other, and already nearly half-line the ground between the Westminster and Hungerford Bridges”. The writer adds that it is the intention, “when the embankment is completed to plant trees throughout its entire length.” And so it was that “the Western Plane” became the tree of Victoria Embankment. It was also later to become the tree of the Albert Embankment where it was planned for 184 plane trees to be planted, and along the Chelsea Embankment on its completion in the early 1870s.
The preparation for planting the trees on the Victoria Embankment “consisted in digging a hole nine feet square and six feet deep, which was filled with good soil brought from Barking” as the quality of the soil on the Embankment “was not good enough to give the trees a fair start”. The article also mentions steps taken to protect the trees from drought. “Every hole was provided with a systematic arrangement of drainpipes, not for the removal of superfluous moisture but to conduct water into the very midst of the roots of the tree.”
The article in the Gardener’s Magazine also notes that “The trees are in the finest state of health imaginable.” And a following remark shows how well the planes have already adapted to their position by the Thames, though possibly a temptation for intrepid climbers: “If the London gamins could be trusted to respect them, it would be possible even now to remove the protecting palisades, for the trees are quite strong enough to withstand the assaults of weather in the breezy position they occupy”. And from then, there was no looking back.
The fruit, or seed balls, are made up of individual seeds called achenes with stiff hairs to enable them to coast in the wind as the cluster gradually breaks up during the winter.
WINTER
The plane trees in Victoria Tower Gardens were planted in two stages, the northern part of the gardens in the 1890s, and the southern part, cut by the approach to Lambeth Bridge, now known as Victoria Tower Gardens South, were planted in the 1910s. As some of you may know, Victoria Tower Gardens is under threat from a development which could put the trees at risk. You can read about it here.
As you draw close to the Thames-side plane trees, after the shedding of their leaves, their seed balls, now clearly visible, hang like baubles against winter skies.
Paul Wood, artist and author well-known for his books about London’s trees, writes: “that those trees lining the South Bank from the London Eye to the Oxo Tower are all planes, planted some time after the Festival of Britain in 1951.” They are therefore smaller than their cousins on the North Bank.
Plane tree bark flakes off in small patches, exposing new bark beneath, giving trunk and branches a camouflaged look. I have found, while enjoying a walk with children, that the larger flakes are good for drawing or writing messages on…
SPRING
The lines of plane trees, George Vulliamy’s dolphin lamps, and Timothy Butler’s lion’s head mooring rings, make up one of the great glories of London.
As spring advances, the occasional ornamental cherry tree on the river banks bursts into life, though hardly challenges the predominance of the London Plane.
“After pollination by wind, female flowers develop into spiky fruits, comprising a dense cluster of seeds with stiff hairs.” The fruits break up slowly releasing individual seeds, called achenes during the winter months. The Woodland Trust.
SUMMER
An analysis of satellite data from 293 European cities in an article by Chen Ly in the New Scientist discovered that “trees have a big cooling effect while other green spaces do not.” In fact they discovered that certain treeless green areas can be warmer than urban areas around them. In some regions “the cooling effect of trees reduces the surface temperature of European cities in the summer by up to 12°C.” We have all felt the cooling effect of trees which “comes largely through shading and transpiration, when water within the tree is released as water vapour through their leaves.” And along the central London River Thames, there is usually a breeze to add to the effect.
You will of course notice a few different species of trees along the river banks. The evergreen Holm Oak, Yucca tree, and the tall Tree of Heaven (being worked on at the moment) close to Lambeth Bridge, are three in Albert Embankment Gardens adding some variety to that stretch of the river.
FAREWELL phoenix palm…
Farewell to the Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) a distinctive London landmark since the 1990s, uprooted to make way for a newly designed roundabout. It’s sad such a well-loved landmark that gave a hint of the exotic to Millbank, could not have been included in the new plan: surely safety and aesthetics could have been woven together…
Sources and Further Information
Article by Chen Ly in The New Scientist
For tree-lined walks and famous sights along the central London River Thames see: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/thames-path
Victoria Tower Gardens: Conservation and Significance Statement, prepared by London Parks & Gardens
The Woodland Trust: The London Plane (Platanus x Hispanica)
Paul Wood: London’s Street Trees, a guide to the Urban Forest.
Lambeth Council Parks
Access to articles in The Times and The Illustrated London News, through Westminster City Council Libraries.
All photographs ©Patricia Stoughton
