Val Bourne on some historic trees worth celebrating

Forget the new flat-screen television. Christmas is all about the Christmas tree, as far as I’m concerned.

It harks back to childhood when choosing and putting up the tree was a major event and my grandchildren (India, Ellie, James and Jess) get just as excited as I did. My granddaughter India, now eight years old, has her own potted-up fir tree which she was given for her first Christmas. It’s grown from six or seven inches into a respectable five-footer and it stays out all year. Soon it will really dwarf her.

When my own children were young, we dug the same tree up every year from our garden. It lasted for five or six Christmases before it turned up its toes and went to the compost heap in the sky. However that’s trivial compared to the Christmas tree from Wrest Park near Silsoe in Bedfordshire, a property now managed by English Heritage. Their tree was moved from the conservatory to the house for at least 40 years or more. An edition of the Gardener’s Chronicle, dated June 1900, says: “Mr Ford, the late gardener at Wrest Park... has carried the plant many times from the conservatory to the mansion, and vice versa.” Even better, Wrest Park’s Christmas tree was a magnificent Wellingtonia originally planted by Thomas de Grey (1781–1859) in 1856. English Heritage say it’s one of the oldest specimens in this country — although de Grey didn’t live long enough to appreciate it.

The Wellingtonia or Giant Sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum, is a spectacular conifer with a wide trunk covered in red, spongy bark that’s adored by tree creepers who pick insects from the many crevices. The branches sweep downwards, majestically, and it’s an enormously tall tree when mature. This handsome conifer was discovered in 1841 on the Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California and some seeds were sent to Britain from the Calaveros Grove in 1853, the year the Duke of Wellington died. Hence its name. William Lobb (1809 –1864) then brought back cones and branches for the famous Exeter nursery Veitch and Son, arriving back on December 15, 1853. In years to come every large estate and garden would boast at least one Wellingtonia.

Coming from California, many house owners thought it too tender for outside cultivation and many were conservatory plants until their size made an outdoor home essential. However Wellingtonias tolerate the British climate well and de Grey’s tree is now 30m (100ft) tall. This year it will be decorated by visitors, placing a ribbon on the lower branches. A 3ft star will also be put at the top, or as close to the top as possible.

The hype surrounding the Wellingtonia coincided with the rising popularity of the Christmas tree. Prince Albert, the German husband of Queen Victoria, set up a large tree at Windsor Castle in 1848 and a drawing of the Queen’s Christmas tree at Windsor Castle then appeared in the Illustrated London News. This picture was the catalyst and most British homes will erect a tree — although not a veteran Wellingtonia!