Trees planted for the future to celebrate the King’s Coronation
Majestic trees planted at RHS Gardens to mark the beginning of King Charles III’s reign
To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023, we planted a tree at each of our five RHS Gardens. The King’s passion for nature is well known and for many years he has been a champion of the environment, pioneering
While planting trees to mark royal occasions is rooted in tradition, it’s also an opportunity to create something beautiful for future generations to enjoy. Each tree was chosen to embrace the environmental challenges and different conditions at each RHS Garden, while giving a nod to the long-standing royal connection with our gardens.
RHS Garden Bridgewater, Salford
Beech topiary at RHS Garden Bridgewater
Fagus sylvatica ‘Riversii’
A beech tree Fagus sylvatica ‘Riversii’ (River’s purple beech) was planted on the morning of the Coronation at RHS Garden Bridgewater. His Majesty holds the National Plant Collection of beech at Highgrove, while beech is a signature plant at Bridgewater, providing a backbone of hedges and topiary through the garden.
The new tree sits on the historic terraces where Worsley New Hall once stood, which in its heyday welcomed visits from royalty including Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Other recent tree plantings at the garden include 70 trees in Victoria Meadow for the Queen’s Green Canopy project to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Fagus sylvatica ‘Riversii’ has regal purple foliage, appearing pink in spring and turning to copper in autumn. Beech are suited to the climate of the North West, growing well in moist soil, while becoming increasingly unsuitable for drier regions of the UK, such as the South and South East.
RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey
Newly planted Tilia henryana ‘Arnold Select’ at RHS Garden Wisley
At RHS Garden Wisley, a lime tree Tilia henryana ‘Arnold Select’ was planted on Seven Acres. Tilia henryana (Henry’s lime) perform well at RHS Wisley, coping with the increasingly hot and dry summers of the South East – it is a tree widely grown in the Mediterranean.
‘Arnold Select’ has handsome heart-shaped leaves, emerging silvery white in spring, with ‘eyelashes’ on the edges. The scent of its flowers in summer is magical, and with its neat, upright habit, could make a wonderful tree for urban street planting.
Situated on Seven Acres, the newly planted tree is in royal company. The King planted an English oak on Seven Acres in 1993, while the late Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh planted trees in 1978 to mark the opening of Jubilee Arboretum, created to celebrate the late Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Essex
A mature oak at RHS Garden Hyde Hall dedicated to the late Queen
Saplings of English oak (Quercus robur) raised from local acorns were dedicated to the King at RHS Garden Hyde Hall. The young oak trees form a centrepiece to the Coronation Meadow, created as part of His Majesty’s initiative to establish new wildflower meadows using seed from local donor meadows to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
In 2022, a stately oak on the hillside of RHS Hyde Hall was dedicated to the late Queen. Oaks are a key tree in the Essex countryside, and these new plantings along with 64,000 native trees planted since 1997 in the garden’s Wildwood will ensure the future of oak and other native species in the landscape, as well as providing new habitats for wildlife.
RHS Garden Rosemoor, North Devon
The 90-year-old tulip tree removed due to disease at RHS Garden Rosemoor
Early in 2023, RHS Garden Rosemoor lost a much-loved tree. Having thrived throughout the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II, a 90-year-old tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) near Rosemoor House was removed after succumbing to honey fungus.
To mark the Coronation, and the end of one reign and beginning of another, a new tulip tree was grafted from the original and has been planted in the garden’s Bicentenary Arboretum by RHS President Keith Weed.
Liriodendron tulipifera grows well in the UK and tolerates wetter soils, so is an excellent choice for areas of the country, such as Devon, that experience high rainfall. Like its parent tree, which had a particularly beautiful form, the new tree at RHS Rosemoor is expected to inherit low drooping branches which, as the tree matures, will make it easier to admire its striking tulip-shaped flowers.
RHS Garden Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire
The Queen Mother’s Lake and wildflower meadow at RHS Garden Harlow Carr
An English oak Quercus robur was planted next to the Queen Mother’s Lake at RHS Garden Harlow Carr. In time, the tree will replace an existing oak that is in decline due to the rising water table around the lake caused by increased torrential rainfall in the region.
Forming a beautiful backdrop to the lake is an area of wildflower meadow planted with the local community and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. The new tree is just one of many native and specimen trees planted in recent years around the garden and its Arboretum, increasing the range and diversity of trees at RHS Harlow Carr.
The garden is also proud to support the Bettys Trees for Life campaign and is home to the ‘Trees for Life Wood’ of more than 1,000 trees planted to demonstrate the importance of woodland to people and the planet.
