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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1163463
Arboreal Assemblage Cemeteries and graveyards often contain some of the most important and easily accessible tree col- lections in urban areas. Particularly important in this regard are the great Victorian and Edwardian cemeteries of the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (and their equivalents world- wide). Originally setting up cemeteries as private businesses (joint stock companies), the owners made great efforts to create attractively planted landscapes to attract custom (Brooks, 1989). These cemeteries were created to cope with the massive population boom in British industrial cities and were often designed to become, when full, botanic gardens or arboreta—and to serve as places of recreation and education. One of the most influ- ential designers of the Victorian period, Scottish botanist J. C. Loudon (1843), was explicit that ceme- teries should serve as "breathing spaces" and "future public gardens." Loudon was also influential in advo- cating the type of tree that should be planted. Rather than clumps of trees typical of the "plea- sure ground" style popular with early cemetery planners, Loudon suggested that specimen species should be planted in an ordered manner. This was partly functional—to divide the site into easily identifiable and manageable plots, and to ensure exposure to sunlight and free circulation of air to facilitate effective drainage and decomposi- tion of the dead (see Figure 1: Loudon's plan for the Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge, UK). Loudon also wished to create a sense of solemnity, so for both aesthetic and practical reasons he advo- cated evergreens (pines, firs, yews, junipers, and similar species—many of them exotic) over native deciduous trees. These evergreen species were easy to shape or grew naturally in conical form; they did not create problems of leaf clearance; and they retained their shape in winter. (Loudon pro- vided an extensive list of recommended trees in his book, which can be viewed online; see Citations.) In the UK, the common yew (Taxus baccata) was a traditional tree of old graveyards (Photo 2), with a wide range of symbolic and cultural associa- tions. However, the common version was often supplanted by its variant the Irish yew (T. baccata 'Fastigiata', discovered in County Fermanagh in 1780), due to its more compact and sculptural form (Photo 3). The Irish yew can be found extensively, forming stately avenues in modern cemeteries. >> English yews (Taxus baccata) frame the Saxon church Martin's, Canterbury (UK), the oldest parish church in continuous use in the English-speaking world. Photo 3. Irish yews (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata') at Parish Church of St. Gregory & St. Martin, Wye, Kent (UK). www.urban-forestry.com 17