Jerry’s Tulip tree at Kew

I had the most joyful day, recording this plant story at Kew Gardens. So I’d like to thank Sarah Farrell from Kew, who made it all happen, meeting me in the buggy at the entrance to the botanical gardens and zooming (well if 10 miles an hour constitutes zooming) around the gardens, gathering us all together.

The Plant Story

One of the reasons I love botanical gardens like Kew is that all the plants are named so you really can learn and test your knowledge at the same time. I discovered that Jerry Spencer who you can see pictured below, loves Kew for the same reason though he also has a very personal connection to the garden through his mum.

We are sitting beneath a Liriodendron tulipifera. The Latin name is an important part of this story because as you will hear this tree stirred memories buried deep, reminding Jerry that despite several years spent on the streets, he was once a gardener. He’d told his mum before she died that one day he’d come back to Kew but he told me he didn’t really believe it himself and yet now here he is, a volunteer in the Community Allotment and wearing the Kew uniform.

Jerry and I sitting beneath a Liriodendron tulipifera

The Conversation

Jerry and I were lucky enough to be joined on the seat by Simon Toomer who is the Curator of Living Collections at Kew. We both had lots of questions and Simon who tells us he was once a forester, was just the perfect person to answer them. I think that ‘tree people’ see time in a different way to the rest of us and we can learn so much from them.

So this is the podcast episode to learn where Tulip trees come from:

They've got quite a large natural range all down the eastern side of North America, really running right the way from quite far south, even down into northern Florida, I think, going right up the eastern side, right up into Canada. So it's got a big range and they're really forest trees. You know, we see them in parks here, but they're really a forest tree.

There's actually two species of tulip tree. They're both members of the magnolia family. They're closely related. And so there's another one called Liriodendron chinense. This is called Liriodendron tulipifer, which says something about the flowers. And there’s a Chinese species. And it's thought that they diverged in an evolutionary sense millions of years ago. One part of the overall population remained in China, whereas the other one sort of drifted off with the continents in North America. And that's quite common, actually, in plants. You often see quite closely related species in different parts of the world.

And how the wood is used:

Very often people who work with wood call the wood a different name from the people who grow the trees. And the wood of tulip tree often gets called poplar or yellow poplar or white poplar. Depends, varies a bit. And it's not a poplar, but the wood is a bit like poplar, they say. But it's used for a huge range of things in America, everything from furniture making, I think, even musical instruments. I think piano parts have been made with tulip tree wood. But it's also quite ornamental, so it can be used for ornamental uses, marquetry and things like that. But also quite functional buildings as well.

And about tree roots….

Like most trees, the roots develop the way they need to. So the main function of roots is to get water. I mean, there's also anchorage in the soil. So most trees don't go down a long way unless they have to, you know, unless there's deep sources of water. So if you think of a wine glass, it's got quite a shallow base and then a big sort of globe top. Trees are more like that than they are a mirror image, you know, below the soil as above. And this would be similar. So the roots will go out well beyond where we can see the branches stretching out to, but relatively shallow, so that the majority of the roots will be in the top meter. And that's because most of their water supply they get from rainwater and they need to intercept that quite quickly. So the roots are hugely extensive, stretching outwards. And there will be some roots that will go a bit deeper, but not many. And that's one of the reasons why they're so easily damaged as well. You know, when you see people trenching around trees or driving around trees, they're actually quite fragile.

And if you listen to this episode you’ll also hear Simon talking about the trees that will be able to adapt to our already changing climate and how Kew research and select trees to grow for that very purpose. This is a conversation about how we ensure there will be all important shade for future generations.

How to grow a Tulip tree

It’s a relatively easy tree to grow, thankfully. I meant, it can be quite easily obtained from tree nurseries. You can buy them, you can grow it in a pot as you can with anything, but it takes a lot more work in a pot because you've really got to be on it in terms of watering. So as long as you've got a bit of space, I wouldn't advise growing in a pot for too long.

 It's a tree that likes a reasonable quality soil and does need a fair amount of water, but most people can manage that and then good luck, you know, it'll grow itself. That's the great thing about trees, really.

Some people almost try too hard when they're planting trees. They try feeding them and giving them all kinds of sort of rotted manure and they really don't need that sort of thing because sometimes all you're doing is feeding the weeds and trees have got quite modest needs, really.

And a final thought from Simon:

I used to be a forester and I always thought I was inheriting what the people before me did and handing it onto the next lot. As long as each generation does something, there's always going to be a continual supply of beauty and trees.

Supporting this podcast

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