It doesn’t matter if it all ends in tiers...
The wedding cake tree is an elegant bared beauty
THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. I watched a documentary about their wedding that included a piece about their baker in the palace putting together the cake.
By all accounts, a door had to be dismantled to get it in or out, which amused the Queen greatly.
It got me thinking about Cornus controversa ‘ Variegata’, commonly known as the wedding cake tree because of its tiered or layered shape formed by outstretched horizontal branches.
If Kate and William had planted one a decade ago in their London or Norfolk garden, it would be gracefully maturing now. However, like Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, this tree divides opinion!
I put this down to its variegated leaves which are like Marmite to gardeners – you either love or hate them.
Variegation is when leaves have white or gold edges, blotches or streaks. Such plants can lift monotone evergreen schemes and have given rise to many interesting and useful cultivars in the case of ivies, hollies, elaeagnus and pittosporum. They are probably best used sparingly so they do not fight with each other.
In this case, the leaves have broad, creamy white margins and this gives the tree a lightness that is both beautiful and elegant. In May, the branches are additionally clothed with clusters of creamy white flowers.
It’s a good choice for a small to medium garden as it’s slow growing and its eventual height is around eight metres, but it does need room to spread its branches.
It looks beautiful as the centrepiece to a perfectly manicured lawn or gorgeous in a border underplanted with perennials. It’s best in full sun or partial shade – this is often the case with variegated plants as the leaves have less chlorophyll, which they need for energy. So a sunny site will allow the green parts of the leaves to photosynthesise optimally.
Plant in fertile, well-drained soil, adding a good dollop of well-rotted manure or compost to the soil beforehand. It’s deciduous and the leaves take on purple tints before falling in winter. Because of its
growth habit it doesn’t require any pruning and is low maintenance. Kate and William are a couple who have always been garden oriented. At the last Chelsea Flower Show in 2019, Kate collaborated on the Back to Nature Garden, a woodland oasis inspired by childhood memories.
At the time she spoke about the benefits of nature and the outdoors on our physical and mental wellbeing, a sentiment many more of us have embraced during the last year of lockdown. And now my dream is to get to California in the summer where the sun shines a little brighter to help Harry, Meghan and Archie plant a tree to celebrate the imminent birth of the newest royal!