WAY Trees are rooted in history
WE REVISIT DEREK PARKER’S RAMBLES THROUGH RENFREWSHIRE
Mine of information
I returned to my family roots during a visit to Craigends estate, with its horticultural heritage of exotic trees from the world’s great forest wildernesses.
My grandfather walked horses there when he worked as a groom 100 years ago.
Long-lived coniferous colossuses flourishing today were arboreal giants back then.
The Cuninghame family’s majestic Craigends mansion was demolished 30 years ago. Most of their country estate is buried below houses, garages and roads.
Several enormous evergreens survived the carnage. Today, they’re magnificent memorials to brave botanists who discovered them and dedicated gardeners who nurtured them.
Conspicuous are towering Douglas firs which stand 150 feet high, with lightbrown cones and protruding scales. This species is named after Scottish plantcollector David Douglas (1798-1834). He introduced its seeds to Britain from Oregon in North America in 1827.
Derek Parker knew manyof Paisley’s secrets – the grimy andthe good.
Hewandered every corner in search of thecluesthat would unlock Renfrewshire’s rich history.
These tales were shared with readers in his hugely popular Parker’sWay column.
We’veopenedour vault to handpick our favourites for you.
Douglas died agonisingly after stumbling into a pit in the Sandwich Islands and being fatally gored by a wild bull which was already trapped there.
The 120-foot Lawson cypresses at Craigends, near Linwood, commemorate another ill-fated Scottish botanist, John Jeffrey. He disappeared during an expedition to California in 1854.
Fellow botanist William Murray discovered the tree in the Sacramento River Valley while searching for his compatriot.
He sent seeds to Edinburgh horticultural firm Lawson, after whom the cypress was named.
The 150-foot-high Wellingtonias, with soft, spongy bark to protect them against forest fires, also originated in California.
Originally known as sequoia, the species honoured a Red Indian of that name who was credited with inventing the Cherokee alphabet.
Following its arrival in Britain, it was renamed after the Duke of Wellington, on whose Hampshire estate it was planted in 1857.
The rare Weymouth pine at Craigends commemorates Lord Weymouth, who planted an original on his estate at Longleat, Wiltshire. It came to Britain from North America around 1705.
My favourite trees at Craigends are flat-topped Cedars of Lebanon, with their upright, brown, barrel-shaped seed cones.
Cedarwood, used to build King Solomon’s Jerusalem Temple, emits an aromatic fragrance. It provided oil in ancient Egypt for embalming the dead.
During Victorian times, Craigends estate was tended by diligent gardeners, such as Donald McBean, David McLeod, James Lawrie and George Findlay.
Its conifer cathedral is a tribute to their skills. It’s also a temple in trees enshrining memories of braveheart botanists who perished on the trail of these sturdy forest giants which grace Renfrewshire’s landscaped gardens today.