It is often told me to me that “The Ashmore Park is boring, it only has trees”, and that The Park itself lacks any distinctive planting. So I recently asked the City Council to inform me of the names and the variety of trees that we have on the Ashmore Park.
First I have been blown away by first the number of trees that we have living and creating the oxygen we all need. Then the fact that we have the most wonderful variety of these trees!
We have some 427 trees growing on The Park, many of the varieties were probably planted to extract water from the park as it is a very wet park. Probably because the Park has a ‘clay top’ to keep the rotting rubbish safely below ground. Previously the land where the Park is was a former Coal Mine which was then used as a rubbish dump for household waste by Wednesfield and surrounding Councils. It generates a great deal of methane and that has to be extracted and dispersed into the wider environment by a system of extractors, you can see working whilst you walk around the pathways of the Park.
The Park was formed around 60 years ago. On your walk around The Park ….
Just take a look at the wonderful numbers and varieties of trees that are either semi mature or mature. The Park is somewhat higher than surrounding properties. The planting of these trees would have been to make the site drier to combat water seepage down the bank and into local homes.
So next time you are walking in the Park see how many tree varieties you can name?
I will during the summer arrange for a tree expert to come and talk to residents about the varieties of tree and identify the more common species and the rare ones too! I know I am looking at the trees in a very much different light than on previous walks. They are working hard for us taking in Carbon and pumping out Oxygen, as well as looking striking and quite mighty!
| Ashmore Park – Tree Inventory | 09/02/2016 | ||
| Common Name | Botanical Name | Age Class | Total Trees |
| Cappadocian Maple | Acer cappadocian | Semi mature | 5 |
| Caucasian Elm | Zelkova carpinifolia | Mature | 16 |
| Common Alder | Alnus glutinosa | Mature | 3 |
| Common Beech | Fagus sylvatica | Mature | 4 |
| Common Lime | Tilia europeus | Mature | 60 |
| English Oak | Quercu robur | Mature | 5 |
| Field Maple | Acer campestre | Mature | 27 |
| Flowering Cherry | Prunus spp | Semi mature | 12 |
| Flowering Crab Apple | Malus spp | Semi mature | 9 |
| Common Ash | Fraxinus excelsior | Mature | 18 |
| Golden Ash | Fraxinus ‘Jaspidea’ | Semi Mature | 3 |
| Grey Alder | Alnus incana | Semi Mature | 60 |
| Hawthorn | Crataegus spp | Mature | 5 |
| Holly | Ilex aquifolium | Mature | 1 |
| Horse chestnut | Aesculus hippocastanum | Mature | 32 |
| Italian Alder | Alnus cordata | Semi Mature | 1 |
| London Plane | Platanus hispanica | Mature | 3 |
| Lombardy Poplar | Populus italica | Mature | 8 |
| Maple | Acer spp | Semi Mature | 6 |
| Norway Maple | Acer platanoides | Mature | 4 |
| Poplar | Populus nigra | Mature | 37 |
| Purple Sycamore | Acer ‘Crimson King’ | Semi Mature | 2 |
| Rowan | Sorbus aucuparia | Mature | 15 |
| Silver Birch | Betula pendula | Mature | 1 |
| Silver Lime | Tilia tomentosa | Mature | 2 |
| Swamp Cypress | Taxodium distichum | Mature | 11 |
| Swedish Whitebeam | Sorbus intermedia | Mature | 17 |
| Sycamore | Acer pseudoplatanus | Mature | 10 |
| Tree of Heaven | Ailanthus altissima | Semi Mature | 4 |
| Western Red Cedar | Thuja plicata | Mature | 2 |
| Whitebeam | Sorbus aria | Mature | 44 |
| Trees on Site | 427 | ||
It’s a lovely park done some walking over the years full of nature it try being pushed in a wheel chair you’re welcome to try .I e the paths are all hu..ps and bumps kerbs to high
Hello Phil
Are those lovely old trees still standing in Ashmore Avenue,I left Wednes field in1963 and they were mature trees then.