Welcome to Winkworth Arboretum in Surrey. I'm Graham Alderton Head Gardener here.
And today we're here to look at the autumn colours. The Arboretum was gifted to the National Trust
in 1952 by Dr Wilfrid Fox. Dr Fox was a consultant dermatologist who lived in nearby Winkworth Farm.
In the 1930s he bought plots of land in the surrounding area which is now Winkworth Arboretum.
Just over here was a large plantation which was taken down by the War Office in the
Second World War which then gave him the opportunity to plant some
of the amazing colourful trees that we have there today.
His house was just over the field. He would walk along onto the meadow,
and this was the view that he would take in every time that he came into the Arboretum.
This is Badger's Bowl. The bowl was a plantation until the 1980s when it was felled
to pay for the upkeep of the Arboretum. The colours in the bowl range, and they start off
with the acer saccharum which is a beautiful red, which is one of the first trees to change in the autumn.
Behind me is the burgundy of the liquidambar.
And then the brighter yellow of the tulip tree.
And there's also a 60 bench, which is a bench carved in the shape of
the number 60 for the anniversary of 60 years of Winkworth Arboretum.
The lake, during the war, was used by the Canadian airmen who were based nearby at Dunsfold Aerodrome.
They would bring their dinghies out and practice in case they were downed over water.
Once Fox set to work clearing the surrounding areas in the hills he then began to plant for autumn colour.
He had some influential friends. He knew Harold Hillier of Hillier Nurseries.
He planted scarlet oaks and red oaks from America.
But also in the ancient woodland he planted Japanese acers
Against the backdrop of English oaks in the autumn sunlight the results glow.
This was what I refer to as Fox's glorious mistake. We wouldn't plant understories of Japanese acers in the ancient
woodland these days. But as we look around we can see that the contrast of the Japanese acers and the
green of the English oak really works rather well.
The annual colour change of leaves never disappoints.
The trunks and the branches are just as beautiful in their architectural shapes.
The contrast of the colours between the reds, the yellows, and the greens that are still around here
at this time of year are a sight to behold.
Fox did the majority of his planting in the 1940s and the 1950s, which now is 80 years ago.
We have to plan for the future. As time progresses we plant succession planting to make sure that all the trees
that he planted in the 1940s begin to fail over the coming years. We plant new trees close to and nearby
to make sure that the visualisation that he had is still about in time to come.
The Arboretum has a number of excellent specimen plants that aren't necessarily planted for autumn colour but are planted
for ex-situ conservation. Fox left us a legacy, an arboretum full of colours, the reflections.
We keep his vision in mind for the area to make sure that the trees that he planted we look after,
but also to make sure that we plant trees that will still be there for generations to come.
So I'd like to say thank you for your support. It's only through your help
that we can look after places like Winkworth Arboretum now and forever. Goodbye.