Hello and welcome to a new season of the National Trust podcast. I'm Kate Martin lead Ranger in the Northwest for the National Trust. And in this episode, we're going to be exploring one of the most beautiful phenomena of the season of Spring, blossom. In spring of 2020 the first lockdown hit the UK. The normal rhythm of life was interrupted and this resulted in many people wanting to reconnect with nature.
Many more of us appreciated bird song, walking in the countryside, trees, flowers and blossom. The trials and the hardship brought out the kindness of many and highlighted the real resilience of people in the face of adversity. It was at this time that the National Trust started the movement'Blossom Together' a campaign to encourage people to share their experiences of blossom from all around the country.
Blossom has a significance and mirrors the feelings that our experience of life is transient, as is joy, as is sorrow and we need to appreciate this beauty and fragility of life. In this episode, we're on a journey to experience some of the most meaningful blossoms. Our journey begins in a country which over the centuries has developed a rich culture around celebrating blossom.
Japan is 5730 miles from the UK shores in the Pacific Ocean. But the two countries are linked by a surprising natural history. Naoko Abe is a Japanese writer living in London and Naoko wrote her first English language book after discovering an intriguing story of an Englishman who was captivated by Japan's blossoms and the seeds for friendship sown between the two countries, which is still having an impact to this day.
As you know, we Japanese are crazy about cherry blossoms. When I moved to England in 2001, I was surprised to see so many cherry blossoms in spring. Everywhere, parks streets, people's homes and they were really diverse. So I wondered why the English cherry landscape was so different. So I did a bit of research and very quickly I discovered there was this eccentric Englishman who was totally in love with Japanese cherry blossoms.
His name was Collingwood Ingram and he was born in 1880 in Kent into a wealthy Victorian family.
He went to Japan when he turned 21 and fell in love with the countryside and nature.
Ingram especially liked the cherry blossom trees and began avidly collecting as many different varieties as he could from Japan and cultivating them in his garden in Benenden, Kent.
Within six years, he collected as many varieties and species as possible. And he was already an expert.
As Ingram built his collection, he decided to return to Japan again.
In 1926 in Ingram's third visit to Japan was entirely focused on cherry hunting. And at that time, all the top Japanese leaders were focused on becoming a strong nation and also a military power.
In the country's quest for industrialization and political power, preservation of cherry trees was not a high priority.
So the cherry varieties were forgotten and Ingram was deeply shocked and depressed. He gives a warning to the Japanese people saying that you are not doing anything to preserve the old precious, precious varieties that your ancestors had developed over many, many years with such painstaking efforts. And if you don't do anything, now you would have permanently lost them. Everybody became silent. His warning unfortunately fell on to deaf ears.
Ingram then decides to preserve rare varieties himself and bring them back to England. So that was an extraordinary thing for him to do. And I I'm really glad that he did because some of the varieties which had gone extinct in Japan did survive in this country in his garden.
One of the species of cherry tree to go extinct in Japan during the industrialization was the Taihaku cherry tree. It was well known for many historical drawings and thought loss forever.
The Taihaku is one of the most admired and loved and popular varieties in the world today.
Ingram learned from an old cherry expert that this variety had seemingly gone extinct. The expert was desperately looking for it all over Japan, but without any success.
And then Ingram- Ingram said, "I've got this cherry tree in my garden." He promised this old cherry expert in Japan that he would return the variety to Japan.
So Ingram painstakingly took cuttings of the cherry tree and tried to send them by ship to Japan. However, the ship's route meant passing through the Suez Canal and the cuttings didn't survive the tropical weather. Years passed as Ingram tried and tried and failed. It was time for a new plan.
So in the end, Ingram cut the scion branches from the tree and then stuck them onto potatoes and then put them on the Trans Siberian train. So finally they arrived at Kyoto alive and then they were successfully grafted. And that was a moment in 1931 that the variety returned to Japan.
Common English potatoes, save this beautiful variety of cherry tree from extinction. Ingram became affectionately known as Cherry Ingram and wrote one of the definitive books on cherry trees that is still used today.
Five more varieties have been returned actually last year and they were all introduced by Cherry Ingram. The blossoms have become again a symbol of peace and friendship.
In recent times, ties between Japan and the UK have deepened. Two years ago, Japanese residents in the UK gave over 6000 cherry trees to the British people as a symbol of friendship. The trees have been planted in over 130 sites. One of these is Chartwell in Kent, the historic home of one of Britain's most famous prime ministers, Winston Churchill. Senior volunteering officer at Chartwell, Claire Vincent, explains the role cherry trees have played in the property's history.
We were approached by the Sakura Cherry Tree Project which is a initiative between the UK and Japan. We were fortunate enough to receive a gift of 30 trees to be planted at Chartwell.
The official planting ceremony was attended by local dignitaries, school children and the Japanese ambassador.
So the Sakura trees that we have used them in our first part of the site that you come into at Chartwell. So once they are in full bloom, they really will enrich the welcome to the site. Churchill bought Chartwell in 1922. Its role in his life was of course, where his family lived, but it was a place of solace that he could escape the pressures of political life.
And actually, there's a really nice quote in a letter that Churchill wrote to his wife in 1950 which references the cherry tree in the garden and the mass of blossom that he can see when he's writing.
The letter reads.... [
Actor] "I have thought much about you my sweet darling and it will be a joy to have you back. Your flowers are growing beautifully on the Chartwell balcony and here the cherry tree is a mass of blossom. All your arrangements have worked perfectly in your absence and no one could have been more comfortable than your pea. With tender love, your ever loving husband."
Although these are new additions to Chartwell, they are very much in keeping with the kind of trees and views that he would have been looking out on, which is a really lovely connection I think.
The simplicity and symbolism of blossom means different things to individuals and cultures around the world. Or perhaps the best known and most joyous way of celebrating the season also comes from Japan. And what better way to find out about this tradition than to attend a Hanami Party in London's Greenwich Park.
My name is Rimika Solloway and I'm the director of the charity Aid For Japan. Today's a Hanami which is a cherry blossom viewing picnic. Hanami means- Hana is flower and Mi is to watch or to see. Hanami is done primarily for Sakura. That's what Japanese people call cherry blossom. The transience of their beauty really matches a lot of Japanese philosophy. It's not about being beautiful forever. It's about really appreciating the moment that you're beautiful and then letting it go.
They celebrate it quite similar to what people here in Greenwich Park are doing. They all get some picnic mats or tarpaulin, find the best tree if they can and then, they set up underneath it they bring food and people drink beer and sake.
My name is Yuka Pa. I've got a chicken. This is called Golden Chicken. It's the coated with egg and then it's like a Dashi on it and like a bit like a teriyaki Japanese twist on it. And I got the egg omelette. It's called dashi maki. Yeah so that's a green tea. That's a cocoa chocolate flavour. We say that it's Hanami- Hanami Dango is the Japanese way of saying- is that everybody attending that cherry blossom viewing. However, the most important thing is food.
We came here, especially for the blossoms. We knew from researching that it was at its most prettiest right now. So we decided as friends and family to actually come down, make a day out of it and have a picnic here as well. I'm Olga, I'm Sophia. We are from Ukraine from Kyiv. That's why we come here to see how Japanese cherry is blossoming. Just very you know, unusual and very interesting for us. It's like first time we see it.
Hanami inspired gatherings are such a joyful way to experience the blossoms together. And public parks like Greenwich are an ideal spot for festivities. You might not realize it but London actually contains the largest urban forest in the world with over 8 million trees. 21% of England's capital has tree cover. These trees help to remove 2241 tons of pollution from the atmosphere every year, saving millions of pounds and lowering the risk of flooding.
But the distribution of that cover is uneven. Both the physical and mental health benefits of trees have long been proven. But for many urban communities, physical and cultural barriers can prevent easy access to nature. One resident in Lewisham in Southeast London took matters into her own hands and started to make the changes that she wanted to see in her neighbourhood. MARIE-CLAIRE DENYER: Hi, my name is Marie-Claire Denyer. So I first heard about'Street Trees for Living' through a
social media forum. I heard that it was possible to get a street tree planted on your street if you had the time and facilities to help fundraise and look after the tree. In my street that I live on didn't have any trees on it at all. So I thought, yeah, great, why not get involved? And another neighbour felt the same way.
And so we just went door to door talking to neighbours seeing if they would be interested in having any trees, if they would, if they could possibly donate some money towards them and managed to fundraise for 2 to 3 trees. It costs residents about £350 for a tree. And then there are the logistics.
MARIE-CLAIRE DENYER: There's quite a lot to take into consideration when planting a street tree, you have to plant a standard size tree which are about 3 m upwards and you're obviously digging into hard ground where there's all sorts of infrastructure under the pavements, lots of health and safety issues that you need to take into consideration. Initially, there was pushback from some of the
residents. However, Marie-Claire and her neighbour pressed on with their plan to bring blossom trees to the neighbourhood. MARIE-CLAIRE DENYER: From March till October roughly once a week. It's an excuse to sort of get a watering can go out into
the street, do a little walk bit of exercise. And then quite often people will walk past and ask what you're doing or thank you for what you're doing and you get to know people like who've lived on the street for the same amount of time as you say, like 8, 10 years that you've never spoken to before. And then from then on you, you say hello every time you see them. And then the first spring after the trees went in, we got really positive comments from neighbours. They'll be like, oh,
the trees look amazing. When are you getting more trees? And this was off, someone who didn't want them initially as well. The trees made a marked improvement to the look and feel of the street. Encouraged by the success of blossom trees. Marie-Claire decided to keep going with the transforming work. MARIE-CLAIRE DENYER: So that then led on to trying to change the environment outside my children's school.
One of the benefits of planting street trees with schools is it does help to create a screen between the car emissions and the area where the children are every day during term time, there's now 13 street trees outside the school. And then it led to a whole overhaul of the inside of the playground. What started as a piece of tarmac was changed to incorporate plants and trees with areas of shade and green space. Another school approached Marie-Claire to work the same
magic on their school. And before long, she was inundated with the request to plant more trees. Taking the leap to full time, she's now managing director for'Street Trees for Living'. MARIE-CLAIRE DENYER: That just came off the back of planting one street tree outside my house. So yeah, it led on to lots of really positive change in the localized area.
'Street Trees for Living' is now planting approximately 100 to 150 street trees outside 10 schools every year and working so that every child in London can see a tree directly from their house. MARIE-CLAIRE DENYER: It helps to make you realize that you're not sort of separate to nature. You are nature, you're growing and changing all the time just as much as the trees are on your street. And that's quite a nice feeling really. Yeah, it makes you feel happy.
Communities like Marie-Claire's are doing their bit to bring the benefits of blossom to those who need it most. But even beyond the cities, most of our blossom tree coverage, once a common sight across the UK landscape has been lost. Research suggests that since 1900 we've lost 80% of our traditional orchards and that blossom has declined by over 50% in England and Wales largely driven by urban growth and agricultural practices.
So to help bring back blossom, the National Trust has pledged to plant 4 million blossom trees by 2030. This includes filling orchards with fruit trees and planting blossom circles for people to access and benefit from nature. Our final location takes us to Britain's ocean city, Plymouth. On the edge of town lies Devil's Point where one of these bottom circles explores an unusual and other worldly type of flower you won't find in any orchard.
Welcome to Devil's Point in Plymouth. As we're walking, what we can see over the water of the river Tamar over there. That's cornwall. We're on the Devon side of the river. We're stood right now, both feet on the South West Coast path. As we round the corner here, you're looking at our new'Blossom Together' circle. My name's Emmy Reedman. I work for Plymouth City Council on the Green Minds Project. Before we benefited from the blossom Together National Trust
funding. This is sort of a bit of a tired part of Devil's point. And Devil's Point is a gorgeous site, but this bit, it was a disused area of tarmac. We've chosen to plant Tamarix trees around the site alongside Hawthorn trees. In the spring time they go a feathery pale pink colour and they're really pretty. So we're very lucky that we can see some beautiful blossoming happening up here on land. But if we were to dip our toes into the sea and take a peek beneath the waves, what might we see?
And in the National Marine Park in Plymouth, what you would see are seagrass meadows and they are blossoming probably as we speak.
Sea grass is the only plant that blossoms underwater. These ocean flowering meadows are totally unlike anything above the surface. And thanks to some artistic interpretation, you don't need to be an expert diver to get a glimpse of these unique aquatic ecosystems. In the centre of the Devil's Point blossom circle will be a piece of art, interpreting the beauty of sea grass blossom and making it visible to those on land.
And if you head to Plymouth's famous National Aquarium, you can even find out what it might be like to wander through one of these underwater meadows.
My name's Rosie Sherwood, I'm an artist and we are standing at the entrance to the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. I'm here today to show my installation, the Seagrass Walk, which has just been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize. So we are currently walking past the Eddystone Tank, which is a huge floor to ceiling tank that makes incredible light. And here we are in my installation.
So the Seagrass Walk is a multimedia immersive installation space that is about exploring blue carbon, which is the term for carbon sequestered in the oceans. So this space has a sound installation. It's got video installation, it's got photography, it's got some light art and then there's some very important information at the end of the space as you exit. And it has a series of beautifully curated tanks that the aquarium designed and look after.
A lot of people don't realize that we do have plants in the sea. People think they're algae or seaweeds, but we do have plants that have roots and flowers as well. So during the summer, they blossom.
Marine biologist and diver Mark Parry studies seagrass meadows and explains how these unusual little flowers are completely different to their terrestrial relatives.
So the blossom on our British seagrass plants is very subtle. It would form maybe five centimetres of the leafed part of the plant, they are slightly transparent. Diving around the south west of the UK and certainly on sea grass meadows, we do see fish, Bib and Bass as well as Gobis and Dragonet. But I've also been fortunate enough to see some of the rarer species in the UK.
Having done in excess of 500, 600 seagrass dives, we looked down and at the base of one of these plants, It was what looked like a piece of seaweed wrapped around the bottom but it wasn't, it was one of our Long Snouted Seahorses which are very rare that we observe it, enjoy seeing it and then give it as much space as possible.
Given the chance blossom thrives in diverse spaces, including the most unexpected places. And like a national sports event festival or holiday the show of blossom in Spring is a fleeting shared moment with the power to bring people together.
There are so many different ways to celebrate its arrival, whether it's seeking quiet and solace amid floating petals, a family trip to a tree trail, brightening up the online community by sharing your blossom pictures or gathering locally with friends and family and sharing food and drink in a park or garden.
So why not plan to make your own annual blossom celebration and take the time to acknowledge and enjoy this beautiful and symbolic natural wonder while Spring's promise is at its most resplendent. Thanks for listening to the first episode in a new series of the National Trust podcast to find out more about where to see the best blossoms. Head to nationaltrust.org.uk/blossom.
To make sure you're notified of every new episode of the National Trust podcast please follow us on your favourite podcast app where we'd appreciate your ratings and reviews too. Find out more about audio programmes from the National Trust at nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts. And until next time from me, Kate Martin. Goodbye.