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An Avocado tree in West London (Persea americana)
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David Matzdorf
Site Admin
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:06 pm Posts: 5321 Location: Islington, London UK
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An Avocado tree in West London (Persea americana)
I've been aware of this tree for a couple of years. It's growing in what must be the ideal situation for an Avocado in this climate: in a small tenant's garden, facing directly South into a large courtyard, adjacent to a protecting brick wall.
I'd have to assume that someone planted the remains of their dinner a couple of decades ago, because this is a really big tree: over 5m tall, with a trunk that is roughly 300mm in diameter at breast height.
As you can see from the photos below, it took some quite extensive damage last Winter, but it's alive and it was starting back into growth when I saw it last week.
The photos are by a colleague, not by me. We were doing a walking survey of the estate, which is owned by a housing association - I run their tree maintenance programme and we were trying to decide what to do about trees growing in private tenants' gardens, some of which have now grown large enough to cause nuisance to other tenants.
The tricky issue here is that the whole estate of 500+ flats is going to be demolished and rebuilt in stages over the next 10 years. It took several years of discussions with the local authority to negotiate what to do about the 110 mature trees in the communal areas of the estate, which are mainly London Plane (Platanus x hispanica) trees planted far too close together and far too close to the buildings (you can see one of them to the left of the first photo).
The best trees and those in strategic public locations will be saved, but the rest will all be removed (something of a relief) and there will be an overall biodiversity and landscape plan for the new estate.
But what should we do about this rarity, which could be the largest Avocado tree surviving in London (unless you know another one...)? It isn't protected, indeed I doubt that the local authority's trees officers are even aware of it. In about 6-7 years, it will be in the way of a new building.
I wonder if it's possible to move a mature Avocado...?
_________________ 51º33'07"N x 0º07'21"W
43m (142 feet) ASL
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Tue May 18, 2010 9:56 am |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: An Avocado tree in West London (Persea americana)
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Fri May 21, 2010 9:32 am |
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Michael (SW Ireland)
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:38 pm Posts: 1912 Location: Cape Clear Island, Roaringwater Bay
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Re: An Avocado tree in West London (Persea americana)
The Lewisham avocado may have been a bit bigger, but it has been cut down by the owners as it was threatening their foundations: There have been reports of Avocados fruiting in London: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 008818.stmI think your tree might stand a chance of transplanting if you cut it right back to just above where it starts to branch, and get as much of a root ball as possible, maybe using a JCB. There is no reason Avocados should be rare in London, they do very well, especially considering that they are all grown from seed, rather than being specially selected cold-hardy varieties.
_________________ http://www.pbase.com/roaringwater/comillane_gardens
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Fri May 21, 2010 10:16 am |
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Marc H
Joined: Fri May 29, 2009 7:59 pm Posts: 233 Location: aberthaw
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Re: An Avocado tree in West London (Persea americana)
I knew an Avocado tree in a courtyard type garden in Portscatho, cornwall. It was only about 3m high and I lugged dinghies past it for some time before I realised what it was. But it was mainly made up of suckered growth. This was a few metres from the sea and had full sun most of the day. I thought that was impressive at the time, but am stunned by that Lewisham tree which looks so content compared to the one above which looked as if it was uncertain of the season.
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Fri May 21, 2010 8:09 pm |
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