17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift

Summary

As July deepens, London’s trees begin to whisper of autumn. Their leaves grow dusty, some already turning yellow or dropping early under summer stress. From the giant foliage of the foxglove tree to the delicate shimmer of willow leaves, the city’s greenery is changing. Fruits and seeds are appearing — cherries, rowans, Mirabelle plums — each with its own story rooted in history and myth. Shrubs, though fewer in bloom, still surprise: butterfly-attracting buddleia, ancient bladder senna, and even pomegranates with symbolic weight.

🌿 Return on 17 July to explore the quieter beauty of London’s midsummer trees and shrubs — a moment of transition, rich with colour, scent, and folklore.

Article

Tree Leaves and Fruits

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

Acacias are also starting to get yellow leaflets. Conifers, which were so prominent throughout the winter, have now totally blended into the landscape with just their bright new growth remaining noticeable. Willow leaves are also showing a delicate range of colours, some with interesting shades of silver. This can sometimes help to identify some of the rarer species. The Goat Willow Salix caprea is one of the first trees to become dappled with separate green and yellow leaves.

Other trees may already be beginning to show some seeds and fruits. The most commonly noticed are ash, lime, tree of heaven, cherries, rowans and various maples. Our native cherry Prunus avium ripens this month, but its fruit has none of the succulence and sweetness of those on sale, although they are all derived from it.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

One edible fruit well worth seeking out is the Mirabelle plum Prunus institia ‘Mirabelle’. It is a variety of the wild plum or bullace. Damsons and greengages are both derived from this tree. Mirabelle trees were at one time used as hedging around London and a number still survive along the sides of fields. Their soft orange plums are usually produced at head height and are among the sweetest of all our wild fruits.

Shrubs

Compared with the plethora of brightly coloured perennials, there are rather fewer noticeable flowering shrubs to be seen this month. Those continuing to flower from last month include Philadelphus, Cistus, Cytisus, Escallonia, Fremontodendron, Ceanothus, Deutzia, Virburnum, Senecio, Embrothium, Grevillea, and Indigofera. Flowering wild shrubs are even less common e.g. snowberry, bladder senna and a variety of naturalised garden Spiraeas. Bladder senna Colutea arborescens has been in London since the sixteenth century. The ‘bladder’ part of its name comes from the strange, large bladder-like fruits which are deliberately burst by children, much like balloons. The ‘senna’ comes from senna pods as the seeds were once used as an alternative purgative. This shrub is said to be the only thing that grows around the crater of Vesuvius, which might account for it growing well on rocky railway embankments here in London.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

Buddleia only arrived as recently as the 1890’s, but is in flower almost everywhere. It was first discovered on stony ground on the borders of Tibet. Commonly known as ‘the butterfly bush’ over one hundred butterflies have been reported on a single bush. Certainly, wild buddleia B. davidii is a magnet to moths at night. Many of the so-called improved varieties e.g. ‘Black Knight’ have been bred for colour, whilst partially losing their nectaries, and so have no place in a butterfly garden.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

Other shrubs that are likely to be encountered this month in London’s parks and gardens are the pink, white and purple varieties of Hebe, Hydrangeas, Berberis, Cotinus, Hypericum, Fuschia, Ligustrum, Hibiscus, Yucca, Leptospermum, Abutilon and Cytisus. Lavateras, with their large pink-petalled flowers stand out more than most. Pomegranates may also occasionally be seen e.g. in Kennington Park. Their fruits have been depicted in art since the earliest times. They are even believed to have formed part of the decoration of King Solomon’s temple.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

They were originally a fertility symbol, due to the large number of seeds so solidly packed into a single fruit. The image then got Christianised to mean ‘at one with the universe’, which is why so many painted Madonnas are seen carrying pomegranates.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

Rather rarer more special shrubs worth looking for are Ozothamnus, Abelia schumannii and various American shrubs such as Aesculus, Robinia and Asimina. A trip to Wisley will be rewarded with Itea and Carpenteria and a variety of different Stewartias can be found at Kew.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

Other even rarer shrubs include Romneya, Azara, Enkianthus and Callistemon citrinus, with its lemon scented leaves.

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image

17-July Leaves, Fruits & Shrubs: London’s Quiet Summer Shift Section Image