26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms

Summary

Blooms and Palms: London’s March Floral Extravaganza

March transforms London into a floral paradise, with crab apples, pears, and mimosas painting the city in vibrant hues. From the deep red blooms of Japanese crab apples to the golden pom-poms of acacias, the city’s trees are a feast for the eyes. Even palms, once rare, are now thriving, hinting at a warmer future. Discover the stories behind these botanical wonders and the changing face of London’s green spaces. Join us on 26 March for a journey through the city’s flowering trees and palms. Don’t miss this celebration of spring’s splendor!

Article

Flowering Trees and Palms

Crab apples can usually be distinguished from cherries by their cracked, flaking bark as opposed to the horizontal rows of lenticels across the trunks of cherries. Cherries also tend to have small lumps at the base of their leaf stalks which are nectaries, whereas crabapples have none. The colours of early crabapple flowers are also often deeper than those of cherries. The deep red flowers typical of late March are often the Japanese Crab Apple Malus floribunda. The flowers on pear trees, which usually start about the same time, are among the most attractive of the month. They have creamy white upright bunches of flowers dotted with black anthers. The trunks of pear trees are also often spiralled.

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

In gardens, plum, damson and bullace all now come into flower. The bullace or wild plum P. institia is worth looking out for. It is distinguished by its small white flowers with white filaments and yellow anthers. The clusters of two or three flowers in each bunch almost clothe the twigs. The edible familiar orange Mirabelle plum is a selected cultivar of this tree and sometimes can be found bordering the edges of fields along the North Downs.

Many of the trees in flower last month continue to bloom, particularly in the first half of the month e.g. ash, alder, hazel and Cornelian cherry. Among the evergreens, the yellow flowers of the Bay tree Laurus nobilis are now fully open.

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

Some conifers are also now starting to flower. These may be merely coloured tips to the leaves. Cypresses may have red, yellow or purple tips and giant redwoods orange ones. The Monterey cypress Cupressus macrocarpa has yellow tips, Lawson cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana red tips and the Nootka cypress, Chamaecyparis nootkansis purple ones. One other tree that cannot go unmentioned at this time is the mimosa or wattle Acacia dealbata. These are now all over London, covered from top to toe in acid yellow ‘pom pom’ flowers. They can now be seen twelve metres or more in height. Prior to recent changes in the weather, they were usually killed or held back by frosts whilst still young. Now they are quickly becoming the leviathans of March flowering trees. The large yellow flowers of the Kowhai Sophora tetraptera normally seen in April seems to be making many more appearances in March.

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

With such dramatic flowering trees as magnolias and cherries, the diminutive petal free flowers of other trees go largely unnoticed. Red maples Acer rubrum still have tiny bunches of lipstick red flowers on completely bare branches. Silver maples A. saccharinum have similar red tufts of flowers but with no petals. The box elder Acer negundo has tassels of red male and green female flowers but on separate trees. Both sexes are commonly planted and tend to stand out. By the end of the month some of the many types of Japanese maples may even have already set seed. Small bunches of bright red keys may already be hanging beside their unfurling leaves.

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

Palms

Palm Sunday often falls at the end of March. It is the Christian festival that celebrates Christ’s entry into Jerusalem when his followers carried palm leaves to greet him and shouted Hosanna. Palm leaves throughout history have been symbols of glory, immortality, victory and even martyrdom which is why we see so many saints holding them in religious paintings. Before 1820 you would have been hard pressed to find a palm in London. They are really tropical or sub-tropical plants and only grow wild in Europe on its southern edge and then only one i.e. the Dwarf Fan palm Chaemaerops humilis. It is common enough in London’s gardens along with other favourites such as the Windmill Palm Trachycarpus fortunei, the Cabbage palm Cordyline australis, which isn’t really a palm, and the occasional stout Canary Island palm Phoenix canariensis. There are other equally as hardy or hardier palms we see less of e.g. the Needle palm Rhapidophyllum hystrix and the Palmetto palm Sabal palmetto both of which can survive temperatures of -14º Centigrade. The latter species is the one we see people holding woven crosses of on Palm Sunday.

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

As temperatures continue to rise in London and winters get milder it is likely we will see many more larger and more varied palms which at present are being protected, often in tubs which are brought indoors in the winter. Those starting to be seen more include the noticeably blue Mexican blue palm Brahea armata, Washingtonias e.g. Washingtonia filifera with its long, silky threads and the distinctly feathery-leaved Jelly palm Butia capitata. Some others which are starting to be planted more can reach considerable heights if given the right conditions e.g. the Bolivian Mountain Coconut Parajubaea torallyi and Piccabean palm Archontophoenix cunninghamiana can both grow over ten metres in height and various Livingstonias and the Chilean Wine palm Jubaea chilensis can soar to twenty five metres. Perhaps in time, given changes in the climate, the Mall could look more like the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image

26-Mar London’s March Blooms and Palms Section Image