This silver birch tree, along with oaks, willows and a wych elm, is in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park. It's a large and rather lovely green space in south London, only marred, in my opinion, by the two whopping huge guns in the middle of it. They're standing outside the Imperial War Museum.
I went there to see an art exhibition last weekend, but in general I prefer the park to displays about conflict. In fact, the park is home to the Tibetan Peace Garden. His Holiness the Dalai Lama opened it as a tranquil spot for meditation in 1999. I've visited it and blogged about it before. You can read that post here.
Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park also contains an Ice Age tree trail of 34 species that grew when ice retreated, around 12,000 years ago. You can find a pdf of the guided walk here. There are also plaques with information under each of the trees. One of them is a wych elm, which you can see in the photo at the bottom of this post.
Elms are rare in London, due to Dutch elm disease, so this is a rare example. The name doesn't have anything to do with witches. The word means it has pliant branches. Wood from elms was once commonly used for coffins, because it's water-resistant. The tree is also associated with death in folklore, but is also reputed to inspire prophetic dreams.
Green London
Other Previous Related Posts
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/06/green-london-bloomsburys-secret-gardens.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/07/green-london-strange-things-in-soho.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/07/green-london-st-jamess-park-ghost-and.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/06/green-london-great-plane-in-brunswick.html
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