KATE MARTIN: 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.
NAOKO ABE: 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.
KATE MARTIN: His name was Collingwood Ingram and he was
born in 1880 in Kent into a wealthy Victorian family.
NAOKO ABE: He went to Japan when he turned 21 and fell in love
with the countryside and nature.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
NAOKO ABE: Within six years, he collected as many varieties and
species as possible. And he was already an expert.
KATE MARTIN: As Ingram built his collection, he decided to return
to Japan again.
NAOKO ABE: 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.
KATE MARTIN: In the country's quest for industrialization and
political power, preservation of cherry trees was not a high
priority.
NAOKO ABE: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
NAOKO ABE: The Taihaku is one of the most admired and loved and
popular varieties in the world today.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
NAOKO ABE: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
NAOKO ABE: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
NAOKO ABE: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
CLAIRE VINCENT: 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.
KATE MARTIN: The official planting ceremony was attended
by local dignitaries, school children and the Japanese
ambassador.
CLAIRE VINCENT: 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.
KATE MARTIN: The letter reads.... [
WINSTON CHURCHILL: 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."
CLAIRE VINCENT: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
RIMIKA SOLLOWAY: 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.
YUKA PA: 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.
GENERIC: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
KATE MARTIN: '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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
EMMY REEDMAN: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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.
ROSIE SHERWOOD: 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.
MARK PARRY: 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.
KATE MARTIN: Marine biologist and diver Mark Parry studies
seagrass meadows and explains how these unusual little flowers
are completely different to their terrestrial relatives.
MARK PARRY: 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.
KATE MARTIN: 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
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Find out more about audio programmes from the National
Trust at nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts.
And until next time from me, Kate Martin. Goodbye.