This is the time of year when we can really appreciate the beauty of our local trees in Carshalton and Sutton even though the deciduous trees are baring their branches!  Carshalton Village Conservation Area being the oldest conservation area in the borough, is particularly blessed with hundreds of mature trees which add to the marvellous setting of old buildings and water ways.

The Carshalton London Plane earlier this year

The Oriental plane, the only one known in cultivation from the Old World, has been cultivated in gardens for millennia, especially in their native range of south-east Europe and Western Asia. The first plane trees known to have been planted in Britain (from about 1650) were of this species. Most trees seen in London however belong to the group that is often described as the London Plane, a group of hybrids derived from crosses between P. orientalis and Platanus occidentalis. This cross is thought to have occurred in about 1650 in the south of Europe. The first of these trees were planted in England from about 1680.

The oldest London planes in London are known to go back as far as the later 18th century. They include some trees at Kew Gardens, which are dated to the 1770s (Bean). The tree at Barn Elms Recreation Grounds, and the huge tree by the Sutton Ecology Centre at Carshalton are probably also from the late 18th century. Among the known oldest Oriental planes is one at Osterley Park, dated to 1759, and one at Kew Gardens, of similar age.

Few other trees exist in London that are as old as this. Most were planted when new parks, squares and streets were developed and constructed during and after the industrial revolution. Apart from a few historic estates, most trees seen now are from plantings of the 19th century and later. For much of suburban London, the plantings are often from the periods of their development in the earlier 20th century.

The Plaque about the Carshalton Plane Tree, Festival Walk