Barbara Marke is feeling just a little sad. Her favourite rhododendron has just come to the end of its annual blooming period. The spectacular, well established plant is very popular with the neighbours too, much loved for its colourful, vibrant personality. Ditto Barbara, 95, a dedicated gardener, homemaker and long time ‘doer’ who is full of life’s joys, one of the most respected and adored seniors around (she officially opened Higgins butchers when it was rebuilt!). Her main passion is her garden, especially her stunning rhododendron tree, and she is anxious that it should be appreciated by future generations for its beauty and rarity.
“The rhododendron tree is at least 150 years old ” says Barbara’s daughter Liz, who was brought up in the house with her three siblings.“ The leaves are variegated and the flowers raspberry pink – a particularly special tree. We believe the same variety grows in the Lost Gardens of Heligan”
The Lost Gardens in Cornwall was granted National Collection Holder status by Plant Heritage for its historic and unique National Collection of Camellias and Rhododendrons introduced to Heligan pre-1920. These earliest rhododendrons include the arboreum species and were raised from seed collected by the great plant hunter Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker in Nepal and Sikkim during his expedition of 1847-51 and have been growing in the west ever since.
“The tree is older than our house” explains Barbara, “The house was built in 1907 on land that once belonged to Warwick House that fronted onto Shire Lane so we inherited some of the original garden which extended right across to what is now a continuation of South Road and down to Berks Hill. This whole area was an orchard and arboretum. When we moved here in 1960 Warwick House had just been knocked down. It had been taken over by the Council and converted to flats to provide post war housing.”
“As children we used to play in the orchard even though we were banned” adds Liz, “It was the place to do anything bad like smoking your first cigarette! We also loved climbing the rhododendron tree in our garden.”
Luckily the trees survived to be enjoyed for the following decades by the Marke family and friends. As well as the rhododendron there are three other stately trees of the same age and all are subject to tree preservation orders so will remain part of Chorleywood’s future landscape.
“I just want people to get as much pleasure out of our trees as we have” says Barbara, “we feel very lucky to have had the rhododendron brightening up our summers in Chorleywood for so long.”
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