The Shape of the Elm
Our landscape misses the blowsy shape of the Elm. After the devastation of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s, these trees seemed gone for good. But the DED beetles identify Elms through their silhouette, so planting Elm in a woodland can help it survive. The suckering, regenerating hedgerow Elms barely reach 5-10 metres high, and as exposed on both sides, they easily fall prey to the beetle.
If an Elm succumbs to the disease in a woodland, it leaves a natural glade. This kind of evolving process is what keeps woodland fluid, allowing both ground flora and woody shrubs to benefit from the light and space.
At Novell Tullett we don’t just design urban landscapes; we are expert in naturalistic planting, the re-establishment of woodland, the rejuvenation of hedgerows and the diversification of grassland, all processes that support habitat diversity.
Wilding can slowly generate new habitats and enhance biodiversity when land is left to recolonise. And soil generally contains a seed stock of perennial native plants but is often empty of woody plant seed. So, nature needs a hand to get woodland started.
As landscape architects, our skills include woodland design. We know how to set out the trees, quantify the number and size of the stock required and specify provenance. This isn’t Forestry Commission productive timber, rigid, coniferous, alien. It’s a subtle land-shaped woodland that fits the countryside. A softly evolving shrubby edge guides air movement over the slower-growing wood, and trees establish in the deeper, damper soil of the hillside crevice, belied by the growth of bracken.
Planting woodland is an associative process. An understanding of landscape, our cultural associations with it and the physical qualities of species make woodland fit its context. Given time, the landscape absorbs the created, evolving wood and owns it.
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