143. Giant Haystack Tree
You’ll want to embrace this spiky scouser.
Allerton Tower is long gone, but its charming gardens remain. There are many trees that date back to the estate’s nineteenth-century foundation, including a memorable false acacia, but the tree that lodges itself in the mind is the superb monkey puzzle. Some monkey puzzles take on the silhouette of a chimney brush, but this one has an opulent, spiny carapace that covers four-fifths of its height.
Species details
Monkey puzzle
Araucaria araucana
Where to find it
Allerton Tower Park, Woolton Road, Liverpool L25 7UL
///lease.arrow.cheer | 53.370027, -2.879542
Another luxuriant monkey puzzle
A date for your diary
On Saturday 26th April, I’ll be in conversation with author Jules Acton at Books in the Park in south London. We’ll be talking about Jules’ book Oaklore: Adventures in a World of Extraordinary Trees in the lovely Beckenham Place Park. More info and tickets available here.
What a handsome specimen! Almost fastigiate. There's a very handsome monkey-puzzle in Kew on the lawn near the Orangery, but it's rather younger.
I haven't seen the Bicton Park monkey-puzzles in Devon for 20 years, but they were very sad even then - ancient and way past their best. Real chimney brushes.