45. Peel Park Giant
A towering ‘Petiolaris’ silver lime is the most memorable of several examples in Bradford’s oldest public park.
Silver pendant limes appear as great shaggy domes, perhaps cloaking self conscious giants. Peel Park has several close to its statue of former Prime Minister, creator of the Metropolitan Police and art collector, Sir Robert Peel, after whom the park is named. The most conspicuous specimen appears frozen as if caught stepping gingerly down the slope on which it is planted. The park is one of England's first public parks, its funding was secured in 1850, the year of Peel's death, and it opened in 1853. The Peel Park Giant may well date from this period.
Species details
Silver Pendant Lime
Tilia tomentosa 'Petiolaris'
Where to find it
Peel Park, Cliffe Road, Bradford BD3 0LT
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Silver pendant lime notes
Silver pendant limes are cultivars of silver lime, and are noteworthy for their long petioles, hence the name ‘Petiolaris’. Petioles are the stalks that connect leaf to branch and in this tree, they are particularly long giving rise to a weeping or pendulous appearance. Combined with the defining feature of silver lime – white or ‘silver’ leaf undersides – the effect of a mature tree in full leaf is very attractive as leaves twist to show their silver reverse. Look carefully at the leaves to see the abundant downy hairs which produce this whiteness, a feature also recalled in the latin species name tomentosa which roughly translates as ‘woolly’.
‘Petiolaris’ cultivars were popular in the nineteenth century, and can often be encountered in public parks and aristocratic gardens from this period. Many are now impressive, very large specimens, growing taller than the typically more rounded regular silver lime.
