Hyde Park tree plan

Old majestics

Hyde Park is one of the biggest and most popular parks in the local area. Its beginnings can be traced back to the early 19th century.

Central Avenue is the park’s spine that travels right through the centre of the space. The avenue is adorned on either side with huge, sprawling Hills fig trees, the oldest of which were planted in the 1930s. Nearing the end of their lives, some of these giants have already been removed due to disease or old age.

What’s happening to the Hyde Park trees?

To preserve the park’s flora as much as possible, the trees will be removed and replaced in 4 stages over several years with bigger trees to be supplied at each stage.

Existing trees will be kept as long as they are safe and healthy with new trees expected to be introduced in 2013. There are 127 trees required as replacements, but 254 are being grown to guarantee supply.

Replacement cuttings belonging to the same tree family were taken in January 2008 and kept in separate nurseries. They were picked due to their strength and structure and kept in a warm, humid environment to encourage rapid growth. Cuttings are being closely looked after and inspected every quarter to make sure they are growing properly.

The trees’ measurements were recorded regularly and are available in the table to the right. You can also follow the journey of the trees in the gallery below.

Tree timeline

The table below outlines how fast the trees grew over the 4-year period, along with the size of the containing pot the trees were planted in for each stage:

Date	Tree height	Container size
May 2008	30 cm	20 litres
December 2008	90 cm	25 litres
October 2009	1.5 metres	50 litres
March 2010	2.5 metres	200 litres
March 2011	3.5 metres	400 litres
March 2012	5 metres	600 litres