Rare tree planted in hotel grounds

Published: 9:13 AM March 9, 2010 Updated: 4:02 PM November 7, 2020

TRIMSTONE Manor Country House Hotel near Ilfracombe may be the first place in North Devon to have a Wollemi Pine. Owners Philip and Helen Milton are supporting a worldwide initiative to help conserve this rare tree. An example has been added to the hote

TRIMSTONE Manor Country House Hotel near Ilfracombe may be the first place in North Devon to have a Wollemi Pine. Owners Philip and Helen Milton are supporting a worldwide initiative to help conserve this rare tree.

An example has been added to the hotel grounds as part of a significant tree-planting initiative.

Wollemi Pines were only discovered in 1994 when 100 were found in a remote canyon in Australia. They were thought extinct with only fossil records remaining.

This evergreen tree can tolerate heat, cold, full sun and shade and any type of soil and while the Milton example is only three feet high, it should soon grow!

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It is an odd tree, too, having three types of foliage with male and female cones produced by the same tree, on the end of fronds. It develops multiple stems and the bubbling bark occurs from year five. During the colder months, a unique waxy coating develops to protect the buds and these are lost as new growth appears.

Guests of the hotel and its restaurant are welcome to see the tree and look around the lovely gardens and grounds.