Willows Park Preserve

It's Not Just a Park, It's an Arboretum!

There are many reasons to visit The Willows, the most beautiful of Radnor's many excellent parks: the picture-perfect pond, as lively as it is lovely, teeming with fish, turtles, frogs and other wildlife; the native wildflowers with their ever-changing floral displays from spring through fall; an abundance of birds, some seasonal, others delighting us year-round; a picnic area for casual feasting with friends and family; superb hills for winter sledding and a creek stocked with trout in the spring. To top it off, literally, is the historic Willows Mansion, perched on a hilltop, with breathtaking views of the park below. And then there are the trees!

Most Radnor residents would be surprised to learn that the Willows Park is a Certified Level 1 Arboretum, that is, a museum of trees. Obtaining that certification was one of the first acts of the Willows Park Preserve (WPP), a small but mighty nonprofit corporation organized in 2017 to restore the long-shuttered Willows Mansion and open it up for community use. The WPP enlisted the support of Bartlett Tree Experts to help it qualify for the certification, a process that required the WPP to identify at least 25 different species, cultivars or varieties of trees or woody plants on the Willows property. Bartlett identified 48 species. So, what are these trees and is there anything special about them? Most of them are native species, although there are some non-natives as well. Many of them are familiar, including Sugar maples and Red maples with their blazing red, orange and yellow fall foliage; several oak species with their many-lobed leaves and distinctive acorns; and of course, the eponymous willows at the edge of the pond, including some non-native but commonly seen Weeping willows. In addition to these well-known species are some which, like schoolmates at a class reunion, look familiar but whose names we have forgotten or perhaps never really knew. Into this group falls the majestic American sycamore with its massive canopy and smooth, camouflage-like bark that it sheds from time to time in large, jigsaw puzzle pieces. Some of the arboretum trees have highly unusual features, such as the Bald cypress. A small grove of these trees can be found between the pond and Little Darby Creek. The Bald cypress is a tall conifer which, unlike most conifers, sheds its needles in the fall, leaving it “bald” throughout the winter. But this is not its most interesting feature; that would be its “knees”. Bald cypresses generally grow in wet conditions. The tree's knees (technically known as “pneumatophores”) are woody appendages that are actually part of the tree's roots. The knees protrude upward from the ground or water around the trunk and are believed to transport air to the submerged roots. They may also help anchor the tree. Another arboretum tree has a fascinating history, making it one of the most treasured trees in the collection. This tree — the Dawn redwood — dates back to the Age of Dinosaurs and was long believed to be extinct, found only in fossils, until it was discovered in a remote valley in China in the 1940's. After its discovery, seeds were brought to the US and planted in many arboreta and botanical gardens as well as in the private gardens of large homes and estates. Like the Bald cypress, the Dawn redwood is a large conifer that sheds its needles each fall. From a distance, the two trees have a strong resemblance. No Pennsylvania arboretum would be complete without at least one specimen of Eastern hemlock. It is, after all, the official “state tree” of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. There are more than 20 Eastern hemlocks located at the Willows. The Eastern hemlock is a medium to tall tree with soft, feathery evergreen needles. Unfortunately, many Eastern hemlocks across the state are suffering from infestations of the woolly adelgid, a serious, non-native insect pest that sucks moisture and nutrients from the trees. It is important for the WPP and Radnor Township to monitor the health of these ecologically important trees and take appropriate measures to ensure their survival. A full list of the trees identified in the Bartlett survey, as well as their locations, can be found on the WPP website at www.willowsparkpreserve.org. Taking a self-guided tour of the arboretum trees, or a guided tour offered by the WPP, can be a pleasant way to spend an hour or two at the park any time of the year.

If you would like to host your next event at the WPP, register for a program, learn about volunteer opportunities, provide financial support, or simply want to learn more about the WPP, please visit our website: www.willowsparkpreserve.org or email us at: info@willowsparkpreserve.org

DAWN REDWOODWEEPING WILLOW

EASTERN HEMLOCK