April 2026: The evergreens arrive
- Mar 31
- 18 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
The skies cleared, the sun shone, the rain stopped and the wind dropped for just long enough in March and early April to give our street trees the perfect start to spring. Every drop of rain, every ray of sunshine, every extra minute of daylight, every degree of warmth nourishes and powers those little leaf and flower buds.
The annual blossom spectacle began, as always, in late February with the ever-reliable cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera), followed closely by the magnolias of Casino Avenue and the exquisite yoshino cherries (Prunus x yedoensis) of Winterbrook Road, where they dominate the treescape. There are many more on the odd-numbered side of nearby Stradella Road, and nowadays several of our smaller residential roads have their own yoshinos too. Their abundant white flowers with a subtle pink blush have become a real emblem of Herne Hill.
If you want to track the emerging blossom over the next month or two there's a pictorial blossom calendar on this website, listing the species in bloom from month to month and the streets where you'll find them.
New evergreens for 2026
You'll have noticed a lot of new street trees being planted in Herne Hill during the last three or four months - a very decent total of 49. Check out the listings here. And many of you will have spotted that nearly a third of them are evergreens. That's a big departure from recent seasons. The only other evergreen sapling we can recall in the past six years is a common holly (Ilex aquifolium) that arrived outside 27 Danecroft Road in March 2024.
We asked two of our local tree experts to explain the thinking behind this modest shift from deciduous trees (ones that lose their leaves in autumn) to evergreens (that retain them throughout the year): Joe Arrowsmith, Southwark Council's Tree Planting and Ecological Projects Officer, and Philip Louis, the Tree and Landscape Manager for the Dulwich Estate. Joe is responsible for all the street tree planting in Herne Hill and Dulwich Village, while Philip's portfolio includes managing the quaintly named 'manor wastes'. They're the picturesque strips of grass, dotted all over the village, that are bordered with white posts and hanging black chains. The remnants of common land, they once provided grazing for sheep. Now they're home to many beautiful trees.
“I wouldn't say we're switching from deciduous trees to evergreens, but we're trying to increase the numbers,” Joe told us. Evergreens improve Southwark's biodiversity, which is critical at a time when climate change is threatening the viability of more established species, and they create a physical barrier to air pollution from traffic. They also capture and store carbon through their leaves for longer than trees that are bare for months on end. “With climate change, we're trying to ensure that we have a resilient species mix within the borough,” he said.
Philip added that leaves in winter bring "enhanced amenity values”, a term that can cover intangible benefits like colour, shade, beauty and a sense of wellbeing. But diversifying the planting palette can also help ward off new threats from overseas. Rather than relying on a small and vulnerable range of traditional species, “It’s about having a rich and varied tree stock to provide not only amenity but to reduce the risks of invasive pests and diseases,” he said.
There's also the flooding angle. Herne Hill and Dulwich Village have both suffered from damaging floods in recent years, made worse by people paving over their gardens and the increasing intensity of storms. Trees, though, slow down rainwater run-off by a process called interception. According to the Woodland Trust, "A canopy of leaves, branches and trunks slows down the rain before it hits the ground simply by getting in the way." More rainwater evaporates back into the atmosphere and tree roots soak up a lot of that reaches the soil. Deciduous trees will alleviate summer flash floods but, as Philip explained, evergreens are “able to provide rain interception in winter that standard deciduous trees can’t.”
Of course climate change has meant more than just heavy rainfall. Summer also brings intense heat and long periods without any rain at all. So tree planting these days has to focus on drought tolerance. One of Philip's recent projects is the long, wide strip of grass stretching along College Road from the South Circular to the gates of Dulwich College. It was planted with oaks and limes, but he's just interplanted them with five evergreens: a golden fastigiate (upright) yew, two Nellie Stevens hollies and two variegated hollies. All of those are drought-tolerant species that can also thrive in the shade cast by the bigger trees.
Is evergreen another word for fir trees?
Before we look at our new species, let's clarify what we mean by the word 'evergreen'. Some people might refer to evergreen trees as 'firs'. In fact a fir is a very specific genus (Abies) of coniferous, or cone-bearing, trees. Other major coniferous groups include cypresses (Cupressus), pines (Pinus), junipers (Juniperus), redwoods (Sequoia), cedars (Cedrus), yews (Taxus), larch (Larix) and spruce (Picea).
In botanical terms, all conifers belong to a primitive class of plants called gymnosperms, while all broadleaf trees are angiosperms. The fundamental difference between them is that gymnosperms don't produce flowers or fruit like deciduous trees. Instead they grow cones - small male ones that release pollen and large females that house the seeds. Broadleaf trees, by contrast, grow their seeds inside a protective fruit. Also the leaves of a conifer are generally either needles (like pines) or scales (like cypresses). The leaves of a broadleaf are wide and flat. There's a comprehensive guide to identifying conifer needles here.
We can confidently say that most conifers are evergreen and most broadleafs are deciduous. But not all by any means. A bit later in this post we'll look at the many evergreen broadleaf trees that you can find in Herne Hill but we can show you here two beautiful conifers in the neighbourhood that drop all their leaves in winter. They both live in the pretty cul de sacs at the uphill end of Casino Avenue, where the pictures below were taken at the end of February. The one on the left is a very tall, conical dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) in the grass verge outside nos. 7-9. As you can see, it's festooned with 'catkins' in winter, which are in fact strings of tiny male cones. But it's worth a visit at any time of year.
At 53, further down the hill, stands a young and very bare swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum), planted only in May 2021. These trees look very similar to the dawn redwood, but grown in or near water they develop curious stumps, known as 'knees', around the base that allow air to reach the roots when the swamp cypress is submerged.
To confuse things further, conifers like pines are known as softwoods and broadleaf trees like oak as hardwoods. Don’t assume that all 'softwoods' are soft (yew timber is exceptionally hard) or that all 'hardwoods' are hard (spongy balsa wood comes from a broadleaf tree).
Our new batch of evergreens
Here's a list of the evergreen trees that arrived on our streets during the 2025/26 planting season, starting with the most numerous.
Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo). Seven trees planted in December 2025: four on Danecroft Road (at 23, 36, 63 and 83) and one each at 31-33 Burbage Road, 39 Carver Road and 48-50 Hollingbourne Road.
Portugal laurel (Prunus lusitanica 'Brenelia'). Two trees planted in January 2026: one each at 44-46 Beckwith Road and 4-6 Wyneham Road.
Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani). One tree planted in January 2026 at the Denesmead estate next to St Paul's church on Herne Hill.
Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens 'Pyramidalis'). One tree planted in February 2026 at 72-74 Elmwood Road.
Austrian pine (Pinus nigra Austriaca). One tree planted December 2025 on the grass verge outside 11-15 Sunray Avenue.
Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia). One tree planted December 2025 on the grass verge outside 11-15 Sunray Avenue.
Let's now look at them all more closely.
The strawberry trees
The evergreen strawberry tree seems at first glance to be an odd choice for a city street tree. There's only one other that we know about close to Herne Hill, and that's a fairly unimpressive specimen on Hillsboro Road, East Dulwich, shown here on Google Maps. It's leaning pretty badly, which is a common characteristic of the species. Still, there's a lot of evidence from front gardens that the Arbutus actually does well here. On Half Moon Lane there are big and handsome strawberry trees at no. 31 and at 44, at the corner of Burbage Road. But the largest and most majestic is at 76 Burbage, where the strawberry tree reaches almost to the eaves. The new saplings look big and robust, but in a pavement tree pit their eventual height will inevitably be limited.
A native of Ireland and Mediterranean countries, the strawberry tree tolerates both drought and partial shade and it should thrive in our increasingly hot summers. It has attractive bell-shaped flowers but it's the strawberry-like fruits that it's known for. They can appear at any time of year and take a whole 12 months to ripen, when they turn bright red. The 'strawberries', pictured below on New Year's Day, are technically edible, but the Latin name 'Unedo' ("I eat one") gives a hint that any more than a single bite is unpalatable.
The Portugal laurels
These evergreens from Spain and Portugal also do well in the sun, but will tolerate partial shade as well as drought conditions. They're frequently seen as shrubs or hedge plants, but the 'Brenelia' cultivar will make a compact tree 3-5 metres high. In this photo from Jacksons Nurseries the dense spikes of creamy, sweet-smelling flowers that appear in June offset the glossy, dark green, wavy-edged leaves. The abundant small red fruits later turn dark purple.
The cedar of Lebanon
The cedar of Lebanon, another Mediterranean native, is deservedly common in in the UK in big gardens, parks of all sizes (including our own little Sunray Gardens), churchyards and the grounds of stately homes. It's easily recognised by its vast spreading canopy and huge, flat boughs of needles that can range in colour from dark green to blue-green or blue-grey. It likes full sun, is moderately tolerant of drought and bears big, bulbous cones around 8-10 cm (3-4 inches) in length.
Unlike the other conifers on the planting list, the cedar of Lebanon lives in the very favourable environment of the sunny and sheltered lawns at Denesmead, near the foot of Herne Hill. There are now six of these cedars growing nicely on the estate. Looking from the roadside you'll see:
two on the front lawn, immediately behind the low wall that runs along the pavement
the new tree in a cage behind them, by the corner of the apartment building
one tree in the grass down the side road, opposite the entrance to flats 1-8
and two on the lawn facing Pynnersmead, the neighbouring block of flats.
The Italian cypress
If you've travelled in the Mediterranean you'll be familiar with the tall, narrow, strictly vertical Italian cypress, from the rocky slopes of Greek hillsides to the grounds of Tuscan villas. Now it's reached the red-brick walls and grey pavements of Elmwood Road. The 'Pyramidalis' cultivar planted there is particularly columnar, like a giant sharpened pencil. This cypress has been known to reach a staggering 45 metres tall, but while it's a fast grower when it's young it'll never be anything like that big in Herne Hill. The big, shiny female cones, three or four centimetres around, have a unique appearance, like a cluster of barnacles on a rock. The green leaves look like tiny branches and bear equally tiny male cones at their tips.
The plum yew
This was the smallest, and the most puzzling, of the new arrivals. The renowned Hillier's Manual of Trees and Shrubs describes it as "A handsome, large shrub or small bushy tree, wider than high". It grows slowly, never normally gets taller than five metres, and rarely has a single stem like a standard tree. It belongs to a different botanical family than our native common yew (Taxus baccata) and comes from Asia, not Europe. But its needles resemble its distant relative's foliage, although they're longer, wider and flatter and arranged in opposite rows. The seed grows in a female cone, but instead of being naked like other conifers it develops inside an olive-coloured fleshy covering called an aril. These arils look a little like small plums, which accounts for the 'plum' in the vernacular name. The red 'berries' of the common yew are also arils. They're attractive to animals or birds and designed to disperse the seeds.
The Austrian pine
Two houses away from the odd little plum yew is another conifer that could hardly be more different: an Austrian pine, originating in southern and central Europe. It's fast- growing, putting on as much as 60 cm (2 ft) annually and reaching more than 30 metres in the wild and 12-20 metres in cultivation. It's got a pyramidal form and the characteristic long, stiff, sharp needles of the pine family, each up to 15 cm long and bunched in pairs. Other pine species have needles bundled in threes or fives. The very small male cones are yellow and the bigger female cones are a pale reddish-brown before they unfurl to release their seeds.
What connects the plum yew and the Austrian pine?
Well, they're both heat- and drought-tolerant, which is good in our hot, dry summers. And they're situated between two very large London planes. Apart from that, though, there are big differences. One is clearly very short and the other is potentially very tall. Plus the short one can only grow in the shade while the tall one needs full sun. And the little one is slow-growing, the big one very fast.
So why were they planted?
There were three reasons:
To plant a shade-tolerant tree where others would suffer from lack of light
To reduce air pollution at street level by planting trees at different heights
To vary the tree stock in order to cut the risk of invasive pathogens.
The shading issue
Big shady trees are great for cooling our streets, but they make it hard for younger or smaller trees to survive. Here's Joe Arrowsmith's explanation for the plum yew: "This tree was chosen for the location as it is shade-tolerant. There is currently a near-continuous canopy cover at the south of Sunray Avenue where this tree was planted. Planting another plane tree at this location would have been unsuitable as it would likely grow in a non-upright form as it competed for limited sunlight."
Shade tolerance is a real issue on the streets of SE24. Mature London planes (Platanus x hispanica) each bear tens of thousands of leaves, and when one of them is cut down in a formal avenue of planes the selected replacement can't automatically be another plane. The same goes when you're looking for a new tree to fill a gap between planes, like the one at 11-15 Sunray Avenue. Big surviving planes on either side of the vacant space create enough shade to rule out another plane being planted there. As Joe said, it would simply lean awkwardly towards whatever light is available.
You can see this effect on other trees around Herne Hill, like the three rather stunted examples in the image below. The first shows a leaning whitebeam (Sorbus aria) on the pavement at 64-66 Ruskin Walk, overshadowed by a large Paul’s Scarlet hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata 'Paul's Scarlet') in the adjacent front garden. The second is a Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia) by the pedestrian crossing on Burbage Road, struggling against the column of enormous large-leaved limes (Tilia platyphyllos) that stretches down to the doctor's surgery. The final picture is a gallant little American sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), doing its best under the shade of still more lime trees at the front of 40 Half Moon Lane.
Pictured below is a seriously distorted tree, a white-barked birch (Betula) next to 181 Half Moon Lane on one of the manor wastes. Shaded to the east, west and south by silver birches, London planes and horse chestnuts, its only option is to bend its branches northwards and downwards.
The pollution issue
The reason for planting the Austrian pine alongside the plum yew was to minimise air pollution. "The presence of trees at different heights and densities along busy roads is vital for reducing airborne pollution," Joe told us. A dense tree canopy along a main road risks trapping pollution from heavy traffic at ground level. But varying the heights of trees creates eddies of air that will disperse the pollution.
The disease issue
"By planting different species we are also ensuring that our tree stock is less susceptible to disease," Joe added. "Ceratocystis platani (known as plane wilt or canker stain of plane) is fortunately not present in the UK yet, but on mainland Europe it has cost millions (if not more) to fell affected plane trees. It is therefore important that we plant with mitigation of potential losses in mind."
Plane monocultures
A situation where only one species dominates - a monoculture - carries an increased risk of serious damage from new pathogens. So we asked Joe whether all these issues - excessive shading, air pollution and disease threats - mean that our ageing London plane avenues could be obsolete in years to come?
“Where we can we will replant historic avenues like-for-like, especially in conservation areas," he answered. "But we'll be looking at what is feasible. We can't necessarily put in like-for-like."
Residents' concerns
Whatever the case for evergreens, some residents will be concerned about their size - too big, like the Austrian pine and the Italian cypress, or too small, like the plum yew. There's also the fact that they look out of place on a street lined with say London planes or silver birches. In Dulwich Village last year, two conifers - a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and a stone pine (Pinus pinea) - made a brief appearance as part of the new planting scheme for the pedestrianised square. They were soon removed to Dulwich Park.
There are some places nearby where you can already see evergreens next to deciduous trees and perhaps judge their suitability for yourself. On Half Moon Lane, opposite KJ To Go at no. 141, there's a pollarded London plane sharing its crown with some very friendly conifers from the grounds of Judith Kerr school. At Goose Green in East Dulwich, a young deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara) looks rather lonely in a field of enormous planes. And in the garden square outside the Casino Avenue flats a little yew has taken up residence at the base of a big coppiced gingko.
Evergreen pioneers
You might be surprised at how many evergreens we already have on our streets, even without the crop of newcomers. Here's a short stroll through some of the most notable examples, starting with the biggest and working down to the smallest.
The holm oak
You'll recognise this huge, five-stemmed tree if you've waited at the bus stop next door to St Paul's church, bracing yourself for pigeon droppings. The broad-leaved holm oak (Quercus ilex) has a dark and dense canopy and it thrives in city conditions. The leaves are vaguely holly-like, which gives the tree the name Ilex (holly).
There are five more small holm oaks clustered together at the side of the driveway into Denesmead. Our other specimen, at the end of Beckwith Road where it meets Half Moon Lane, recently had a severe haircut to give more room to the many people who use the bench beneath it. It looks gorgeous when it flowers in late May, and later it will bear small, pale green acorns - although not every year. After a particularly heavy crop of acorns, known as a 'mast year', oaks will have a rest for a year or two.
The yew
The common yew (Taxus baccata) is a conifer, one of only three native to Britain. The others are the common juniper (Juniperus communis) and the Scots pine. But you won't find any recognisable cones in the yew's dark green foliage. Instead, like the plum yew, its fruits, seen here at Kew Gardens, are arils - scarlet, fleshy and berry-like, with a single seed in the middle. Almost every bit of the yew - including the seeds - is poisonous to humans and animals, although birds will happily eat the tasty fruit. The seeds pass straight through their digestive system and out in their droppings, hopefully bringing forth a yew sapling where they land.
Yews are frequently found in churchyards and they can live for thousands of years. An old wild yew wood is an amazing sight, with twisted limbs and fluted trunks like organ pipes. We're lucky to have four yews on the front lawns on Delawyk Crescent and another at the entrance to the Hillcrest estate on Sunray Avenue.
The black pine and cherry laurel
Red Post Hill is a good place for evergreen-spotting. There are four black pines (Pinus nigra) on the lawn between nos. 65 and 79, interplanted with young multi-stemmed silver birches (Betula pendula). The newly arrived Austrian pine on Sunray Avenue is a sub-species of black pine. Higher up the road, at the end of the stone planting bed outside no. 93, is a big cherry laurel, usually a garden shrub or hedge but here a vigorous small tree. It's one of very few evergreen cherries (Prunus), along with the Portugal laurel that we looked at earlier.
The viburnum tinus and Atlas cedar
In the same planting bed on Red Post Hill are two other interesting evergreens. The winter-flowering Viburnum tinus, sometimes known as laurustinus, is a popular garden shrub but the pair outside no. 89 have grown as smaller standard (single-stem) trees. The very attractive white flowers and blue-black berries were pictured on February 2. Next door at 85-87 the recently planted Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) is another conifer with the potential to reach great heights. You can tell it from the cedar of Lebanon by its habit (narrower and less spreading) and by the often blue-grey foliage. The name 'Atlas' refers to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Algeria, where it originated. It's sometimes also called Atlantic cedar.
The holly and olive
The Red Post Hill planting bed is also home to a number of common hollies (Ilex aquifolium) but perhaps the loveliest is inside the garden square on Casino Avenue, opposite no. 91. It's a variegated holly, probably 'Golden King', with a very neat form and broad leaves with no spikes. Glance over to the other side of the square and you'll see an old holly stump tucked beneath the hedge. We'll ask to get it replaced.
Back on the streets, between 105 Burbage Road and Turney Road, inside another manor waste, you'll come across another very long-lived tree, the common olive (Olea europaea). This is the biggest and prettiest olive tree in the area, but Delawyk Crescent has lots of small ones dotted around the estate. They're also very fashionable for front gardens. Look out for little black olives among the pointed evergreen leaves with their pale undersides.
The Japanese privet
Here's a second tree from the olive family: a Japanese privet (Ligustrum japonicum). It's a distant relative of our native wild privet (Ligustrum vulgare) and the introduced garden privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium), beloved of suburban homeowners and the chirping sparrows that like to hide among the twigs of their privet hedges. The one pictured on the left, below, with the bunches of black fruit, stands outside 27 Herne Hill.
There used to be three Japanese or possibly Chinese privets (Ligustrum lucidum) on the narrow pavement behind Pizza Express on Milkwood Road. But unsurprisingly two of them died at this rather hostile location after struggling against the heavy traffic and the high brick wall just a metre away. One was replaced with a hornbeam and the third is still just a stump. On Nairne Grove there were two privets outside Bessemer Grange school until a few years ago, but again one of those was lost. Behind the survivor you can just make out in the right-hand photo an unusual evergreen cork oak (Quercus suber) with this amazing bark.
The green olive
And a third member of the olive family (Oleaceae). You're bound to know this one. It's the inconspicuous little shrub next to the traffic buildout at the Half Moon Lane end of Burbage Road, a Phillyrea latifolia or green olive. It's crept slowly skywards, now reaches about 3 metres and has a few more to go before it makes its maximum height. Look around the back and you'll see more evidence of shading from the tall limes of Burbage Road: the bare branches. The Phillyrea has blue-black fruits, but in the absence of any reliable information about whether they're edible it's probably best to leave them alone. An interesting snippet from Cassell's Trees of Britain and Europe: "It seems to positively thrive on de-icing salt spread on roads and pavements." So a good choice for colder winters ahead.
The Christmas berry
Finally, an evergreen 'tree' that we're not keen on. Luckily there are only three of them, all on Hollingbourne Road. It's the Photinia × fraseri 'Red Robin', known as the Christmas berry. It's nothing personal - it just doesn't make a good street tree. The first picture below shows the unluckiest of this trio, at 51-53 Hollingbourne Road. It's been knocked over repeatedly by high winds and replaced at one point, but it's leaning again after the storms of March. There's another photinia outside no. 4, which is only now looking reasonable after we did a lot of formative pruning when the top half died back. The third photinia, at no. 1, is still standing and seems to be in fair shape.
But these are essentially garden shrubs trained into an unnatural lollipop shape, with a spindly stem vulnerable to strong winds. Compare them to the strong, healthy photinias in local hedges. The Hollingbourne trees hardly ever produce the bright red leaf growth like the one pictured at 20 Holmdene Avenue. Or the long-lasting red berries you pass outside 57 Half Moon Lane. Perhaps we can get the latest casualty replaced with a real street tree.
Comments