The College has a fantastic collection of over 800 trees. We are expanding our numbers yearly and are hoping to reach at least 1000 by 2025.
Many in our collection have been donated to the College or planted as commemorations. College founder Sir Winston Churchill planted the oak Quercus robur and the black mulberry Morus nigra in October 1959 in the middle of college and they are beautiful specimens today. To mark the 50th anniversary of the original tree planting, Lady Soames, the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, planted the weeping mulberry Morus alba ‘Pendula’ close to her father’s oak.
We have a few small collections planted around the site which include wonderful cherries, stunning magnolias, and lovely birches, maples and Cercis. The small arboretum next to the Chapel is a peaceful woodland area to walk through especially in spring with stunning shows of snowdrops and daffodils. Many individual specimen trees on site add to our landscape – some highlights are listed here:
- Adam’s laburnum – +Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’
- Cambridge oak – Quercus x warburgii
- Claret ash – Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywood’
- Dawn redwood – Metasequoia glyptostroboides
- Fern leaf beech – Fagus sylvatica var. heterophylla ‘Asplenifolia’
- Foxglove tree – Paulownia tomentosa
- Golden rain tree or Pride of India – Koelreuteria paniculata
- Handkerchief tree – Davidia involucrata
- Huntingdon elm – Ulmus x hollandica ‘vegeta’ (two  mature trees)
- Indian bean tree – Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’
- Mountain silverbell – Halesia monticola
- Persian Ironwood tree – Parrotia persica
- Sweet gum – Liquidambar styraciflua
- Tree of Heaven – Ailanthus altissima
- Tulip tree – Liriodendron tulipifera
A small Garden Guide is available to buy in the Porters’ Lodge with a map and some tree locations detailed inside.
