National Arboretum, Castlewellan
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Address Background Personnel Policies Environment Weather Collection Facilities Access Principles Location map
| Address and contact details | |
| Name of Garden: | National Arboretum, Castlewellan |
| Castlewellan Forest Park, Castlewellan, Co. Down, BT31 9BU | |
| Tel: 013967 78664 | |
| Fax: 1762 | |
| Email: Michael.lear@dani.gov.uk | |
| Web site: | |
| Latitude: 54° 15' 20" N / 54.2644119 | |
| Longitude: 5° 57' 40" W / -5.9554219 | |
| (mapquest.com provides an excellent way of checking how accurate your co-ordinates are) | |
| Background to the collection | |
| Year founded: | |
| Ownership: | Department of Agriculture, Forest Services |
| Garden code: | |
| Umbrella organisation: | PlantNetwork |
| i.e. PlantNet, BGCI, NCCPG; ICCP etc. | |
| Personnel | |
| Please include actual titles in brackets after the name i.e. Owner, Director/Manager, Curator/Head gardener. If you have other administrative staff, i.e. taxonomists, education officers etc. please add extra rows. | |
| Michael Lear | |
| Contact person: | Michael Lear |
| Total Staff: | 4 |
| Total Horticultural Staff: | |
| Policies | |
| Accessions: | To cultivate the diversity of woody plants that can be grown in County Down, with the objective of representing plants at different stages, e.g. juvenile, medium age, old age, for as many as practical. |
| Collections: | |
| Physical environment | |
| Altitude: | |
| Soil type: | Acid |
| Aspect: | Varied |
| Total area: | 40.4 ha |
| Area heated: | |
| Other sites of collection: | |
| Weather records | Records kept (irregularly) |
| Temperature | |
| Average daily: | |
| Av. monthly max: | |
| Av. monthly min: | |
| Absolute maximum: | |
| Absolute minimum: | -7 °C (1995) |
| Wind | |
| Direction: | |
| Strength: | Average |
| Rainfall | |
| Average annual: | 1200 mm |
| Month of maximum: | |
| Month of minimum: | |
| Plant collection | |
| Number of families: | |
| Number of genera: | |
| Number of species: | |
| Taxa: | 1750 |
| Accessions: | 3000 |
| Plants: | 4000 |
| Notable plants within the collection: | |
| 39 Champion trees of Britain and Ireland and a number of orignal cultivars | |
| Geographical area(s) of specialisation: | |
| Western Asia, China, Eastern Asia, Australasia, New Zealand, Southwestern USA, Southern America | |
| Special families within the collections: | |
| Cupressaceae, Podocarpaceae, Pinaceae, Liliaceae, Eucryphiaceae, Malvaceae, Myrtaceae, Aceraceae, Winteraceae, Compositae, Pittosporaceae, Araliaceae, Theaceae, Taxodiaceae, Escalloniaceae, Rosaceae, Ericaceae, Tropaeolaceae, Epacridaceae, Fagaceae | |
| Special genera within the collections: | |
| Cupressus, Podocarpus, Abies, Cordyline, Eucryphia, Hoheria, Eucalyptus, Acer, Drimys, Olearia, Pittosporum, Pseudopanax, Skimmia, Cryptomeria, Escallonia, Arbutus, Rhododendron, Tropaeolum, Dracophyllum, Nothofagus | |
| Special collections: (i.e. ICCP International Conifer Conservation Programme; IPGRI International Plant Genetic Resources Institute; NCCPG National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens; SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest) | |
| Special collection 1: For each collection please give Nos. of Genera, species, taxa, accessions & plants. Also any official status. | |
| Special collection 2: Please add a row for each collection. | |
| Record Keeping: | Kept since 1969 Computerised |
| Record System: | BG-Base |
| Are phenological records kept? | |
| Plant-collecting trips: | No |
| Facilities on site | |
| Herbarium: | Approximately 200 specimens, in conjunction with Ulster Museum. Code BEL in Index Herbariorum |
| Library: | 200 items, woody plants. No public access |
| Research facilities: | No |
| Publications: | No |
| Identifications: | Undertakes free identifications for the general public. Internal verification of material |
| Teaching and Education: | Primary, secondary, higher, taxonomic and public education |
| Interpretation: | Supervised garden walks, signs, brochures, lectures |
| Friends Organisation: | Yes |
| Visitor facilities: | Café |
| Access to the collections - Who can visit, when etc. | |
| What are the conditions of Access to the collections? | |
| Public access: | Admission charge |
| Visitors per year: | 45,000 |
| Public opening hours: | Mon-Sun: 10am-8pm or dusk |
| Guiding principles behind the collection | |
| The garden is funded by Central Government to conserve the heritage assets of the gardens and trees, and act as a showcase for biodiversity. | |
| Location map | |
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