One of the unintended benefits of staying closer to home since March of this year (2020) has been a better acquaintance with Utrecht’s many trees. In all frankness, we didn’t recognize many different species, until having read Peter Wohlleben’s “The hidden life of trees”, and afterwards Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Overstory”. We became curious and suddenly began to notice the many, highly individual types around us.
One of our favorite walks has been to circle the medieval city on the inside of the city’s moat, the Singel. Without even trying we pass many of the most beautiful trees Utrecht has to offer. The city has helpfully put up plaques on many of the historic ones. They evidently feel that these are part of Utrecht’s rich heritage, and should be generally appreciated as such.
The city of Utrecht is responsible for about 160,000 trees of more than 580 species. They have a separate category for “monumental trees” (80 years or older). On the city’s tree map, you can click on an individual tree, and find out its species, its Dutch name, age and year of planting. If anything it would be an understatement to say that we’ve passed this field maple, planted in 1835, at least a thousand times without ever having noticed it