If you've walked, jogged, bicycled or driven the length and breadth of Branch Brook Park you won't be surprised to hear that there are, literally, tens of thousands of trees in the park. Well over 4,000 are part of the park's world-renowned Flowering Cherry Tree Collection -- the largest and most varied collection of flowering cherry trees in one naturalistic landscape setting anywhere in the world. Among the many thousands of other trees, about 6,400 are shade trees "known" individually to the park's arborists and staff; most prominent are oaks, also many maples, and a good showing of ash and pine. These trees, in heavily frequented sections of the park, receive ongoing care. Adding to the park's diverse landscapes are unmaintained woodlots comprised in their overstory (their uppermost layor of foliage) predominantly of oak and maple with other significant genera being ash, sycamore, Ailanthus, cherry, and elm, and in their understory of various saplings offering some evidence of native tree regeneration, woody shrubs and vines, and herbaceous plants. But words in no way do the trees justice. Come visit the park! Click here to access the Cultural Landscape Report, Volume 5: Vegetation in
the Park