2019 tree following 12: Year of the plane

The London plane of Mermaid Quay in December

As the year comes to its end I have to say goodbye to the London plane tree (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, that I have followed through the months of 2019.

I include some pictures from earlier in the year in this post, after my December observations.

The last month has been cold or wet or windy and sometimes all three, and we have had one or two overnight frosts and a couple of foggy starts to the day. I caught a crisp, sunny spell on my visit to take the latest pictures.

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2019 tree following 11: Cold and wet

A few fallen leaves of the Mermaid Quay London plane trapped in a puddle

Despite strong winds here in Cardiff the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, still has more leaves than many other tree species in the area.

This month the weather has been colder and wetter but with the odd day of lovely late autumn sunshine. The good thing about the rain is that it catches some of the beautiful fallen leaves in puddles, while last month they all blew away.

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2019 tree following 10: Blown away

A fallen London Plane leaf in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff

I am disappointed this month with the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay.

Here in South Wales we have had very wet weather for a few weeks and it has also been windy. I chose a very blustery day with sunshine and showers to take these pictures and forgot my camera, so they are taken with my iPhone and not as good as I would like.

As well as the leaves refusing to stay still for their photographs, the wind had blown all the autumn leaves from the branches and they had even been swept away from the surrounding street by the scouring breeze.

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2019 tree following 9: False signs of autumn

A dead leaf on the London plane I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay

The end of summer here in Cardiff continued to see changeable weather, most recently blustery showers.

Temperatures are falling suddenly as we move into autumn.

The London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, still looks lush and green but was beginning to show signs of weakness when I visited it on September 2.

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2019 tree following 8: Sunshine and showers

Seed ball of (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia)

I seem to remember that last month, during a heatwave, I said “Please let it rain”. Be careful what you wish for!

In the last few weeks here in Cardiff we have had very changeable weather, with thundery and torrential rain, gale-force winds and sunny spells in between.

It all seems to have benefited the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay. The tree is looking lush and green in the height of so-called summer.

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2019 tree following 7: Summer in the city

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
(The Lovin’ Spoonful – Summer in the City)

After cool and wet weather last month, we have had a heatwave for a few weeks here in Cardiff and one day, for the first time, I noticed the bright dappled shadow of the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay.

The tree itself has not changed much in the last month but I have noticed the new Greek street food cafe beneath it has been open during the day on a few occasions, particularly when we had a three-day food festival in the nearby Roald Dahl Plass.

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2019 tree following 6: Another change of scenery

The street food cafe under the plane in Mermaid Quay has changed hands – here it is being repainted on May 20

Although the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, has changed little in the last month, nearby there is a lot going on.

Around the corner on Roald Dahl Plass (which used to be called the Oval Basin), from May 27 to June 1, there was the Urdd National Eisteddfod, a Welsh language youth festival of words and music.

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2019 tree following 5: Leafy backgrounds

Developing leaves and flowers on the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay

The London plane tree in Cardiff’s Mermaid Quay is coming along nicely with the benefit of both rain and sunshine in the last few weeks.

I see it most days as I visit the Tesco store opposite to buy a sandwich for lunch or a few groceries. The changes are small but the leaves are growing bigger and the female flowers are starting their journey to becoming fruit balls.

Here are my pictures from April 29 – I find it difficult to get many of the leaves and flowers into sharp focus as there is such a mass of greenery at different distances from the lens, but here goes…

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2019 tree following 4: Green and red

New growth on the London plane tree in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay

We are well into spring here in Cardiff, although there is currently a chill easterly wind and the nights are almost frosty. At least the sun is shining so we should be grateful as there was one particularly wet and miserable week recently.

I could see from a distance that the London plane tree in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, was slightly tinged with green at last.

But when I visited with my camera on April 10 the sun was very bright, so I couldn’t really tell what I was seeing in detail until I inspected the images later.

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2019 tree following 3: Nothing to see here?

The London plane tree (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) I am following this year in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay

Although it is early spring here in Cardiff I hadn’t noticed any development in my London plane tree since the winter. I see it a couple of times a week when I walk over to the shops for a lunchtime sandwich but only occasionally do I make the effort to take my camera and draw attention to myself in this busy street.

The tree may be quiet but there is a lot of infrastructure work going on around it – these iPhone pictures from this week show a drainage vehicle doing something or other (as I now work in the council highways department I should know what they were doing, but they just seemed to be cleaning down the paving of the street when I saw them).

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