Back in 2006, when I started doing This Abingdon Blog, one report was about three trees that had been planted in town. One got vandalised, one had a bad lean, and one was doing well.

Here they are again some years later…

The vandalised tree is long gone but another tree, planted nearby, is doing much better. I hope the new generation respect trees more.

The leaning tree continues to lean and still has a tree guard.

It also has a band to keep it from leaning any more.

The third tree is doing well. The tree guard has been removed and lower branches cut. That tree was planted in honour of John Jones OBE – a former Mayor and Freeman of Abingdon.

Leaves are early this year after a mild March. There have been a couple of days of sunshine and the leaves have been opening as seen on the walk along the Ock Valley Walk.

The tender new leaves are already capturing the sun’s energy, and they look so much better than the weather beaten, bug blighted leaves of late summer.

The grass here in Abingdon is turning pale. The circle pictured above is at Penlon Place, with Our Lady and St Edmund church behind. Part of grass’s natural life cycle involves becoming dormant when the roots can no longer get moisture or nutrients . The grass will turn green again when there is rain but there is no telling when that will be.

There is also a lot of yellow dust on the pavements around the civic car park, and council offices in Abingdon. The trees above have fronds of paired leaves – probably some sort of ash, and blossoms that fall as yellow dust.

The first frost was on Monday. The first picture shows the avenue of trees along Caldecott Road in their autumn glory.

This copper beech in the Albert Park was shown earlier in the year with protective notices. Now it has a fence to protect the ground round the roots and to protect people from any falling branches.

St Michael’s Church can be seen through the trees in Albert Park with their leaves a mixture of gold, dark evergreen, and pale green.