Tilia 'Harold Hillier'

An elegant, vigorous, hybrid of Tilia japonica ‘Ernest Wilson’, probably with T. mongolica, this cultivar was raised from open-pollinated seed in 1973 by Nigel Muir in West London. It is the only one of Muir’s Hanwell Hybrids to have had a significant commercial distribution, going back to 1991 (for others see Tilia Hanwell Hybrids). With a narrow, conical habit, shallowly three-lobed leaves, bright yellow autumn colour, and seeming not to support problematic aphid populations (Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery 2020), it has potential as a street tree. A specimen at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire reached 17 m, dbh 43 cm by 2017 (Tree Register 2018). It has proved hardy in Berlin to –20°C (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014). (Two other Hanwell Hybrids, ‘Blue Star’ and ‘New Millennium’ are believed to derive from the same cross and share comparable ornamental features.)