Bellemeade Park is an eight-acre green space in the Oak Grove neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It has in place showcase gardens including a woodland garden, a youth learning garden, pollinator gardens, labeled trees, biking, and walking trails, and informational signage throughout the park.
The mission of Bellemeade Park is to offer children and their families the opportunity to develop their power of observation and discovery within a beautiful natural setting. Bellemeade Park offers opportunities for everyone to connect to the natural world through creative play, exploration, and bonding both within our families and the wider community. This connection to nature promotes lifelong learning, physical and mental health, and happiness.
Let’s Learn about some of the Trees within Bellemeade Park!
American Beech
- Smooth grey trunk
- Likes rich, well-drained bottoms and moist coves
- Strong, balanced, long-lived, health and graceful tree
American Elm
- Can grow 75 – 100ft. tall!
- Like bottom lands and fertile, moist soils
- Once was the most popular city street and landscape tree
Bald Cypress
- Loves the water, and grow with roots under water
- Grows cones and drops its needles in the winter
- Grows anywhere with LOTS OF WATER
Black Gum
- Can grown almost anywhere, even in shade
- Grows will in the Virginia understory
- Normally do not grow very tall
Black Locust
- Grow 30 – 70 ft. tall
- Grow best in moist soft places with limestone beneath
Black Oak
- Grows 50 – 80 ft. tall
- Like to live in dry woods and along ridges
- Grows best on rich, well-drained soils
Black Walnut
- Live in deep, well-drained soils, in moist coves and stream sides
- Often used for furniture
Cottonwood
- Likes to grow on river borders, floor plains, and other moist, well-drained sites
- In the Spring looks like it is covered in cotton
Dogwood
- Grow to 20 – 30 ft. tall
- Live in the underwood hardwood forests, in many different types of soil
- Wood is very and smooth
Fringe
- Delicate little tree
- Grows 30 – 40 ft. tall
- Like to grow along streams or in mountains
Hackberry
- Lives along stream banks and lower areas
- Don’t usually grow tall
- Bark is very bumpy
- Can live in very tough conditions
Loblolly Pine
- Likes to grow in old fields and sandy, poorly drained soils
- Commonly known as “Old Field Pine”
Magnolia
- Has big, thick, shiny leaves and grows like a giant bush
- Likes warm southern states
Northern Red Oak
- Grow in deep, well-drained, loamy soils and fertile coves
- Grows all over Virginia
- Can grow to over 100 ft tall
- Wood is very dense & heavy
Pawpaw
- Grows like a shrub growing in thickets in the forest
- Like growing in the shade of the understory of hardwood forests in moist floodplains
Persimmon
- Grow 20 – 60 ft. tall
- Grow on a wide variety of sites, from sandy woods to moist river bottoms to rocky slopes
Pin Oak
- Likes wet soil in floodplains or river edges
- Lower branches droop, middle branches reach out, and upper branches reach up, shaped like an egg
Red Bud
- Grow 15 – 30 ft. tall
- Live in the understory of moist, well-drained woodlands
- Beautiful red buds in the spring!
Red Cedar
- Grow 40 – 60 ft. tall
- Live on a wide variety of soils, from wetlands to dry, rocky ridges’
Red Maple
- You can get suage from the trunk!
- Native Americans used to make oil from the burned ashes to boil acorns in
- Bark was used for ink
Red Mulberry
- Don’t grow too tall but spread out wide
- Grows mostly in floodplains and low, moist slopes
- Berries are edible!
River Birch
- Mostly small tree
- Likes to live along river and stream banks
- Typically divides into two or three trees at the base
- Thin bark like paper
Silver Maple
- Likes to grow on stream banks, floodplains, and lake edges
- Top side of the leaves are green but the underside is silver
Swamp Chestnut Oak
- Like to live in well-drained, loamy bottomlands and stream sides
- Bark looks like the bark of a white oak
Sweet Gum
- Sap used to be used for chewing gum
- Like to grow in rich river bottoms, swamp edges, and drier uplands
- Can grow 60 – 90ft. tall
Sweetbay Magnolia
- Grow 20 – 30 ft. tall
- Like swamp edges, and other low, wet areas
- Often planted in peoples yard
Sycamore
- Very thirsty tree
- Likes to grow on stream banks and rich bottomlands
- Grows wild and tall along the river banks in Richmond
Tulip Poplar
- Grows fast and tall
- Can reach up to 200 ft. tall
- Super straight trunk
- Grow best in deep moist soils along streams and in lower mountain coves
Water Oak
- Grows 50 – 80ft. tall
- Leaf lobe looks like a water drop
- Acorns from this tree are important for many animals such as deer and squirrels
White Oak
- King of the trees
- Almost no native american tree grows as tall and wide as this tree
- Likes higher, upland areas better then low, wet areas
Willow Oak
- Grow fast and wide
- Grows in low areas and also in rich, sandy uplands
- Can grow as wide as it is tall
Witch Hazel
- Live in the shade of the understory
- Flowers bloom in late fall
- Many legends about this tree
Park Information
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Hours 7 am - 10 pm
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All dogs must be leashed
Group 1011
No Alcohol
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No motorized vehicles