Country diary: The autumn glory of a tulip tree | Jennifer Jones

Liverpool: Their summer flowers provide the name and the fame, but this species is arguably at its best now Beech mast crunches underfoot, and the occasional conker catches the sunlight, tiny beacons leading me to Camp Hill, south Liverpool, with its distant views over the Mersey estuary. Goldfinches erupt from desiccated knapweed, and a flock of pink-footed geese fly overhead.

For once, the birds are not my goal, but a tree: the tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ). Every autumn, the Camp Hill tulip tree flaunts its flamboyant presence: the Lady Gaga of the parkland. Named because its flowers resemble a tulip flower, and its leaves a tulip silhouette, few can resist its tulle lace canopy of butter-gold leaves. The luminescence is enhanced by the sheen of…