The Variegated Maple of Coevorden Castle

From across the grounds this maple looks as though somebody is shining a light on it. That is the cultivar. 'Leopoldii' is a sycamore whose leaves come out flecked and streaked with cream, yellow and pink instead of plain green, so a whole tree of it reads as permanently dappled. Nurseries pushed variegated forms hard in the nineteenth century, when one of them on a good lawn was a statement rather than a plant. This one went into the ground between 1880 and 1890, on the most conspicuous spot at Kasteel Coevorden, and it still frames the view of the building. Everything around it has changed hands more often than the tree has. The municipality bought the castle in 1938, restoration began in 1968, and since 2014 it has been privately run as a hotel. The register notes that the maple's growing conditions actually improved after that last handover, which is not the usual direction of travel. Its crown carries cables as a precaution and the last inspection found no defects in it. The castle is a hotel now. The maple stands out in front of it in full view, and the register still lists the municipality as its owner, which is a fair description of how a lot of Dutch castle grounds work.