In a breeze this tree changes colour. A silver lime carries dark green leaves that are covered underneath in white felt, so a gust turns the whole crown pale for a second and then back again. That is exactly why the local IVN nature volunteers put it on their monumental-trees walk through the city. The felt is the field mark that separates Tilia tomentosa from the common lime lining half the streets in this country, including Leeuwarden's own two royal limes, one on the Raadhuisplein and one on the Jacobijnerkerkhof. This is not one of those. It is a southeast European tree, from the Balkans and Anatolia, planted in northern cities because it copes with hard ground and dry summers better than the native limes do. It stands on the Druifstreek, opposite the Blokhuispoort, on a stretch of the old centre people walk without looking up. The same IVN walk names a second silver lime a few hundred metres north on the Eewal, so once you have learned the leaf you can collect the pair in ten minutes. Nobody has dated this one. No register carries it, no source gives a planting year, and nobody has taped the trunk. If you know when it went in, or you have a tape measure and thirty seconds, tell us.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Druifstreek, opposite Blokhuispoort
You can recognise it by turning a leaf over: white felt underneath, dark green on top, where the city's common limes are green on both sides. It stands on the Druifstreek, opposite the Blokhuispoort.
About 700 m south of Leeuwarden station, on foot.
In bloom
July, when the late-flowering silver lime fills the street with honey scent
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.