Guides / Trees
Trees
Woody perennials, from saplings to ancient giants.
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Beech
Fagus sylvatica
How to grow beech, Fagus sylvatica. Planting a bare-root hedge, the single August trim, why a clipped beech keeps its copper leaves all winter, and beech bark disease.
Blackthorn
Prunus spinosa
How to grow blackthorn, Prunus spinosa. Blossom on bare stems before hawthorn, picking sloes for gin, planting a stockproof hedge and controlling the suckers.
C
Cherry
Prunus avium
How to grow cherries, Prunus avium. Choosing a dwarfing rootstock, netting against birds, why the fruit splits in rain, and pruning only in summer to avoid silver leaf.
Common lime
Tilia europaea
How to grow common lime, Tilia europaea. Why it drips sticky honeydew onto everything below, how to pleach it, and the July blossom that scents a whole street.
E
English Holly
Ilex aquifolium
How to grow English holly, Ilex aquifolium. Planting, clipping, hedging, why your holly has no berries, and how poisonous those berries are.
English Oak
Quercus robur
How to identify and grow Quercus robur. The one check that separates it from sessile oak, why it supports more wildlife than any other British tree, and why acorns kill horses.
English Yew
Taxus baccata
How to grow Taxus baccata. The one conifer that regrows from bare wood, why clippings kill horses, what the red berries are, and how it reaches two thousand years.
H
Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna
How to grow hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna. Planting a bare-root hedge, the trimming that thickens it, laying an old one, May blossom and the haws that follow.
Hazel
Corylus avellana
How to grow hazel, Corylus avellana. Coppicing on a seven-year cycle, planting two for a crop of cobnuts, the catkins in February, and losing the lot to squirrels.
Hornbeam
Carpinus betulus
How to grow hornbeam, Carpinus betulus. The hedge that holds its leaves all winter and takes wet clay where beech fails, when to cut it, and how to tell the two apart.
Horse Chestnut
Aesculus hippocastanum
How to grow horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. Conkers, why the leaves go brown every August, bleeding canker, and why a conker is not a sweet chestnut.
S
Saucer magnolia
Magnolia x soulangeana
How to grow saucer magnolia, Magnolia x soulangeana. Goblet flowers on bare wood in April, why frost ruins them, and where to plant one so it does not happen.
Scots pine
Pinus sylvestris
How to grow Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris. Britain's only native pine, the orange upper bark that identifies it, and why it suits poor sandy soil that defeats other trees.
Silver Birch
Betula pendula
How to grow Betula pendula. Why a short-lived tree is the right choice for a small garden, what the black diamonds on the bark are, the root system to plan around, and tapping the sap.
Spindle
Euonymus europaeus
How to grow spindle, Euonymus europaeus. The pink capsules and orange seeds that make it the brightest native shrub in autumn, its value to wildlife, and why the fruit must not be eaten.
Sweet chestnut
Castanea sativa
How to grow sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa. Telling it from horse chestnut, why British nuts are usually small, and the blight and canker to watch for.
Sycamore
Acer pseudoplatanus
How to identify sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus. Telling it from field maple and Norway maple, the seedlings that kill horses through atypical myopathy, and managing it in a garden.
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