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Common Green Beech Seed
Fagus sylvatica£5.00 inc. VATBeech is a versatile, majestic tree with a smooth silver grey bark. New spring leaves are a superb lime green and in autumn they turn a rich copper gold colour. It makes an excellent specimen tree or an outstanding hedge, especially since the old, crisp brown (marcescent) leaves stay on the hedge until the spring. Pollution tolerant, it will cope with exposed and cold sites but will not grow in coastal areas.
Not for forestry purposes.
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Common Ivy Seed
Hedera helix£3.50 inc. VATCommon Ivy is adaptable and makes an excellent ground cover plant as well as being a good climber. Its evergreen leaves offer all year round green cover, and as such is used as a shelter and nesting site for small birds and insects. The scented spherical flower-heads offer a good source of nectar/pollen for late autumn flying insects and the blue-black berries are eaten through the late autumn and early winter by birds.
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Common Walnut Seed
Juglans regia£5.00 – £9.50 inc. VATCommon Walnut is a slow growing medium sized tree with a rounded head, and it is not very common! It’s deciduous leaves have lots of leaflets a bit like Ash, but bigger. It produces very valuable wood and the walnut nut. For pickled walnut, the aromatic fruit need to be collected in late June before the inner shell is formed, and whilst the fleshy outer part is green and quite soft. Myths abound about Walnut which is supposed to be The Witches’ Tree, maybe because the branches look sturdy but are, in fact, hollow. Beating the trunk in the winter with sticks is rumoured to increase the walnut crop!
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Common Yucca Seed
Yucca filamentosa£6.50 inc. VATYucca is an evergreen perennial with strap-like grey green leaves forming a stemless rosette. Eventually it will form a clump of rosettes. Flower spikes produced in late summer on older plants can be up to 2m high, carrying masses of creamy white, nodding, bell-shaped long lasting flowers. A striking, architectural plant.
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Copper Beech Seed
Fagus sylvatica atropurpureum£5.00 inc. VATThe Copper Beech is an outstandingly beautiful deciduous tree. This deep purple leaved form of beech is usually grown from seed. The purple plants are then selected from the 50% that show the purple form. Can be trimmed to form a superb neat hedge. It keeps the crisp dead leaves on the branches until new leaves start to appear in the spring. The copper-brown coloured seeds are encased in hard prickly ‘masts’ Quite shallow rooted, so best to be grown where not exposed to high winds.
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Cordyline Seed
Cordyline australis£5.00 – £19.50 inc. VATCordylines or New Zealand Cabbage trees grow into small evergreen trees with a single trunk topped with a dense mass of long sword like leaves. Small creamy white flowers in large terminal panicles are produced in early summer. A very striking architectural plant.
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Cornelian Cherry Seed
Cornus mas£5.00 inc. VATCornelian cherry is a large shrub or small densely branched deciduous tree. It produces a profusion of small yellow flowers on leafless twigs in late winter which result in red, cherry like fruits. The leaves turn reddish purple in autumn.
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Crab Apple Seed
Malus sylvestris£5.00 – £10.00 inc. VATCrab Apples are small deciduous trees growing to 8m tall with white flowers that may be tinged with pink when they appear in late spring. Pollinated by bees. The fruits grow to 2.5cm across in the autumn and are sour to eat but make a delicious conserve. They are also good for wildlife with fruit remaining well into the winter. It can be pruned and chopped quite harshly if needed, in the winter.
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Creeping Dogwood Seed
Cornus canadensis£10.00 inc. VATCreeping Dogwood is actually a herbaceous perennial with a creeping woody rootstock. It forms an attractive carpet of foliage starred with white flowers in May and June which are succeeded by bright red fruits in early autumn. The white ‘petals’ are really bracts surrounding balls of tiny flowers. Useful decorative ground cover for shady places and needs little maintenance.
pic courtesy of Superior National Forest, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Damson Seed
Prunus domestica insititia£7.00 – £15.00 inc. VATThe damson is a subspecies of the plum. A small deciduous tree, it produces the oval damson fruit which has a green yellow flesh and dark blue or indigo skin. The fruits can hang shrivelled well into the winter. It produces white blossom in April, good for early pollinators. Pruning is not advisable in the winter because a bacterial canker can get into the wounds, but if necessary Damson can be chopped in the summer.
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Daphne / Spurge Laurel berries
Daphne mezereum£5.00 inc. VATDaphne mezereum is a small twiggy deciduous shrub that flowers in very early spring, before the leaves emerge. Highly scented purple red flowers are followed by poisonous scarlet fruits. It thrives on chalky soils. This product is sold as dried berries which are still poisonous. Slow growing and often used in winter gardens and medium scale rockeries. Once planted, it’s best not to transplant or disturb. Appreciates mulching with compost or leaf mould in late spring.
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Diel’s Cotoneaster Seed
Cotoneaster dielsianus£5.00 inc. VATDiel’s is an evergreen cotoneaster with small ovate leaves and red fruit. Can be pruned to make a neater shape, but a hardy and useful filler. The tiny flowers are attractive to bees in the summer.
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Dog Rose Seed
Rosa canina£5.00 inc. VATThe Dog Rose is a hedgerow shrub with an open growth habit and long, arching, prickly stems. It is often used in reclamation planting and for land stabilisation. In early summer it produces large scented flowers that vary from pink through to white. The rosehips are egg shaped and bright red providing autumn colour and food for wildlife. Packed with vitamin C , the hips in the form of a tea have been used to treat kidney problems. The national flower of Romania
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Eastern / Flowering Dogwood Seed
Cornus florida£7.00 inc. VATEastern / Flowering Dogwood is a large shrub or small tree. In winter the flower buds are enclosed in 4 white bracts which open in spring; the bracts form “petals” which are tinged pink at the apex forming a very pretty “flower.”
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Eglantine / Sweet Briar Seed
Rosa rubiginosa / eglanteria£5.00 inc. VATThe Eglantine Rose is a medium sized, dense, spiney deciduous shrub with aromatic leaves, smelling of apples. The single pink flowers are simple, beautiful and fragrant. Bright red oval hips persist well into the winter and are a good source of Vitamin C. In some countries (New Zealand, South Africa and Australia) it is seen as an invasive weed, but in UK there are no problems with it. Prune in autumn or winter and it can be sheared back quite hard if necessary.
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Elderberry / Common Elder Seed
Sambucus nigra£6.00 inc. VATElderberry is a large shrub or small tree with rugged bark and 5 to 7 leaflets. The leaves smell a bit odd. It bears flattened heads of white flowers in early summer which give rise to dense bunches of small black fruits. The fruit famously makes a good wine or can be used to flavour gin. The flowers are used to make cordial or champagne. It grows well on chalk and is being harvested commercially for both flowers and berries. Common in larger hedges and wood margins. It is excellent for wildlife – insects on the flowers and birds for the berries.
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English Oak / Common Oak Seed
Quercus robur£5.00 – £7.50 inc. VATThe English Oak makes a large, impressive, long lived tree, an icon of the British countryside! It develops a large head of rugged branches. The deciduous leaves are stalkless, auricled at the base with shallow lobes and turn a good yellow and copper in the autumn. The acorn fruits are attached to the tree by a slender stalk. It plays host to masses of wildlife that depend on it. The auricles are one of the ways of distinguishing between English Oak and Sessile Oak.
Not for forestry purposes.
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Erman’s Birch Seed
Betula ermanii£6.00 inc. VATErman’s birch has a distinctive creamy white bark which shows off well after the leaves have fallen in winter. In the summer it has conspicuous bright green heart shaped leaves, and yellow autumn colour. Makes a fine, small to medium tree, sometimes multi-stemmed and casts only light shade.
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Evergreen / Holm Oak Seed
Quercus ilex£6.50 – £10.00 inc. VATThe Holm Oak is a large evergreen tree with an attractive corrugated bark. The leaves are a dark glossy green not unlike holly but vary in shape and size. It can become deciduous in the very coldest areas but is an excellent tree for coastal areas.
Not for forestry purposes.
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False Acacia / Black Locust Tree Seed
Robinia pseudoacacia£5.00 inc. VATRobinia or False Acacia grows to be a large suckering tree with furrowed bark. The fragrant white flowers have a yellow base to the petal and attract bees in the early summer, Acacia honey is well known and very tasty! The tree has been used to stop soil erosion because of its tendency to sucker and the timber is also useful. Being leguminous means that the roots ‘fix’ nitrogen from the air into the soil which is a useful trait, helping soil nutrition
Not for forestry purposes.
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Field Maple Seed
Acer campestre£5.00 inc. VATField Maple is a pretty, medium sized deciduous tree often seen forming parts of hedgerows although it makes a good small specimen tree too. The five-lobed leaves turn bright yellow in autumn and may be flushed red. The miniature sycamore-type winged seed are quite often pink too, before they ripen. When young this tree will tolerate quite deep shade, but requires more light to flower and fruit. Insect friendly
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Field Rose Seed
Rosa arvensis£5.00 inc. VATField rose, native to Europe, is a rambling rose of the hedgerows and woodland, quite scarce in the north. Its long arching stems produce pure white scented flowers from early summer onwards. These give rise to round red rose hips in autumn. Can be pruned hard to a tidier shape, but good as part of a wilder garden. Attractive to insects and birds for the hips eventually.
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Firethorn Seed
Pyracantha coccinea£5.00 inc. VATFirethorn or Pyracantha is a large evergreen shrub that is valued for its outstanding display of red autumn berries. These are produced from the white flowers that appear in spring. Its dark green leaves are augmented by sharp thorns which when used as a boundary plant provide an effective security barrier.
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Flat Stalked Spindle Seed
Euonymus planipes£5.00 inc. VATThis Euonymus or Flat Stalked Spindle is a graceful, arching, deciduous shrub with incredible autumn berries of orange in red cases that hang below the branches on long stalks. It has great foliage colour too, making it a valuable addition to the autumn/winter garden. Very tolerant of most conditions and a good shrub in polluted areas. It can be pruned or left to grow into it’s natural shape.
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