-
Blackthorn / Sloe Seed
Prunus spinosaPrice range: £5.00 through £10.00 inc. VATBlackthorn or Sloe grow to be large deciduous shrubs or small bushy trees. Blackthorn ignites in spring with a mass of small single white flowers. It forms a secure hedging plant with its sharp spines and dense growth. The fruit, like small damsons, appear in autumn and are used for making Sloe Gin.
-
Bladder Senna Seed
Colutea arborescens£5.00 inc. VATBladder Senna is a vigorous deciduous shrub with pretty yellow pea-like summer flowers and pale, small leaves/leaflets. The fruit is striking red bladder-like papery pods which persist well into winter when the leaves have gone. It is a very adaptable and fertile plant often seen on challenging sites such as railway embankments. Thrives in full sun and poor soil.
-
Bog Gum Seed
Eucalyptus kitsoniana£10.00 inc. VATEucalyptus kitsoniana
Good ornamental specimen for its broad glossy leaves and varied bark that sheds in ribbons. mallee form. Found inland and on coastal plains, and flats near water.Often grown for floristry.
-
Boston Ivy Seed
Parthenocissus tricuspidata£7.00 inc. VATBoston Ivy is a vigorous self clinging deciduous vine with distinctive 3 lobed leaves which turn deep crimson and scarlet in autumn. The fruits are dark blue / black. It makes an ideal climber for the side of a building in semi-shade, and will work on a north wall, although the autumn colour will not be as striking.
Rowan Adams, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
-
Bournemouth / Maritime Pine Seed
Pinus pinaster (maritima)Price range: £6.00 through £19.00 inc. VATThe Maritime Pine is a medium sized sparsely branched conifer with an orange-brown bark. It’s long robust needles grow in pairs. Cones are long and chunky and take a few years to ripen and release the winged seed. It is excellent on sandy soils and in seaside districts. Turpentine is produced from the resin and it is widely used for timber production round the Mediterranean.
Not for forestry purposes.
-
Box / Common Box Seed
Buxus sempervirens£6.00 inc. VATBox will eventually grow into a small tree, but more normally a dense medium sized shrub. It produces masses of small, dark, evergreen leaves. Ideal for topiary and hedging purposes in the formal garden since it clips well, late summer.
-
Box Elder Seed
Acer negundo£12.00 inc. VATBox Elder is not an elder at all but a relatively short-lived, bushy deciduous acer. Fast growing to a medium or large size. The bright green pinnate leaves are paler on the underside. Flowers pale yellow green before the leaves appear. Useful for colonising poor, wet soils but can become invasive and is classed as a pest species in Australia. There is a variegated form ‘Flamingo’, which has pink, white and green leaves.
pic courtesy of Karduelis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
-
Brewers Weeping Spruce Seed
Picea brewerianaPrice range: £2.00 through £14.00 inc. VATBrewers Weeping Spruce is one the most beautiful of all the spruces. Graceful branchlets hang from long branches like slender tails and it produces purple cones.
-
Bristlecone Pine Seed
Pinus aristata£5.50 inc. VATPinus aristata or Bristlecone Pine is a large shrub or small characterful tree with needles in groups of 5, flecked with white resin, looking like dandruff. This is how to tell it from the other Bristlcone pine, Pinus longaeva . It has slender bristle like cones. Some specimens in the wild are over 2500yrs old, it is very slow growing! The oldest trees are found in northern New Mexico, Arizona and in the Rockies at high elevations where the conditions are cold and dry.
-
Broad Leaved Lime Seed
Tilia platyphyllos£6.00 inc. VATThe Broad Leaved Lime is a large vigorous tree with roundish sharply toothed leaves with downy hairs which are more prominent on the underside. The flowers appear in mid summer, and can be used to make a calming tea. Bees appreciate them for nectar. The timber is useful in turning and instrument making since it is fine-grained and soft.
Not for forestry purposes.
-
Broom Seed
Cytisus scoparius£6.00 inc. VATBroom is a medium sized deciduous shrub, with whip-like fine branches and small leaves, quite like gorse but without the thorns. It has rich butter yellow, scented flowers in late spring, (again, like gorse) often visited by bees and the flowers have an interesting method of depositing pollen on the bees’ backs. Seed pods twist and crack open when ripe, making clicking noises. If pruning is necessary, it is done after flowering. Quite often found as a pioneer on poor soils
-
Buckthorn/Purging Buckthorn Seed
Rhamnus cathartica£6.00 inc. VATPurging Buckthorn is a large deciduous shrub or small tree. The spiny branches are very attractive in the autumn when they are carrying their small shiny dark almost black fruits and yellowing leaves. Flowers are insignificant yellow-green in summer and held close to the stems. Leaves and fruit are slightly toxic if ingested, causing stomach problems, though birds eat the berries with impunity. It is the food-plant of the Brimstone butterfly. In parts of N. America, this plant is classed as an invasive species, but this doesn’t happen here.
-
Burnet / Scotch Rose Seed
Rosa spinosissima / pimpinellifolia£5.00 inc. VATThe Burnet Rose is a small suckering deciduous shrub that makes dense low thickets of prickly branches so forms a good security barrier in plantings. It has small white or pale pink flowers from late spring through to early summer The profusion of highly scented flowers is followed by a heavy crop of rounded black fruits. Quite often it is found at the edges of beaches, sand dunes and shingle banks. Useful for coastal plantings.
-
Butterfly Bush Seed
Buddleia davidii£7.00 inc. VATBuddleia or Butterfly Bush is a deciduous shrub which produces fragrant purple flowers on long racemes from mid summer onwards. As the common name suggests it is particularly attractive to many species of butterflies which feed on its nectar. Greyish leaves with a white underside. Prune in spring. It can be cut back to ground level without killing it! Often found on waste ground and railway edges, also on old and derelict buildings, especially on chimneys.
-
Californian Redwood Seed
Sequoia sempervirensPrice range: £5.00 through £15.00 inc. VATThe Californian Redwood can reach over 100m tall in its native forests but mature specimens in gardens reach 30m. As well as being the worlds tallest it is also long lived with records of trees well over 2000 years old. The bark is deep and spongy and a good russet colour and resin from the tree can be used as a natural dye for wool.
-
Callery/ Bradford Pear Seed
Pyrus calleryana£6.00 inc. VATThe Callery Pear is a pretty and resilient ornamental deciduous tree that grows to 15m. When young it has a teardrop shape but spreads with age. The showy white blossom appears before the leaves in spring and gives rise to small hard brown fruits in the Autumn. Good for early bees. Extremely resistant to fire-blight disease.
-
Cedar of Lebanon Seed
Cedrus libaniPrice range: £6.00 through £10.00 inc. VATLebanese Cedar is a huge wide-spreading, flat topped conifer, whose characteristic architectural growth habit forms a tiered arrangement. Young trees are conical but branches spread as the tree matures. Cedar of Lebanon has many historical associations. It is the national emblem of Lebanon, and on the Lebanese flag, although there are decreasing numbers growing in the wild. King Solomon is said to have used Cedar timber to build his temple. Cones are large and oval, taking 18 months to mature and then fall to pieces. The timber is prized for furniture making, being close-grained, a good colour and aromatic. Cedar oil extract is used in cosmetics.
Not for forestry purposes.
-
Cherry Laurel / Common Laurel Seed
Prunus laurocerasusPrice range: £5.00 through £11.00 inc. VATCherry Laurel is vigorous wide spreading evergreen shrub with dark shiny green leaves, often used for screening. It produces attractive erect clusters of white flowers in spring that give rise to small cherry like fruits that eventually turn black. Insects visit the flowers and birds eventually eat the berries. Clip in the summer, for hedging, and the best finish is by using secateurs!
-
Cherry Plum Seed
Prunus myrobalan / cerasifera£5.00 inc. VATCherry Plum is a small, native, deciduous tree smothered in small white flowers in early spring. Mature specimens bear red cherry-plums in late summer and autumn. It is an excellent shrub for a dense hedge and attracts early insects so is useful on meadow edges and mixed plantings of native trees. Tolerant of pruning. Also known as Myrobalan Cherry. (There are other trees from Asia, also know as Myrobalan)
-
Chinese Barberry Seed
Berberis julianaePrice range: £5.00 through £10.00 inc. VATChinese Barberry is a excellent densely growing, evergreen, spiny-leaved bush. The leaves are copper tinted when young. The scented yellow flowers are borne in bunches of up to 15. It makes a good hedging plant and security barrier.
-
Chinese Flowering Dogwood Seed
Cornus kousa chinensis£5.50 inc. VATChinese Flowering Dogwood is a decorative, slow growing, large shrub or small tree suitable for small gardens. Long-lasting leaf-size pinkish-white bracts surround the small flowers from early summer. Superb autumn colour.
-
Chinese Mahogany Seed
Toona sinensisPrice range: £5.00 through £22.00 inc. VATToona sinensis is a highly decorative deciduous tree, often multistemmed. The long and large pinnate aromatic leaves are often pink when young and are used in Chinese cuisine. The smooth bark on young trees becomes shaggier with age. Small scented flowers in July, white or pink, are produced in long pannicles at branch ends. The wood is used for furniture as a ‘genuine’ mahogany substitute and also burns aromatically. It is now being investigated as an alternative woodland tree because of climate change and disease issues.
-
Chinese Wisteria Seed
Wisteria sinensisPrice range: £6.00 through £20.00 inc. VATWisteria is probably the most noble of climbers. The leaves are made up of 9 to 13 oblong leaflets. The highly scented mauve or deep lilac flowers are borne before the leaves in spring and are produced on racemes up to 30cm long. These are followed by velvety seed pods. A mature specimen is a wonder to see and smell. Prune twice a year, shortening the long tendrils in February and again in June.
-
Cider Gum Seed
Eucalyptus gunniiPrice range: £7.00 through £46.00 inc. VATEucalyptus or Cider Gum the best known and hardiest Eucalyptus in cultivation. Its evergreen juvenile leaves are rounded and an outstanding silver blue, much used in floristry. As they mature the leaves become sickle shaped. It can be allowed to develop into a specimen tree, pruned to bush size or coppiced. After pruning, the foliage will grow as juvenile again. Very fast growing. Unlike many Eucalypts, the bark tends to be smooth, not flakey. Flowers are creamy white, on and off through the season. Scented oils are released from crushed or burning leaves and are used as an antiseptic and to treat respiratory problems.
Sign up to receive great news and offers