Prunus spinosa | Blackthorn Trees / Sloe Berry Trees

Blackthorn Hedge Plants - Delivered by Mail Order from the Nursery with a 1 Year Guarantee

Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, also known as Sloe, is a tough, thorny, animal-proof country hedging plant that is covered in white blossom in early spring, before the leaves appear. It is suitable for most soils, apart from chalk.
Blackthorn is a big shrub that will make a solid looking hedge up to about 4 metres tall.

Blackthorn hedge plants are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March).

Choosing a size:
When you are ordering Blackthorn plants for a hedge, we generally recommend that you use plants that are graded at 40/60cms or 60/80cms. These young, unbranched plants are called whips; they are cheaper than large plants, easier to handle and they will establish well in poor conditions. Use larger plants when you need a tall hedge quickly, or if you are going to let them grow into trees. All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Spacing a Blackthorn hedge:
Plant Blackthorn hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cms apart.
You can also plant Blackthorn at 5 plants per metre in a staggered double row, with 33 cms between each plant and 40cms between the rows.

General description of Blackthorn plants:
Blackthorn is a large, deciduous native shrub. In late February and early March, the blackish branches are hidden underneath dense clouds of fluffy white flowers. The mid-sized, dark green, oval leaves emerge after the flowers and the fruit, called sloes or sloe berries, ripen in late autumn, with a bloom of pale blue powder over the dark purple skin.
Blackthorn hedges produce dense suckers from ground level, forming a dense, impenetrable thicket. It is an ideal plant for a hedge mix intended to contain sheep and goats. However, its long thorns present a small risk the eyes of larger, less agile animals like cows and horses: hawthorn is a safe alternative. Blackthorn is commonly planted as a barrier hedge around allotments, as it is both secure and produces useful fruit.
A Blackthorn hedge makes a home for a mass of wildlife: nightingales nest in it and a range of endangered moth and butterfly larvae eat the leaves, including the Emperor Moth.

History & uses of Prunus spinosa
Blackthorn is much prized for walking sticks and only blackthorn or oak wood is used to make a real Irish sail eille (shillelagh in English). In Southern Ireland, County Kerry, there is a town called Killarney, which means "church of sloes".
It makes good firewood.
Prunus spinosa is self-fertile and Sloe berries are traditionally used for infusing with gin, vodka and brandy, but they also make good jam. In colder parts of the country where frosts come early, you can try leaving ripe Sloes on the branch; a touch of frost will make them surprisingly sweet.

Growing Blackthorn plants:
Blackthorn will grow well in most soil conditions with decent drainage and average fertility. It is very hardy and suitable for frosty or exposed locations.
It will not grow well if the soil is chalky. Hawthorn is a good alternative on very poor or chalky soils.

Prepare your site before planting:
Native hedge plants like Blackthorn are very tough. The only essential preparation is to kill the weeds in a strip a metre wide along the planting site: improving the soil should not be necessary. If your soil is exceptionally poor and dry, then digging in some well rotted manure and/or compost is worthwhile.

Watch our video on how to plant a country hedge for full details.

Hedge Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Roundup weed killer.
You can buy a hedge planting pack with sheets of mulch fabric and pegs to hold it down.
If you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a plastic spiral guard for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.

After you plant a hedge, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. If you didn't use mulch of some kind, you will also need to weed around the hedge. Both of these will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

Trimming Country hedge plants: Blackthorn is a vigorous, native hedging plant that benefits from being cut back hard right after planting, as shown in the country hedge planting video. In the following years, your young hedge should be trimmed lightly once in winter, until it is mature. When it is fully grown, you can clip it at anytime. A good time to clip Blackthorn hedges is after the sloes are harvested in late autumn.

Special notes on caring for Blackthorn hedges:
Blackthorn is a very tough hedge plant that shouldn't need special attention once it has established. If you didn't use a mulch fabric, it is beneficial to mulch around the base of the hedge each year with well rotted manure or compost.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £9.49 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
You can choose the delivery week that suits you during checkout and we will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Thank you for the Blackthorn hedging plants. We are delighted with them M Moyle,Mar 2012

Your 12 Month Guarantee

If any of the plants that you buy from our nursery die within a year of delivery, we will replace them.
You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

We do ask for clear photos of the plants in the soil, both taking in the planting area and close up. These will help us to work out what went wrong so we can give you the right advice for looking after your replacements.

The most important thing to do with establishing plants is to water them in dry weather. Water very thoroughly, but not too frequently: allow the top 2 inches of soil to dry out before you water again. In hot summer weather, this should mean that you are watering 1 to 3 times per week, depending on your site's drainage and exposure to wind and sun.
If there is heavy rain, that counts as a watering for your plants. If there is only very light rain during hot weather, this probably won't be of much use to your plants and they will still need watering.

Weeding is also very important; we strongly recommend using a mulch mat (for trees) or mulch fabric (for hedges) if weeding your new plants will be impractical.

Outside your 1 Year Guarantee period?

If your plants die or get sick after their first year, you are still welcome to take some photos and send them in: we will still be happy to give you what advice we can.
We can't make any promises, but if you want to buy replacements from us, give us a call and we'll see if we can arrange a discount for you.

Place an order for £250 excluding VAT and delivery and we deliver it for FREE!

Bare-root Plants are only delivered in the winter season, from November to April. Pot grown plants can be delivered all year round

Advantages of Bare-root plants:

You pay less for the same size plants.

You can carry and plan them easily.

You only plant them in winter, so they need less maintenance after planting. The rain will water them for their first few months.

You get the biggest selection: Many trees are not sold pot-grown.

They are "asleep" in winter - this is the best time to transplant any tree.

They use fewer fertilisers & fungicides, less water and fuel in their production & delivery.

Advantages of Pot Grown plants:

Pot grown plants can be delivered & planted all year round.

Plants with tender roots & larger specimens must be delivered in pots.

Plants in pots can be kept for months longer if there is a delay in planting.

Our Advice to You:
If you can't wait to get planting, order Pot grown plants now.
If you are not in a hurry, order bare-root plants for delivery this winter. Simply add them to your basket and choose a winter delivery date that suits you during checkout. This will reserve your plants before they sell out.
We won't charge you until the day before delivery, so cancelling your order is always easy.

If you are only ordering chemicals and other small items, delivery is £3.50

Our delivery charge for all other orders is £6.50 + VAT.

If you live in the Scottish Highlands or the Isle of Wight, there will be an extra charge of £15 + VAT on top of the appropriate basic charge, as listed above.

If your order is over £250 exc. VAT, there will be no delivery charge.

If you are uncertain, just add items to your basket which will calculate the basic shipping charge for you.