DescriptionDelivery & Guarantee
Golden Whitebeam - Sorbus aria Aurea
A member of the
Whitebeam family with a more brightly coloured leaf,
Sorbus aria Aurea is a deciduous tree with broad yellow leaves. Like normal Whitebeam, Sorbus aria Aurea has fine, furry white hairs enveloping the new growth that emerges from the tips of the tree's branches and remains on the underside of the mature foliage. The upper side of a Sorbus aria Aurea tree's leaf is a much more vivid colour than a Whitebeam leaf, a lemon and lime green that is fully visible from May onwards. As the tree's leaves flicker in the wind, the two sides of each leaf create contrasting ripples of colour. Just as with Whitebeam, Sorbus aria Aurea is covered in clusters of small white flowers in mid-summer which in turn become scarlet berries. Both the flowers and the berries attract wildlife.
In autumn, the two tone leaves mellow into a burnished bronze and the red berries glow clearly amongst them. Golden Whitebeam gives another kind of foliage display in spring when the low, early morning sun light first shines through the tree, making the leaves of the freshly opening buds blaze like melting copper. Later in the day, the sun shines on the tree and the hairy young leaves reflect silver light that gives the tree's branches a gleaming, frosted appearance.The wood is very hard and Whitebeams are still commonly used for sturdy handmade furniture; in the past, all sorts of heavy machinery including watermills would use wood from one of these trees.
Planting Sorbus aria Aurea
The Sorbus family likes alkaline, lime rich soils and does well in extremely chalky soil. It will cheerfully reach 16 metres, 50 feet, high and is a champion tree for wind blasted sites by the sea. Whitebeams also thrive on polluted sites, making them popular roadside and avenue trees.
Please watch our tree planting video for full planting instructions.
How Standard Trees are Measured:
All the plants in the ornamental trees section are graded as standards, which means that they are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level (basically, their trunk's waist measurement). They aren't measured by their height, which will vary.
So, a 6/8 standard has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8 centimetres and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10 centimetres around.
This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height. Most standards are between 2 - 3.5 metres tall, but this is just an average. We cannot tell you how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.
Read our full terms and conditions here.
Delivery: Any order with a standard sized tree in it has a basic delivery charge of £6.50 + vat.
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 trees must be watered in dry weather while they are 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 large ornamental trees to gardeners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying specimen trees 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.
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.
