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Browse all of our other Rowan trees, Whitebeam & Wild Service trees here.
Edulis is a native variety of Rowan that, as well as looking great, is especially suited for a working fruit and vegetable garden. Like other Rowans, Edulis is a medium sized, deciduous tree with vigorous, slender and fairly upright growth that can easily be kept neat and tidy. It can grow well in dappled shade. Puffy clumps of little white flowers appear in May and develop into red berries, which are just as popular with birds as they are with people. All Rowans have edible berries, once they have been cooked. Edulis berries are the least bitter and therefore the more versatile - as well as jelly to go with venison or poultry, they also make the best jam and wine. Top Tip: The secret to success with Rowan berries is to freeze them before you use them.
Edulis is one of our most adventurous trees and can be found growing high up on windswept mountains. It is probably for this reason that they have sweeter fruit - they need to give the birds that spread their seeds an incentive to fly all the way up there! Rowans are famous for their autumn colour. The leaves begin to change to glowing orange, red and yellow embers at their own pace, with some green leaves remaining into mid-autumn. The clusters of cherry red berries are a great decorative feature from mid-summer and all the elements reach a crescendo around the beginning of October.
Edulis is the most deserving of the misnomer Mountain Ash, as it is the Rowan tree most commonly found at high altitude. Rowans, however, are not even related to Ash trees. The link possibly stems from the similarity of their pinnate leaves or perhaps because Ash burns very well and Rowan turns fiery in autumn. The Latin word Fraxinus, meaning firelight, was therefore used to describe both trees for different reasons.
Sorbus aucuparia Edulis is happy in acidic soils, even around pine trees. Alkaline soil will reduce the life span of the tree and we recommend not planting it at all on chalky ground, which kills off the friendly fungi that a Rowan's roots depend on to provide them with minerals. A little over 10 metres, 35-40 feet, is average for a Rowan and it will get there quite quickly. The bark is a top snack for rabbits and deer, so they will need protection.
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.