DescriptionPlanting InstructionsAfter CareDelivery & Guarantee
Cherry Plum Hedge Plants - Delivered by Mail Order from the Nursery with a 1 Year Guarantee
The Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera is an untidy looking small tree with a shaggy canopy that makes an excellent country hedging plant. It will grow on most well drained soils and makes edible fruit.
Cherry Plum will reach 6-8 metres if it grows freely as a tree.
The plants on this page are young saplings, ideal for planting as hedging or in woodland projects. You can also buy large, ornamental Purple Cherry Plum trees here, which have a much tidier canopy.
Browse all of our other varieties of wild and ornamental Cherry Blossom trees for sale.
Cherry Plum hedge plants are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March).
Choosing a size:
When you are ordering Cherry Plum plants for a hedge, we generally recommend that you use plants that are graded at 60/80cms. They are cheaper than large plants, easier to handle and they will establish well in poor conditions.
Use the larger, 90/120cms high plants if you want a taller hedge quickly or for instant impact as a specimen tree.
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).
Spacing a Cherry Plum hedge:
Plant Cherry Plum hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cms apart.
You can also plant Cherry Plum at 5 plants per metre in a staggered double row,
with 33 cms between each plant along the row and 40cms between the rows.
General description of Cherry Plum plants:
Prunus cerasifera, is a large shrub or small tree that is one of the first woody plants to flower each spring, starting in February and usually continuing until April. It has a few thorns. Its small, red plums are edible, about an inch wide and are ripe in July. They are sweet and quite tasty, like a greengage with a less intense flavour.
It makes an equally good hedge plant and screening tree. When it is grown as a tree, it develops a twiggy, wild looking canopy that is good for blocking sight and tends to attract nesting birds.
History & uses of Prunus cerasifera:
This tree is known as the Cherry Plum or Myrobalan Plum.
Growing Cherry Plum plants:
Cherry Plum will grow well in any well drained soil, including chalk. They are tolerant of partial shade and exposed sites, except on the coast.
Prepare your site before planting:
Native hedge plants like Cherry Plum 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. The instruction to cut the plants in half after planting only applies to thorny native hedging and plants in the conservation hedge mix: this isn't necessary for Cherry Plum.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.
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 have planted your Cherry Plum hedge, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.
Trimming Country hedge plants:
From the winter after planting onwards, your young hedge should be trimmed lightly once every winter, until it is mature.
When it is fully grown, you can clip it at anytime. A good time to clip mature Cherry Plum hedges is after it bears fruit in summer.
If you want to get decent crops of fruit from your hedge, either trim it hard every other year or trim alternating sides of the hedge each year.
Special notes on caring for Cherry Plum hedges:
Cherry Plum 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.
Your 12 Month Guarantee
If any plants die within a year, we replace them if you have followed our instructions. You only pay for
the delivery of the replacements.
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 March. 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 most bareroot plants is £9.49 + VAT.
If your order contains any standard sized trees, fruit trees or pot-grown plants, then the delivery charge is £12.55 + VAT in TOTAL.
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.
