Japanese Larch Tree

Larix kaempferi / leptolepis: Bareroot Japanese Larch Sapling Trees

Delivered by Mail Order Direct from our Nursery with a Year Guarantee

The Japanese Larch is a deciduous (non-evergreen) conifer. It has a vibrant autumn colour that lasts for a few weeks, as the needles take some time to fall. It looks really bright in spring, when the needles are grass green and the branches are studded with small, creamy young cones and male flowers.
In areas where canker is a problem for the European Larch*, this disease resistant tree is often planted instead.

You can interplant with European Larch to give natural looking variety to a mixed stand of trees.
Browse our variety of large trees, or our full range of trees.

Delivery season: Larches are delivered bareroot during late autumn and winter, approximately November-March inclusive.
Choosing a size: Small plants are cheaper and more forgiving of less than ideal aftercare, so they are best for a big planting project. If instant impact is your priority, or if you are only buying a few plants for ornamental use in a place where it is convenient to water them well in their first year, then you may as well use bigger ones. All our sapling trees are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Features:

• Height: To 20-30m
• Soil: Well drained, moist, high altitude sun.
• Use: Coast, soil reclamation, timber, mixed woodland
• Attractive new foliage in Spring, yellow autumn colour.
• Bareroot delivery only: November-March
  

Growing Japanese Larches

Chalky soil is not suitable. Your trees are happy in exposed, wind-blasted places and at altitude. Their native range is mountains where rainfall is high and drainage is good, so they dislike dry sites and love a moist soil, but not low-lying areas that get waterlogged in winter.
Larches are vigorous trees that need plenty of light to look good. They will tolerate quite a lot of shade, but they will grow sparsely and look disappointing.

Did You Know?

Larix kaempferi's wild range is a just small part of Honshu, the central island of Japan. Their Japanese name is Karamatsu. It is now grown all over the world in temperate regions and has been used widely in British forestry.

It was introduced by John Veitch in 1861. The name kaempferi is in honour of the German scientist Engelbert Kaempfer, who visited Japan for a few years in the 1680's and 90's. Apart from a handful of port quarters, the country was closed to foreigners during this period, so his visit was exceptional and his writings were some of the only information that Western world had about Japan until the Americans nudged the country to open up with gunboats in 1854.

*European larches of Alpine origin seem to be susceptible for canker and are also being replaced with other strains of the species from parts of Europe where resistance is high.