Wild Bird Cherry Standard Trees

Bird cherry trees, Prunus padus, are fast growing, native, deciduous trees. In early summer, they have strands of small, almond scented, white flowers. These ripen into dark fruit which are popular with birds. As with most cherries, the foliage colours beautifully in autumn. They are suitable for medium sized gardens and places with poor soil (except shallow chalk), although they need full sun to flower really well. Bird Cherry trees can reach a height of about 10 metres. You can also buy several varieties of cultivated, ornamental flowering cherry tree here, including the Purple leaf Bird Cherry 'Colorata'.

History & uses of Prunus padus: Known as hackberries, the fruit are edible, but they taste bitter and you wouldn't want to eat them unless you cooked them up with plenty of sugar. The stone in the centre of the fruit is poisonous and should be removed before cooking. The young spring leaves can be steamed or boiled and then eaten.

How Standard Trees are Measured: All our standards are graded by their girth in centimetres - taken 1 metre above ground level. 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. In any variety an 8/10 is taller than a 6/8 but the heights between different varieties can vary hugely. So standard trees are roughly 2.5 - 4.5 metres tall.

Notes on planting Bird Cherry trees:
Bird Cherry trees will grow well in most well-drained conditions. They are hardy and happy on infertile soil or sites where there is competition from other trees. They will not grow so well if the site is on shallow chalk, but they are tolerant of limestone and alkaline soil in general.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the site where you plant a tree several months in advance. Kill the weeds first: for tough weeds like nettles, brambles and ground elder, you will usually need a glyphosate based weed-killer to get rid of them. When you dig the soil over, remove stones and other rubbish and mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades.

Watch our video on how to plant a tree for full instructions.
Remember to water establishing trees during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Tree Planting accessories:
You can buy a tree planting pack with a wooden stake & rubber tie to support the tree and a mulch mat with pegs to protect the soil around the base of your tree from weeds and drying out.
We recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all new trees, especially if your soil is poorly fertile.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £6.50 + 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.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

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.

Misc	Wildlife Value
Shade	Partial Shade
Area	Exposed Windy Areas
Soil	Alkaline/Chalky
Type	Native, Screening
Also Good	Autumn Colour

	NUMBER OF PLANTS
SIZES	1-2	3-9	10+
6/8 std Bareroot	Plenty of Stock£29.95	Plenty of Stock£27.95	Plenty of Stock£25.95
8/10 std Bareroot	Plenty of Stock£39.95	Plenty of Stock£37.95	Plenty of Stock£35.95

Prunus padus Trees

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Wild Bird Cherry Standard Trees