Bird Cherry

Prunus Padus Hedging

Bird Cherry, Prunus padus, is a small tree or large shrub that makes a good country hedging plant for very poor dry soils, as long as there is plenty of sun.
Bird Cherry will reach 10 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 larger Bird Cherry trees here.
Browse all of our other varieties of wild and cultivated Cherry Blossom trees for sale. Alternatively, view our selection of native hedging or see our full range of hedging plants.

Bird Cherry hedge plants are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March).

Choosing a size:
When you are ordering Bird Cherry plants for a hedge, we generally recommend that you use plants that are graded at 40/60cms or 60/80cms. They are cheaper than large plants, easier to handle and they will establish well in poor conditions.
Use the larger 120/150cm tall plants if you want a mature hedge quickly or for instant impact as a specimen tree or shrub.
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Spacing a Bird Cherry hedge:
Plant Bird Cherry hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cms apart.
You can also plant Bird Cherry 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 Bird Cherry plants:
The Bird Cherry is native cherry tree that grows quickly to a final height of about 10 metres. It has cone-shaped strings of scented white flowers in May/June. The dark fruit that ripen in autumn are edible but taste quite bitter; with a good dose of sugar, you can experiment with using them in jams, but we think that it's best to just leave them for the birds. The leaves look great in autumn. Bird Cherry Trees grow almost anywhere except on wet soils. As with all cherries, pruning should be done in summer to reduce the risk of bacterial canker.