Lime Trees

Lime trees are only delivered and planted bareroot during late Autumn to early Spring, from November to March. 
 

This is the best time to plant any tree, because bareroot trees are cheaper, easier to carry and plant, and tend to establish even better than their pot grown equivalents. 
 

Watch our Tree Planting Video for instructions.
Although optional, we strongly recommend using Rootgrow.
 

Aftercare:
 

Remember: the two biggest killers of recently transplanted trees are underwatering, and being choked by weeds and grass.

1. Regular, thorough watering is vital during dry weather in their first spring and summer, and highly recommended the following summer, especially if there is a heat wave. Do not overwater, only when the top couple of inches of soil dries out.
2. Either remove weeds and grass by hand periodically, or use some form of mulch to suppress them.
    

Tree Planting Accessories
 

Standards that are 6/8cm in girth and upwards are quite big trees, so they need a tree planting stake and a tree tie (with a buffer between the tree and the stake) during their first couple of years. 

A mulch mat is will suppress weeds & grass, and preserve moisture: remember that dry soil and competition with weeds are the two biggest killers of new trees.
Even with a mat, you should remove anything that manages to grow up between the mat and the trunk in late spring and summer.

You can buy those items separately, or save money with our Tree Planting Pack.
 

You definitely need a tree guard if there are deer or rabbits about. 
In urban areas with no wild animals, tree guards are great for protecting against mowers and strimmers.
For that purpose, you can cut one tree guard into several pieces about 20-25cm long, to act as skirting around the base of the tree.
 

Mycorrhizal Fungi
 

We cannot recommend using Rootgrow fungi enough: it makes a huge difference, especially with larger trees, which are scrambling to regrow the root systems that they lost when we dug them up, in order to support their now top-heavy growth above ground. 
 

Mycorrhizal fungi assist the roots in accessing soil nutrients and water, and protect the roots from soil critters.
In return, the tree shares sugar with them, and the result can be over 50% more growth above ground!

Lime trees make up many of the UK’s ancient trees, though most are found in sweeping rows lining pathways and gardens. Both the common European lime and small leaf lime can live for over 500 years. In fact, the oldest lime tree in the UK is over 1,000 years old and still stands at Westonbirt Arboretum.

While lime trees are fairly common around the British Isles, the wide array of natural hybrids is less well known. Our selection of lime trees for sale includes all three native limes, which reach between 15 and 35 metres tall after around 20 years. Limes can be easily managed in any space through regular coppicing, pleaching, or traditional pollarding.

Lime flowers, better known as linden flowers, are a traditional herbal remedy for coughs and indigestion and are even said to help reduce anxiety. The sweetly honey fragranced flowers appear in early spring, dripping with sticky nectar. For adventurous gardeners, lime wood is fast-growing and incredibly easy to carve and lathe for detailed crafts.
 

Are Lime Trees bad for Bees?
 

There have been suspicions that they, especially T. tomentosa, can kill bees, which famously get "drunk" on their nectar and pass out for a while.
A 2017 review of the literature indicates that the death of bees around limes is not caused by the trees themselves, but rather a lack of nearby alternatives, mainly in urban areas.
Limes are very attractive to bees, who will continue to search their flowers for nectar when it is all but finished if there is not much else around.