Golden Alder Trees

Alnus Incana Aurea

The Golden Alder, Alnus incana Aurea, is a beautiful ornamental variety of Grey Alder. Its season of interest is mainly spring. The bare branches are decked for about 3 weeks with sumptuous pink catkins in February-March, which provide food for hungry bees. The leaves appear next, in a verdant display of pale yellow-green that contrasts nicely with the catkins, which keep their pink hue until early summer. This yellow leaved Alder is smaller and tidier than its parent, Grey Alder. Mature trees have quite a compact canopy, not more than 5 metres wide. Like all alders, they are relatively short-lived trees, living for about 80 years. Alnus incana Aurea doesn't have the strong suckering habit of its parent, which makes for a neater looking tree. It is extremely hardy and will grow in any soil apart from chalk. It especially loves wet, waterlogged sites with plenty of sun. Unlike the wild Alders, Golden Alder is quite slow growing and relatively small, suitable for the average sized garden where it can reach a maximum height of 10 metres.

Browse our variety of alder trees or see our full range of garden trees for sale.

How Standard Trees are Measured:

All our standards, are graded by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level (basically, their trunk's waist measurement). They aren't measured by their height, which will vary. 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 around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height. Standard trees are 2.5 - 4.5 metres tall (on average) when they arrive; they are the most mature trees that you can buy from us.

History & uses of Alnus incana Aurea: Like the other Alders, the roots of this tree will improve the soil around it by fixing inert, atmospheric Nitrogen available into water-soluble compounds. Holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit