Cornubia Cotoneaster, Large Trees

Cotoneaster Cornubia Standard Trees

Cotoneaster Cornubia is a large, vigorous shrub that we have grown with a single stem into a small tree. Suitable for any soil with decent drainage. It has clouds of little white flowers, attractive red berries and loads of winter interest. The long, narrow leaves are semi-evergreen, meaning that the mottled yellow and tan red autumn foliage stays on the tree through the winter in most parts of Britain, unless the weather is exceptionally harsh. If you have a sheltered garden in the middle of a city, you are pretty certain to get a good screen all year round. Cotoneaster cornubia produces masses of little white flowers in summer which are a glorious sight, foaming out of the tree and attracting as many bees and butterflies as a Buddleia. These flowers develop into almost equally abundant red fruit in thick clusters which will brighten up your garden's winter scene and attract hungry birds. Your tree will form a loose, rounded crown all by itself. If you need to prune any stray branches, do so between December and February.

Cornubia trees can reach a height of about 6 metres.

Browse all of our other varieties of Cotoneaster shrubs.

• Decorative red berries held into winter.
• Semi-evergreen.
• Neater, more rounded canopy than the wild species
• Edible but flavourless fruit.
• Max. Height: 6m
• Bareroot Delivery: Nov-Mar
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

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.

Did You Know?  

This tree was bred in Exbury gardens around 1930. It is listed as both Cotoneaster frigidus Cornubia and Cotoneaster x watereri Cornubia. Cotoneaster trees are distantly related to apples and the fruits are edible, though not wildly tasty. 

Notes on planting Cotoneaster Cornubia trees:
Cotoneasters will thrive in almost any soil. They like heavy clay as long as the site isn't waterlogged in winter (ideal sites on clay would be a raised bank or a slope). They will also tolerate poor, chalky or dry and sandy soils.
They are happy on the coast, so long as there is a decent ratio of organic matter to sand in the soil and they certainly aren't fazed by city pollution.

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 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:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass.
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 suggest that you use mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all newly planted large trees: if your soil quality is poor, we strongly recommend it.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser.