Alnus rubra

Red Alder trees, Alnus rubra, will grow vigorously in very wet soil, but they do need full sun. It is a slender, elegant tree with a neat, cone shaped canopy unlike some other Alders, it doesn't tend to produce suckers. Alnus rubra is quite decorative in spring, when the bare branches are festooned with long red catkins. Red alder gets its name from these catkins and from its wood, which flushes red when a fresh piece is split and exposed to the air. The green leaves are crinkled and serrated, turning mid-yellow in autumn. It can reach a height of 30 metres in ideal conditions, but 20 metres is more normal. The tallest Red Alder on record was 32 metres tall. You buy younger Red Alder saplings here.

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 rubra: Red Alder is native to the West coast of America, where it is also known as Oregon Alder. It was introduced to Britain in the late 1800's. Like the rest of the Alder family, Red Alder has symbiotic bacteria living in nodules on its roots that improve the soil by releasing water-soluble nitrogen based compounds. Alders are especially useful for quickly binding loose, rocky soil. Red Alder is the traditional wood for smoking salmon in America.

Notes on planting Red Alder trees:
Red Alder trees need a sunny site with moist or wet soil. They prefer rich, heavy clay but they will also grow on very poor, degraded soils. They will grow near the sea and although they are hardy across Britain, they aren't ideal for exposed sites or frost pockets in the North-East, where they will probably suffer some damage from late spring frosts. Common Alder and Grey Alder are the hardiest of the group.
Red Alder will not grow in the shade or on chalk.

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:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Roundup weed killer. 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.

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.