Area	Coastal Areas, Exposed Windy Areas
Soil	Poor/Dry, Wet
Type	Screening
Also Good	Autumn Colour

Alnus rubra (Standard)

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	Buy 3 or more bareroot trees and save

SIZES	1-2	3-9	10+
	Prices include VAT

See our plant size guide

OUT OF STOCK - SOLD OUT UNTIL AUTUMN 2021

£34.66

Alder, Red - Standard needs...

Tree Guard - Heavy Duty
The best guard for an established tree or a bare root standard

From £4.02
Stakes - Tree Planting
Tree Stake - 150cm x 5cm Rounded & treated. Necessary for all standard ornamental trees. Also fo

From £5.76
Rootgrow
For healthy plants and trees, if you only do one thing, use Rootgrow when you plant them. Mycorrhi

From £6.00
Tree Planting Pack
All the accessories you need to plant a large tree, i.e. any Ornamental Standard or Bush or Half-Sta

From £10.19

Alnus rubra Trees

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.

After you plant a tree, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

If your trees do need pruning, it is ideal to do this in winter. Always hire a tree surgeon to remove large branches.

Special notes on caring for Red Alder trees:
Red Alder is a very tough tree that shouldn't need special attention once it has established.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: Our standard delivery charges are:

Small box (Orders containing only seedlings or rooted cuttings) £7.20 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Standard box (Bareroots up to 1.2m) £11.40 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Large box (Pots up to and incl. 7.5L) £15.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £100 inc VAT)
Trees & Hedging (Bareroots & trees 1.2m+) £18.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £120 inc VAT)
Pallets (Root balls, large pots, trees etc) £60.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £240 inc VAT)

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.

Ashridge Nurseries is working as normal and the despatching of bareroot plants is underway.

You can see Current Delivery Information Here. We are now taking orders for delivery in February 2021.

Bulbs in the Green are available to order today.

Order now for delivery in February/March.

Red Alder Large Trees

Alnus rubra (Standard)

Tree Guard - Heavy Duty

From £4.02

Stakes - Tree Planting

From £5.76

Rootgrow

From £6.00

Tree Planting Pack

From £10.19

Alnus rubra Trees

How Standard Trees are Measured:

History & uses of Alnus rubra:

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Curried Carrot & Coriander Soup

LATEST VIDEO

Sign up!

Ashridge Nurseries is working as normal and the despatching of bareroot plants is underway.

You can see Current Delivery Information Here. We are now taking orders for delivery in February 2021.

Bulbs in the Green are available to order today.

Order now for delivery in February/March.

Red Alder Large Trees

Alnus rubra (Standard)

Tree Guard - Heavy Duty

From £4.02

Stakes - Tree Planting

From £5.76

Rootgrow

From £6.00

Tree Planting Pack

From £10.19

Alnus rubra Trees

How Standard Trees are Measured:

History & uses of Alnus rubra:

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Curried Carrot & Coriander Soup

LATEST VIDEO

Sign up!

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?