Sizing Guide for Plants & Trees

Hedging Plant Sizes:
All hedging plants are measured by their height in centimetres above ground level when planted.
If watering and mulching your new hedge is going to be difficult, we strongly suggest that you buy the smallest sized plants. Little plants are much more likely to succeed in tough conditions than large ones. It is also easier to get a perfectly bushy hedge from the ground up when you start with smaller plants.

Ornamental Tree Sizes:

Please note that unless otherwise stated all our ornamental trees are supplied bare-rooted which means they are sent to you at a mutually convenient time during the planting season which runs from November to March/April

All the trees in this category are measured as "standards". This is the girth of the tree (i.e. its waist measurement) at 1 metre above ground level, shown in centimetres.
So, a 6/8 sized standard tree has a trunk that is between 6 and 8 centimetres in circumference, one metre from the ground.
As a rough average, a 6/8 standard is over 2 metres tall, while an 8/10 standard is between 3 and 4 metres, but this will vary depending on the type of tree. Heights are measured when planted.

Fruit Tree Sizes:
Most of our fruit trees are sold in 3 sizes.

• The half-standard is the largest, has a straight trunk of about 1.20 metres and a branched head and will mature into a tree about 4 metres high.
• The bush is simply a fruit tree with a trunk about 60cms tall that then splits into the main branches. This matures into a more compact tree, about 3 metres high.
• The maiden is the smallest size of fruit tree you can start with. If you want to grow fans or espaliers, you need to begin with a maiden.

Apple & Pear trees are also sold as ready made cordons.

You can find information regarding the rootstocks we use for our fruit trees here. 

Soft Fruit Sizes:
These plants aren't measured by height because they are such low bushes & some of them need to be chopped back before delivery anyway.

• Raspberries: Bareroot canes, pruned to 40 cms.
• Strawberries: Last year's rooted runners.
• All other soft fruit: 1-2 year old plants.

Rose Sizes:
All of our roses were budded or grafted 2 years before you receive them. Both bareroot and pot grown roses are pruned down to about 30 cms high when we deliver them.