Table of Contents
What is a Standard Tree?
A standard tree is measured by its girth in CM at 1m above the ground, not by its height. It branches at around 1.8m
What is a Half-Standard Tree?
A half standard tree branches at around 1.2m – 1.5m. This size is popular with garden fruit trees.
What is the difference between Standard Trees and Saplings?
Standard trees are measured by their girth 1 metre above the ground, and young saplings are measured by height.
Therefore, a 6/8cm Standard tree is much bigger than an 60/80cm sapling tree or hedge plant.
A full standard tree, known as a standard, with the unfortunate industry abbreviation std, has a clear stem at least 1.8 tall before it branches.
It is typically at least 2.5 metres tall, however, unlike younger trees listed in the Hedging & Saplings section, full standard trees are not graded by their height, but by their girth in centimetres at 1 metre above ground level.
Therefore, a 6/8cm girth standard tree is taller than the same tree sold as a 60/80cm tall sapling.
A half-standard tree (which is also a popular option for fruit trees) has a clear stem 1.2m – 1.5m tall before it branches.
A quarter-standard tree has a clear stem under 1.2m tall before it branches.
A “feathered” tree (abbreviation: fth) has branches all the way down close to ground level, and is typically measured by its height.
Trees of the same grade will be roughly in proportion when planted.
Which size of standard tree should I buy?
We mostly deliver two sizes of standard:
- 6/8cm Girth = Light standards: cheaper & easier to care for, tend to establish even better.
- 8/10cm Girth = Regular standards: instant impact, good aftercare (watering) is even more important.
We generally recommend the 6/8cm girth light standards, especially for larger planting projects.
Conifers and many evergreen trees are sold in the small sizes that establish best, the only tall evergreens we deliver are rootballed Yew and larger potted privet.
It is always vital to water new trees during their first summer, but smaller trees are better at coping with “low” maintenance.
If you need instant impact, or if you are only planting a few trees in a location where they will be well looked after, then go for the 8/10cm girth regular standards.
- Standard trees are larger, more mature, grown and selected for the straightness of their trunk and high branch formation. They give you instant impact.
- Young sapling trees from the hedging section can be trained into standard trees, given a few years and usually some pruning to ensure they have a single, straight trunk.
The named, ornamental cultivars of a given species are typically only available in standard sizes.
For example, you can buy wild Field Maple, Acer campestre, as both young saplings and large standards, but you can only buy an ornamental Maple variety, say Acer campestre ‘Royal Ruby’, as a standard.