Lacklustre Rowan

Hello,

Have this Rowan in my garden. It's been here for ages least as long as I have (almost 7 years), and it doesn't seem to have grown at all. It's support has long since rusted away.

Is the under planting around it holding it back?

 

Is it possible it is hitting some natural barrier and finding it harder to grow through it?

 

Maybe. But in the main it's fairly loose sandy soil. Maybe once the border is clearer in winter I could have a dig about..

 

Looks healthy to me, I would leave it (if I wanted such).

 

Oh yeah, I'd like to keep it and grow to it's full potential.

Is it worth re-staking? It moves a fair bit about in the wind, still

 

You need experts for that. But if it has been there a while (years) I think not. Glad you want to keep it as I love trees, but no space.

 

Yeah. I just wish it would grow.. just seems stunted. Wondering if improving the soil could help

 

Sandy soil isn't ideal for them, even if you have proper, regular rainfall. They need decent, moisture retentive soil to thrive.
However, it doesn't look that bad to me - looks healthy. The surrounding planting will take moisture, but unless the tree is visibly dying, it'll be ok. It just won't reach it's full potential, or will take far longer to get there.
They take a fair number of years to get to full size, even with ideal conditions, and if it's a named variety rather than the native one, it may be smaller anyway.

 

I have a mature one growing on a steep slope - very poor stony and shallow soil. It's a good size with plenty of blossom/berries.

 

The area around the base of the tree looks clear and those perennials nearby will have shallow roots so I don't think they are affecting your Rowan's growth. I have two Rowans here, on shallow, sandy soil. One is a mature Sorbus aucuparia which has been here for many years and is a good size, the other I planted about 10 years ago and it's only about 9 feet high but it's a different variety, S. Vilmorinii, known to be smaller.

Your tree looks healthy as it's flowered and got berries. The orange colour of the berries at this stage suggests that is not the common, S. aucuparia, so it may be a smaller variety. Any improvement you can make to your soil will help to improve moisture retention and growth but after seven years, staking will be unnecessary as it will have sufficient root anchorage now.

 

I've got two rowans on my sandy soil as well. They are varieties that are meant to be a bit smaller than the native one, Sorbus olivacea and S. gonggashanica. I bought them as young whips about 12" high and they're coming on well. Gonggashanica is definitely slower than olivacea.

They have a national collection of Sorbus at Ness Botanic Garden (not far from @Plantminded I guess) and the natural soil there is free-draining and sandy so while they possibly improve it before planting, I don't think it's a problem.

 

Yes, Ness is very close to me @JennyJB, I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years and based a lot of my planting on what grows there. Sorbus are quite happy in sandy soil and don’t need lots of water once they’re established. I’ve never watered mine even during the drought a couple of years ago.

 

Superb. The wealth of knowledge you all have is invaluable.

Should I remove some whippy branches which are emerging at a couple of foot high, or leave it alone?

Close to Ness too. The kids love going there - they love the big Monkey Puzzle tree. Never realised about the Sorbus collection. Will have to have a look (though not in spring, as I don't like the smell of it's blossom too much)

 

Rowans will certainly grown in lighter soil if they have adequate moisture, because the thing they need most, but they won't thrive as easily, or grow as quickly as they would on peatier, more acidic soil that hold moisture better.
They grow on boulders/crags on the lower slopes of our hills here, simply because of that consisten enough rainfall, but they won't grow as well as they would in more hospitable ground.

I have a seedling [ from seed I collected from a present from the birds] and grown on over last year. I'd assumed the tree was probably a native one, but it's a white berried type. It was still in a 3 inch pot this spring, and was re potted then. It's now about a foot tall, and has had no care other than being watered once or twice. That's where the conditions make a difference.
As I said, your tree looks fine, but conditions will always dictate the speed and quality of their growth.

 

You can prune off the low branches if you want it to have a clear trunk with room for other things to grow around it.

The sorbus at Ness are in various places around the garden if I remember rightly (it's a few years since I was last there) not all together, so they're not obviously a collection.