Native tree help

I am in the process of buying a new house with 2.5 acres of garden! Part of it has to be made into native woodland according to the planning application to change it from agricultural to garden use. What sort of thing would you class as native as I understand it depends how far back in time you go��
I could also do with some help finding a cheap tree supplier as I think I�m going to need lots of them!

 

Hi Claw and welcome. Lucky you with so much land to go at. Have a look at this website - it might help. http://www.british-trees.com/guide/home.htm

 

You might enjoy reading 'The History of the British Countryside' by Oliver Rackham. It will give you a different approach to the plants that you might like to grow compared to standard gardening and/or ecology books.

Cheap tree suppliers: well there are loads of them - as long as you are after saplings, from 30p upwards!! I have used a small company called Tree Heritage before with some success, and there is King & Co (Braintree), or Rochfords near Hertford who are larger suppliers.They may also be able to help you with design though - and I don't mean this disrespectfully to either company - I personally wouldn't go there.

If you are going to make 'native woodland' you should ideally use local genotypes to maintain diversity. These can be more awkward to source, and nurseries are not always honest or helpful in this respect. However, if you have the time then the fun way to go about it would be to pick seeds from local plants, and any relic ancient woodland close to you (Hatfield for example). NOTE: It is illegal to dig up wild plants unless you are the landowner or otherwise are authorised to do so, so for gawd's sake don't go in there with a trowel!

What I would definitely recommend though is that you do some reading up first. The kind of plants you will probably end up with are not eyecatching easy sellers for the garden centre; they hide their light under a bushel. The design should be driven by the ecology of the site before aesthetic considerations. Trees are long-lived and deserve a bit of careful consideration both for their long term wellbeing, and for their contribution to the environment.

 

Oh God I've done it again, I edited my post and ended up putting it in quotes as well.

 

Have used tree heritage jazid, I had my two front trees from them. Whoppers at a good price :D

 

Glad to hear it Mr BM. Always good to support the smaller nurseries.

 

Hi Claw, with regards to books and info upon trees. There is a really fine book written by Thomas Pakenham called "Meetings With Remarkable Trees". Its not purely native trees but rather individual trees that have generally been growing in the UK for hundreds of years (perhaps meaning "native" depending upon your opinion) and have a story to tell, if you like. If you have a bit of a passion for trees and some spare time, it has to be a highly recommended read!
Kind regards and good luck with your garden...
Roy

 

Thanks everyone for your speedy replys comments and suggestions. As soon as we move in I'll try to post some pictures of the garden and what I end up doing with it! Is there a place for this sort of thing?

Claw

 

Yup, garden projects or members gallery. I think I speak for all of us when I say we're looking forward, and to wish you well in your new home!

 

A project after my own interests!

I started growing pyrus pyraster (wild or common pear) from seed a few years ago after reading an article about their disappearance from the English country side (I spotted the fruit lying in the road and realized we had one in our neighbours hedge). Some debate whether these are truely indigenous - may have come with the Romans - but they made up an important part of the English woodlands, and were used extensively in the making of fine furniture (thus their disappearance I suppose). Their numbers have been reduced to a countable, catalogued number of specimens - and most of these have preservation orders on them. (Ref to: Cassell's Trees of Britain and Northern Europe, pg. 519)

I am planting out the first of our 3 year olds this autumn as part of a hedge restoration project, with a few going into our woodland. Eventually I hope to get a few of our neighbours to plant out a couple in their hedges/woods too.

Interested? I would be happy to pass on 2 or 3 of our 1 year olds for you to grow on. It would be wonderful to think I could get these further than our small valley!

 

Very interested Rumple. I could plant a couple in some young hedgerows in Bucks if that sounded worthwhile?

 

Jazid - It does indeed.

I'll send a pm to make arrangements? Rumple