Reputable Online Tree Nursery Needed

Hi All, we have been trying to decide what tree to plant in our garden as a memorial to my wife's late stepmum. After smelling the intense aroma of burnt sugar from the Katsura trees in our local town hall gardens we decided that's what we want.

None of our local nurseries stock it and a quick look online reveals a big price range from c£22 to £50, we have the money put aside for this but want to make sure we get a healthy specimen.

Can anyone recommend online suppliers that they trust?

Thanks in advance

 

I would seriously recommend go local, When I moved to this tiny house thought it needed a tree, decided on an crab apple tree quite a job to locate the culinary variety John Downey but managed to obtain it locally, It had a good root system these things you cannot ascertain when you purchase online also if there is any problem, money back. a good tree is going to cost you upwards of £35 you need to be sure of what you are getting. I have a cupboard of crab apple jellies, etc was a real success. Oh. PS your local nursery may well order it for you

 

I have had no problem growing these from seed if you don't mind going the long route. It's nice watching them come along and they are pretty little things. You could probably get a few seeds from your local trees.

 

I've used mailordertrees.co.uk quite a bit and always been pleased with their plants

 

If were me I would grow from seed as I love growing stuff from seed, particularly trees and shrubs but I think my wife would like something a little more instant

 

Many thanks, I've seen these recommended on here before

 

I have bought trees in that price range, from different suppliers, and generally at the cheaper end they are a lot smaller (doesn't necessarily follow of course).

Trees are traditionally sold based on their girth at XXX height from the ground - which may be easy for the nurseryman to measure but is as good as useless for the punter ...

Having said all that I have stopped buying the bigger trees (usually 15' tall or so) and now buy from the nurseries that sell small ones because I think they establish more quickly and get away better. If you want a long tall stem, before the tree branches, you might be better off buying a taller / more expensive one though as it will have been grown as a "standard" with probably a clear 6' of stem.

I would expect all quality nurseries to give you a replacement-plant service if your plant doesn't survive so, assuming that, don't worry about cost - on that point at least!

I have used, and been very pleased with, www.mailordertrees.co.uk (smaller plants - the link above says "Half standard, 2m, £30") and www.ashridgetrees.co.uk (can't see a Katsura on their site) they tend of offer 6/8 Std for around £40 and 8/10 std for around £50 which IME are about 3M and 4M respectively (and are full standards, not half standard).

mailordertrees do Special Offers that vary quite often. Their BOGOFF or buy-second-half-price are quite common (none at the moment - typical!) and it would not surprise me if they offered a Katsura as one of them - so you might pick up a second tree for not-very-much, if you can wait a bit and look out for an Offer.

I have had some nice (and surprisingly large,) plants from www.panglobalplants.com - they have more unusual things, and don't appear to have any Katsura either ... and Bluebell Nursery (www.bluebellnursery.com/catalogue/trees/Cercidiphyllum) who have a dozen or so different varieties. Their prices are "good" provided you are after something a bit more unusual, but their plants tend to be quite small - so around £50 for a 1M plant in a 3L container.

For cheap I would try Buckingham Nurseries. Their plants are usually very small (they don't have Katsura either, sorry!) - e.g. similar sorts of trees around £10 each but probably only 1' - 2' tall in, probably, a 2L pot but I have had plants off them that grow and get away really quickly, hence I am leaning towards "plant small for speed" (they do do some larger ones, similar to Mail Order Trees around £20-£30 for a 1M plant) - www.hedging.co.uk

 

Oh, one more - I haven't used them, but they do seem to list somewhat more unusual things, at reasonable prices

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk

 

My local tree supplier http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/index.html no longer appears to list them, otherwise I would have called in and posted a pic of what they had in stock.

@Bilbo675 If you list the suppliers you've found, perhaps there's GC members locally who could check them out?

 

I can recommend 'Bluebell Nursery'...really good service and even rang before my order was despatched offering growing advice,very helpful

 

I've had a few trees on their special offers including Prunus Royal Burgundy and Acer Palmatum which were both over 6ft tall and only cost £14.99 each (and there's been nothing wrong with them) so well worth watching the offers.