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Tupelo, Black Gum Seed
Nyssa sylvaticaPrice range: £2.00 through £4.50 inc. VATTupelo or Nyssa sylvatica is a neat deciduous tree forming a symmetrical pyramid shape, later spreading. Insignificant flowers are a source of nectar for insects. The autumn colour is spectacular turning purple, orange, yellow and red.
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Turkey Oak Seed
Quercus cerrisPrice range: £8.00 through £24.00 inc. VATTurkey Oak is a large deciduous tree and one of the fastest growing oaks. It thrives on chalky soils and near the sea. The leaves are coarsely toothed and slightly rough to the touch and the acorns are bristly/hairy, looking like bad-hair-day hedgehogs. Mature trees have fissured and plated bark.
cup pic courtesy of Javier martin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
leaf and acorn Javier Martin, Public Domain
Not for forestry purposes.
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Turkish Hazel Seed
Corylus colurnaPrice range: £5.00 through £10.00 inc. VATTurkish Hazel is a remarkable deciduous tree with a striking symmetrical, pyramidal form. The corky, deeply fissured bark is also an attractive feature. It is the only hazel with a single straight trunk rather than being multi-stemmed. It doesn’t coppice like the European Hazel.
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Urn Gum/ Urn Pod Gum Seed
Eucalyptus urnigera£10.00 inc. VATEucalyptus urnigera, Urn Gum or Urn Pod Gum, is considered to be more decorative than E. gunnii. It makes a good specimen tree with silver-blue round juvenile and strap-like silver/grey-green adult leaves. Silver white bark matures to green-grey-white-gold-pink, mottled and peeling. Flowers are white in September from urn shaped buds and the seed cases are urn shaped too. The largest UK specimens grow in the warm damp weather of the Western Scottish Coast.
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Vine Maple Seed
Acer circinatumPrice range: £7.00 through £30.00 inc. VATVine Maple is a fine, medium sized deciduous tree with elegant and graceful habit. It can also be grown as a large, multi-stemmed shrub. The small, lime green flowers in tassels in spring are followed by red, winged, sycamore -like seeds. The fresh green leaves are rounded but lobed and turn fantastically bright in autumn – reds, oranges and yellows. It is perfect species for bonsai.
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Virginia Creeper Seed
Parthenocissus quinquefolia£5.00 inc. VATVirginia Creeper is a large growing, self-clinging vine ideal for high walls. The deciduous leaves are made up of 5 leaflets, mid veins of which are greyish. They turn a brilliant orange or scarlet in autumn. The fruits are a blue / black colour. It needs very little maintenance.
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Virginian Witch Hazel Seed
Hamamelis virginianaPrice range: £7.00 through £18.00 inc. VATVirginian Witch Hazel is the commercial source of Witch Hazel and can range from a large multi-stemmed shrub to a small tree. The flowers have a soft sweet perfume when they appear in the late autumn, with narrow pale yellow crumpled petals. They are a useful food source for late insects. The large simple leaves colour well in the autumn. Witch Hazel ointment is an extraction from the bark in alcohol and can be used to calm skin irritations and reduce inflammation.
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Wayfaring Tree Seed
Viburnum lantana£7.00 inc. VATThe Wayfaring Tree is a large native, deciduous shrub often seen in hedgerows. The ovate leaves and young shoots are covered with a dense tomentum or down. Leaves sometimes turn a dark crimson in autumn. The cream flowers appear in late spring and are followed by oblong fruits that mature from red to black.
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Wedding Cake Tree Seed
Cornus controversa£9.00 inc. VATThe Wedding Cake Tree when grown in the right conditions, semi-shade and dampish, can grow into quite a large shrub. It makes a wonderful architectural shape with tiered and layered branches. The cream flower heads in summer are flat too, adding to the layered effect. Good purple autumn colour. Slow growing and needs space to develop the right shape.
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White Mulberry Seed
Morus alba£6.00 inc. VATWhite Mulberry is a medium to small tree with lance shaped leaves up to 15cm wide that are the traditional food of silkworms. It grows fast and is quite short-lived – 50 to 80yrs on average. Catkins turn into whitish fruits in the early autumn, changing to pale pink later and are edible. If necessary, prune in late autumn or early winter, other wise the stems bleed.
caterpillar pics courtesy of Srithern /CC BY-SA via Wikimedia
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White or Downy Birch Seed
Betula pubescens£6.00 inc. VATDowny Birch thrives on a wider range of soils than Silver Birch, particularly damp soils. It is white barked and similar to Silver Birch but with a more upright growth habit. Younger specimens usually exhibit downy undersides to the leaves and on the stems. It is useful as a pioneer species for planting in difficult and exposed sites.
Not for forestry purposes.
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Whitebeam Seeds
Sorbus ariaPrice range: £5.00 through £10.00 inc. VATWhitebeam makes a neat, oval headed tree with grey hairy leaves. It is often planted in streets and gardens. Heads of white flowers in May develop into red berries for the autumn but they are usually eaten by birds before they ripen! Autumn colour is yellow then brown.
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Wild Cherry Seed
Prunus aviumPrice range: £5.00 through £12.50 inc. VATWild Cherry is a medium sized deciduous tree, with bark that turns mahogany red and peels with age. The white cup shaped flowers give a magnificent display in mid to late spring and are visited by early insects. The fruits are small and red to purple, appearing in summer and eaten by birds. The leaves turn crimson-orange in autumn. It is generally found in hedges and on the edges of woods. It will grow in semi-shade but flowers better in full sun.
Not for forestry purposes.
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Wild Service Tree Seed
Sorbus torminalisPrice range: £5.00 through £13.00 inc. VATWild Service Tree is an attractive medium sized deciduous tree with Maple like leaves. They turn from a glossy dark green to bronze yellow in the autumn. The fruits start spherical and when ripe become elongated and are russet brown with darker spots, hence the name ‘Chequer Tree’. They need to be ‘bletted’ (left to go almost bad and soft) to render them edible! Pubs called ‘The Chequers’ are named after the tree rather than the board game, possibly because they used to serve beer/wine made from the fruit. The timber is used as a reddish/orange decorative veneer. There is a great specimen in the environs of Lower Brockhampton Manor (National Trust), but generally the tree is quite rare
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Willowleaf Cotoneaster Seed
Cotoneaster salicifolius£7.00 inc. VATWillowleaf Cotoneaster/Cotoneaster salicifolius makes a tall evergreen shrub or small tree, often multi-stemmed. It bears very heavy crops of spherical red shiny fruits in autumn, formed from white flowers in early summer. The glossy leaves are long and thin. This Cotoneaster is very useful as a screening plant and can be pruned into shape if necessary. It tolerates being planted in coastal areas, but can suffer leaf burn in very cold winds.
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Wintersweet Seed
Chimonanthus praecox£6.00 inc. VATWintersweet produces welcome, heavily scented, pale yellow flowers in Feb. The flowers attract early insects. It is a deciduous shrub that thrives in a sheltered spot and is good planted near to where people are likely to walk.
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Wych Elm Seed
Ulmus glabraPrice range: £5.00 through £12.00 inc. VATWych Elm is a large and impressive tree with spreading branches that may be pendulous at their tips. Large short stalked leaves are toothed and rough to the touch, turning yellow in autumn. The fruits crowd the branches in early spring and look a bit like hops. The bark of young trees is very smooth. An excellent deciduous tree for planting in exposed situations or on the coast. It is more usually seen as a small to medium, multi-stemmed tree in hedgerows rather than as a large tree. Leaves are the food source for caterpllars of the rare White Letter Hairstreak butterfly.
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