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Black Spruce Seed
Picea mariana£4.00 – £14.50 inc. VATBlack Spruce is a medium sized tree with dark blue green leaves which are densely packed on the upper surfaces of the branchlets. Widespread across Canada, the timber is used for pulp and cross-laminated timber but also for mass produced chop-sticks or the fast food industry!
Pic courtesy of U.S Fish and Wildlife Service , public domain
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Black Walnut Seed
Juglans nigra£7.00 inc. VATJuglans nigra is a large fast growing tree with a deeply furrowed bark and large leaves. It is architectural and a great specimen tree.The fruits are usually in pairs and are large and round.The flesh round the nut stains fingers yellow and smells pleasently of citrus. Black Walnut is prized timber for cabinet making and wood turning, since it works easily and has a good grain, glues and polishes well and is highly durable.
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Black/Rum Cherry Seed
Prunus serotina£4.00 inc. VATA medium sized tree with simple serrated, glossy, deciduous leaves up to 15cm long. About 40 white flowers are produced on each raceme in the spring. These give rise to fruit which turns from green to red and then black. Mature Black cherry is easily recognised by its dark grey or black bark that can easily be broken off, and the almond smell coming from young twigs if the bark has been scraped off. Good for birds which eat the fruit, although both the stones and foliage(especially when wilted) is poisonous to livestock.
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Blackberry / Bramble Seed
Rubus fructicosus / fructicosa£6.00 inc. VATBlackberries are a common deciduous spreading shrub with an extremely vigorous growth habit. Flowers are simple, white or whitish pink and bloom on and off from late spring through to late summer. The flowers are very attractive to all sorts of insects. In the autumn very tasty blackberries are produced and its scrambling thorny spikes provide excellent protection both for wildlife and property. Bees visit the flowers and butterflies, wasps and flies feed on the flowers and fruit.
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Blackthorn / Sloe Seed
Prunus spinosa£2.50 inc. VATBlackthorn or Sloe grow to be large deciduous shrubs or small bushy trees. Blackthorn ignites in spring with a mass of small single white flowers. It forms a secure hedging plant with its sharp spines and dense growth. The fruit, like small damsons, appear in autumn and are used for making Sloe Gin.
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Bladder Senna Seed
Colutea arborescens£4.75 inc. VATBladder Senna is a vigorous deciduous shrub with pretty yellow pea-like summer flowers and pale, small leaves/leaflets. The fruit is striking red bladder-like papery pods which persist well into winter when the leaves have gone. It is a very adaptable and fertile plant often seen on challenging sites such as railway embankments. Thrives in full sun and poor soil.
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Blue Tree Lupin
Lupinus arboreus (Blue)£1.99 – £4.20 inc. VATTree Lupin is a short lived evergreen shrub that can grow to 2m tall. Flowers are delicately scented and are produced throughout the summer, bright dense spikes/clusters of blue or lavender coloured flowers. Nitrogen’fixing’ so good for soil fertility.
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Boston Ivy Seed
Parthenocissus tricuspidata£3.00 inc. VATBoston Ivy is a vigorous self clinging deciduous vine with distinctive 3 lobed leaves which turn deep crimson and scarlet in autumn. The fruits are dark blue / black. It makes an ideal climber for the side of a building in semi-shade, and will work on a north wall, although the autumn colour will not be as striking.
Rowan Adams, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Bournemouth / Maritime Pine Seed
Pinus pinaster (maritima)£15.00 inc. VATThe Maritime Pine is a medium sized sparsely branched conifer with an orange-brown bark. It’s long robust needles grow in pairs. Cones are long and chunky and take a few years to ripen and release the winged seed. It is excellent on sandy soils and in seaside districts. Turpentine is produced from the resin and it is widely used for timber production round the Mediterranean.
Not for forestry purposes.
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Box / Common Box
Buxus sempervirens£6.00 inc. VATBox will eventually grow into a small tree, but more normally a dense medium sized shrub. It produces masses of small, dark, evergreen leaves. Ideal for topiary and hedging purposes in the formal garden since it clips well, late summer.
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Box Elder Seed
Acer negundo£3.50 inc. VATBox Elder is not an elder at all but a relatively short-lived, bushy deciduous acer. Fast growing to a medium or large size. The bright green pinnate leaves are paler on the underside. Flowers pale yellow green before the leaves appear. Useful for colonising poor, wet soils but can become invasive and is classed as a pest species in Australia. There is a variegated form ‘Flamingo’, which has pink, white and green leaves.
pic courtesy of Karduelis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Brewers Weeping Spruce Seed
Picea breweriana£2.00 – £14.00 inc. VATBrewers Weeping Spruce is one the most beautiful of all the spruces. Graceful branchlets hang from long branches like slender tails and it produces purple cones.
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Bristlecone Pine Seed
Pinus aristata£5.50 inc. VATPinus aristata or Bristlecone Pine is a large shrub or small characterful tree with needles in groups of 5, flecked with white resin, looking like dandruff. This is how to tell it from the other Bristlcone pine, Pinus longaeva . It has slender bristle like cones. Some specimens in the wild are over 2500yrs old, it is very slow growing! The oldest trees are found in northern New Mexico, Arizona and in the Rockies at high elevations where the conditions are cold and dry.
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Broad Leaved Lime Seed
Tilia platyphyllos£5.00 inc. VATThe Broad Leaved Lime is a large vigorous tree with roundish sharply toothed leaves with downy hairs which are more prominent on the underside. The flowers appear in mid summer, and can be used to make a calming tea. Bees appreciate them for nectar. The timber is useful in turning and instrument making since it is fine-grained and soft.
Not for forestry purposes.
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Broadleaved Cockspur Thorn
Crataegus prunifolia£3.00 inc. VATA compact, small tree with very fierce thorns. This is possibly a hybrid, but it has been cultivated since the 18th century and the parentage is unknown. Leaves are almost untoothed and glossy dark green, rather like a cherry. Large white flowers along the stems in spring followed by red ‘Haws’ in autumn. These coupled with golden autumn leaves make this highly decorative.
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Broom Seed
Cytisus scoparius£5.00 inc. VATBroom is a medium sized deciduous shrub, with whip-like fine branches and small leaves, quite like gorse but without the thorns. It has rich butter yellow, scented flowers in late spring, (again, like gorse) often visited by bees and the flowers have an interesting method of depositing pollen on the bees’ backs. Seed pods twist and crack open when ripe, making clicking noises. If pruning is necessary, it is done after flowering. Quite often found as a pioneer on poor soils
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Buckthorn/Purging Buckthorn Seed
Rhamnus cathartica£5.00 inc. VATPurging Buckthorn is a large deciduous shrub or small tree. The spiny branches are very attractive in the autumn when they are carrying their small shiny dark almost black fruits and yellowing leaves. Flowers are insignificant yellow-green in summer and held close to the stems. Leaves and fruit are slightly toxic if ingested, causing stomach problems, though birds eat the berries with impunity. It is the food-plant of the Brimstone butterfly. In parts of N. America, this plant is classed as an invasive species, but this doesn’t happen here.
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Burnet / Scotch Rose Seed
Rosa spinosissima / pimpinellifolia£5.00 inc. VATThe Burnet Rose is a small suckering deciduous shrub that makes dense low thickets of prickly branches so forms a good security barrier in plantings. It has small white or pale pink flowers from late spring through to early summer The profusion of highly scented flowers is followed by a heavy crop of rounded black fruits. Quite often it is found at the edges of beaches, sand dunes and shingle banks. Useful for coastal plantings.
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Bush Honeysuckle
Lonicera tatarica£1.59 inc. VATA vigorous deciduous shrub up to 3m high. It produces large amounts of pink flowers from spring into early summer. These are followed by red berries.
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Butterfly Bush Seed
Buddleia davidii£7.00 inc. VATBuddleia or Butterfly Bush is a deciduous shrub which produces fragrant purple flowers on long racemes from mid summer onwards. As the common name suggests it is particularly attractive to many species of butterflies which feed on its nectar. Greyish leaves with a white underside. Prune in spring. It can be cut back to ground level without killing it! Often found on waste ground and railway edges, also on old and derelict buildings, especially on chimneys.
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Butterfly Lavender Seed
Lavandula stoechas pedunculata£2.00 – £3.50 inc. VATButterfly Lavender is a grey leaved, dwarf shrub with short flower spikes borne on a long stalk. The long ear-like purple bracts give rise to the name “Papillon” or “Butterfly Lavender.” Flowers and foliage are highly scented and attract all manner of insects especially bees. Prune after flowering, by shearing off the old flowers. Better in full sun and definitely not in the wet.
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Cabbage Gum Seed
Eucalyptus niphophila£3.50 inc. VATA very hardy Eucalyptus. The stem of the tree is almost white through to green with a flaking bark. It has large leathery grey green lance shaped leaves. It is a relatively small tree (up to 15m tall) and so is ideal for gardens.
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Californian Redwood Seed
Sequoia sempervirens£2.50 – £12.00 inc. VATThe Californian Redwood can reach over 100m tall in its native forests but mature specimens in gardens reach 30m. As well as being the worlds tallest it is also long lived with records of trees well over 2000 years old. The bark is deep and spongy and a good russet colour and resin from the tree can be used as a natural dye for wool.
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Callery/ Bradford Pear Seed
Pyrus calleryana£5.00 inc. VATThe Callery Pear is a pretty and resilient ornamental deciduous tree that grows to 15m. When young it has a teardrop shape but spreads with age. The showy white blossom appears before the leaves in spring and gives rise to small hard brown fruits in the Autumn. Good for early bees. Extremely resistant to fire-blight disease.
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