Native or non-native – that is the question. Native trees are defined as those that colonised Britain between the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, and the formation of the Channel when Doggerland (the land bridge between Britain and France) was swept away by a tsunami about 8,000 years ago. Tree species that arrived in Britain after the Channel was created are called “naturalised” with a botanical name of “archeophyte” being used for those tree species introduced to Britain before 1492 (when Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World and much higher levels of plant material exchange began). Tree species introduced more recently are termed “neophyte”.
The key advantage of native plants is that they are ideally acclimatised to the British weather and thus produce flowers and berries at the ideal time, and a habitat ideally suited to our indigenous wildlife. We sell a wide range of native trees and hedging plants as well as our very popular mixed native hedging packs which contain 5 native species and are perfect for planting as farm hedging.
Fans as we are of native trees, we do also recognise that non-natives have a role to play as well and Britain would be a poorer place in its landscape and wildlife if it were not for the contribution of non-native trees. Having been here since the Stone Age or Roman times, many of them are just as good at providing a home and larder for wildlife and just as acclimatised to our weather as native plants and with only three conifers on the list of native trees, the non-native conifers are essential to commercial forestry.
There is some debate about how well our native plants will thrive as climate change alters our weather patterns to be more like that the latitude of central France and this will mean that non-natives become increasingly important in planting schemes and seed sourcing.
This list is generally accepted to be the complete list of British native trees (though debates continue amongst academics) which totals 60 species though only 35 are commonly found and only three are conifers. All the species we grow have links to the pages where you can buy - please hovver over the common names - or you can find all our native trees and hedging plants here.