R J Trees and Hedging Ltd Registered office The School, The Green, Biddestone, SN14 7DG, United Kingdom, Registered in GB
Company Registration Number 13563017 VAT no. 392152401
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Buckthorn - Alder (Rhamnus frangula)
£0.99
10% off Orders over £1000+VAT
15% off Orders over £2000+VAT
Minimum order value (all plants) is £300+VAT
Free Delivery over £300+VAT excl Highlands and Islands
Please order plants in multiples of 25
Key Features
Alder buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula) is
- Suitable as a woodland tree, hedge plant or woodland shrub
- Native
- Deciduous
- Flowering
- Good in wet areas
- Not thorny, despite being called a buckthorn
- Safe to plant near livestock (non-toxic) but not advised for horse paddocks - see blog
Buy with confidence - read our customer reviews.
The specifications shown below are our normal range but we often have additional specifications. if there is something specific that you are looking for, it's often worth contacting us to see if we have some.
Please contact us if you would prefer to order on the phone or have any questions or to discuss a discount for larger quantities.
Full Product Description
Our range of Alder buckthorn bare root plants (Rhamnus frangula)
We normally have Alder buckthorn bare root trees or hedging plants in several sizes. The 1+0 specification plants are seedlings (often called whips) which were planted from seed in the spring and are sold during the following November to April months ie they are 1 year old. We have Alder buckthorn bare root whips in several heights. All of these plants are grown by us in Herefordshire so you are buying "direct from the grower".
Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula) Summary
Alder buckthorn likes wetter areas, thriving in wet riverbanks and bogs but it will cope also with normal moisture levels. Along with Rhamnus cathartica, the leaves are a main food stuff for the Brimstone butterfly and it has other wildlife value with flowers attractive to bees and berries for birds, particularly thrushes. Although having “thorn” in the name would imply it is a thorny plant, in fact is it not thorny (unlike Rhamnus cathartica which is spiny). We have a blog on the differences between Rhamnus frangula and Rhamnus cathartica.
Soil and Situation
Wetter ground in hedgerows, bogs, scrubland and woodlands, beside ditches and streams, ideally in full or partial sunlight and acidic soil, though it will tolerate neutral soil.
Leaves, flowers and fruit
The leaves of Alder buckthorn are matt green, oval, up to 7cm in length, with a pointed tip and taper towards the base, and are arranged alternately on the stem and the stems themselves are purplish-brown. The leaves are one of the very few foodstuffs for brimstone butterflies.
in May/June, alder buckthorn produces greenish-cream flowers which are star shaped and are held in large clusters.
The fruits are reddish/purple berries, darkening to black, popular with thrushes and other birds.
The bark is smooth and purple-brown with white corky cells when young, becoming grey-brown as it matures, but still retaining some pale markings.
Eventual height and growth rate
The eventual height if left to grow as a shrubby, delicate tree would be about 5m but this plant is more often grown as part of a hedgerow where it is easily kept at 2- 3m height. Growth rate is average at about 40cm pa.
Rhamnaceae family.
Delivery Information
Free Delivery
For deliveries of orders over £300 + VAT, (which is our minimum order value) we have free delivery to all mainland areas nationwide. If you are in the Scottish Highlands or any of the Islands, please email us or call us and we will quote you a delivery charge which we will subsidise.
All orders are despatched on pallets and will be delivered to the kerbside. We will email you to tell you when your order has been despatched and that email will contain a link so that you can track your delivery.
You can request a specific delivery date when you place your order and we will do our very best to accommodate that date but cannot be held responsible if we do not meet it.
Collections from Ross-on-Wye
You can collect your plants by arrangement with our office team. Please ring us on 01989 552028 to agree a collection date. The postcode for collections is HR9 7TF.
As a trade nursery, we normally despatch stock unbagged (packed horizontally on pallets) but we can offer two bagging options.
Bagging Options
We have two options for despatching plants in bags (you do not need to have them bagged but it is advisable if there is any delay in planting and where you have large quantities, delay in planting some is inevitable).
- Very heavy duty black bags - normally used by farmers, landowners, landscapers etc
- Co-extruded bags which are white on the outside, to reflect sunlight, and black inside, to retain moisture on the roots - normally used by foresters.
In both cases, there is a considerable labour cost to us in putting stock into bags, and then the air in the bags takes up a considerable amount of space on the pallet which means that we get many fewer plants onto a pallet compared with unbagged stock eg for 1+0 seedlings instead of approx. 10,000 plants per pallet of unbagged stock, we'd only get approx. 5,000 plants per pallet if they are bagged. There's also a significant labour cost in putting plants into bags compared with loose packing on a pallet (which is the normal method for nursery to nursery sales). Given that we pay the delivery cost on most orders, supplying stock in bags is a significant extra cost for us for some customers and hence we make a modest charge.
You can specifically request black or white bags on the website after you add plants to your shopping basket. Here is a link to the page Bagging Service for bare root plants for farms and forestry – rjtreesandhedging. Please order the same quantity as the number of plants you are buying - the pricing for bagging is per plant rather than per bag.