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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Alder - Italian (Alnus cordata)
£1.10
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
Italian alder (Alnus cordata) trees are
- Suitable as a woodland tree, urban tree, hedgerow tree, windbreak or hedging plant
- Non-native (for a native Alder, please see Alnus glutinosa)
- Deciduous but holds its leaves well into winter
- Safe to plant near livestock (non-toxic)
Grown on our farm in Herefordshire. Buy with confidence - read our customer reviews.
The specifications shown below are our normal range but we often have additional options. If there is something that you are looking for, it's often worth contacting us.
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 Italian Alder (Alnus cordata) bare root trees
We have Alnus cordata bare root plants in several specifications and heights. This species does not grow from seed quickly and needs to be lined out to develop a viable root structure so we offer Alnus cordata as transplants (1+1, 2 year old plants) which began as a one year old whip (grown from seed in one growing season) and are then planted back out for one more growing season in a different area of our fields at lower density to give each plant more space, nutrients and water.
The seed from which our Alnus cordata tree saplings are grown is usually UK provenance but we sometimes also have some of the highest quality imported seed so if it is important to you to have UK provenance seed, please give us a call.
Italian Alder (Alnus cordata) Summary
All of the Alder varieties are tolerant of wet soils, but this variety will also cope well with dry soils (it is native to Italy so that’s always a good indicator of soil conditions that can be tolerated). It is very fast growing initially (1-2m) and it is the accepted favourite variety to plant as a windbreak on the windy side of orchards (see our blog on windbreaks).
Like Alnus glutinosa, it is a medium height, conical tree with catkins in early spring (good for bees).
Please be aware that Alder varieties are deep rooted so do not plant near a building/road/pavement where eventually roots could cause damage.
Soil and situation
Italian Alder is fine on all soils – wet or dry. It’s a good choice for thin topsoil areas as it can hold soil over rocks. Like other Alders, it is nitrogen fixing so it does well in poor soils and can over time improve the soil too to benefit other nearby trees. They don’t like heavy shade, but will grow well in full sun or partial shade.
Leaves, flowers and fruit
The leaves of Italian Alder are green, shaped like a pear and glossy. They have male and female catkins – the male are long and green and the female are cone like and quite large compared with Alnus glutinosa.
Eventual height and growth rate
The mature height is from 12m to 20m, sometimes a bit more in an ideal situation. Growth rate is fast – 1-2m until maturity. It is this fast growth rate that makes it good for windbreaks – it does the job quickly!
Betulacaea 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.