Plant a Tree

One of Ireland’s most widely distributed trees, often found in damp boggy areas and along river banks. Like most broad-leaved trees, Alnus glutinosa flowers before the leaves are out with attractive long reddish catkins appearing as early as January. The female flowers produce small cones, and these can stay on the tree all winter.

The timber has been used in building bridges & underwater foundations, for smoking foods, for joinery, turning and carving and it also makes good firewood.

The common alder provides food and shelter to wildlife, with a number of insects, lichens and fungi being completely dependent on the tree. Also a very good soil-enhancing tree due to its nitrogen-fixing capabilities.

Alnus glutinosa is fast growing, tolerant of very wet and very poor soils and very tolerant of wind – one of our most robust native trees.

Also known as the pedunculate oak, Quercus robur is a tall, deciduous, very long-lived tree (1,000 years) with a broad, rounded crown. The leathery, rather shallowly lobed leaves are deep green, turning reddish-khaki in autumn; the very short leaf-stalk distinguishes it from sessile oak, as do the acorns on stalks, and its preference for deep, clayey, lowland soils. Inconspicuous greenish-yellow male catkins and tiny female flowers appear with the young leaves, and are followed by acorns, whose knobbly cups have noticeable stalks.

English oak is a wonderful tree for wildlife; the leaves are larval food for many insects, providing food for birds, and the acorns are winter food for jays, badgers and squirrels – and, long ago, pigs and wild boar. The dead leaves rot down quickly, supporting insects and many fungi. Sometimes, if water is short, this oak becomes ‘stag-headed’, withdrawing water and nourishment from its upper growth so that the rest of the tree thrives.

Thought to be native to the south-west of Ireland, and sometimes called the Killarney strawberry tree or caithne, Arbutus unedo is also found in Mediterranean countries. It is mainly found in the wild in Co. Kerry especially in the Killarney district where it forms a large part of the natural forest on the islands and shores of the lakes. It is also found in unshaded parts of Glengariff Wood, Co. Cork and around Lough Gill in Co. Sligo.

A small to medium-sized, slow-growing evergreen tree or large shrub, it takes its common name from the fruit, which is rather like a strawberry to look at. Creamy-white urn-shaped flowers, lightly scented and about 4-6mm in diameter, are produced in late autumn, followed a year later by berries about ½”/1.5cm across; these have a rough surface and are red when ripe, edible and sweet, but unexciting. Glossy, dark green leaves with serrated edges. Bark an attractive cinnamon brown, peeling in older specimens. Useful nectar source for bees, and good for permaculture plantings. For milder areas, although older specimens are hardier.

A very attractive native flowering tree: in Spring it can be seen from miles away with its bright white flowers. It is a valuable habitat tree for many, insects and birds alike, and if that is not enough it produces small, edible but tart cherries and offers excellent Autumn colour, from deep reds to bright oranges and golden yellows. Prunus avium also has attractive bark. Wild Cherry will grow into a large tree.

All trees planted will be native to Ireland and we hope to include rare and endangered species in the future.

Bareroot stock currently available to us include: Betula pubescens – Downy Birch; Prunus avium Plena – Double flowered Wild Cherry; Sambucus nigra – Elder; Sorbus aucuparia – Rowan; Alnus glutinosa – Common Alder; Arbutus unedo – Strawberry Tree; Arbutus unedo Compacta; Betula pendula – Silver Birch; Corylus avellana – Hazel; Crataegus monogyna – Hawthorn; Frangula alnus – Alder Buckthorn; Ilex aquifolium – Holly; Malus sylvestris – Crabapple; Populus tremula – Aspen; Prunus padus – Bird Cherry; Prunus spinosa – Blackthorn; Quercus petraea – Sessile Oak; Quercus robur – Common Oak; Salix aurita – Eared Willow; Salix cinerea – Grey Willow; Sorbus aria – Whitebeam; Ulmus glabra – Wych Elm.