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  Berkeley Vale Shrubs and Small Trees for Gardens

If you have space in your garden (or some land that you manage or own)

 you may be interested in having a couple of shrub or small tree saplings.

A biodegradable tree guard will also be supplied.

The charity, Stroud Valleys Project, is offering these native shrubs and small trees to encourage wildlife in Berkeley and Sharpness, to give dappled shade, and help our environment.

They are all native and excellent for wildlife, whilst also being beautiful,

    many with flowers and berries, at different times of year.

But a tree is for life ! It is a commitment, you need the space, and it will need some maintenance.

The scheme is based at Sarah's Field, Lynch Road Berkeley.

Below is a list of eight shrubs and  two small trees that are available.

They are small young saplings at no more than 3 feet high.

But they will soon bush upwards and outwards. 

Shrubs can be pruned to keep them smaller than they otherwise would get.

 Each household can have up to three saplings.

    To book your trees, please e mail:  fred@stroudvalleysproject.org

    The collection time is 12 - 3 pm, Sat 21 January, at Sarah's Field  *

    But there will also be later opportunities to collect trees.

    *  Sarah's Field is on Lynch Road,  Berkeley, GL13 9TR.   

        (What 3 words:  embers.factories.punctured)

Maintenance:

 Having a tree is a commitment !

It will need watering in hot, dry weather, in the first two - three years, especially if there is a heatwave.  And this means two buckets at a time !

    It will need some weeding, to ensure they are not overshadowed by other plants.

• Mulching (covering) the ground around them will help to retain moisture and suppress other plants whose roots will compete for moisture. Mulch may consist of plastic matting, coir matting, woodchips, cardboard, or garden weeds placed in a thick layer.

    When they are larger, they can be pruned to a shape, if this is desired.

    Further advice on maintenance is available from Stroud Valleys Project.

    

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                The Shrubs

• 1. Purging buckthorn  - Rhamnus cathartica 

• 2. Crab apple – Malus sylvestris 

• 3. Guelder rose – Viburnum opulua 

• 4. Spindle – Euonymous  europaeus 

• 5. Wayfaring tree – Viburnum lantana 

• 6. Dogwood – Cornus sanguinea 

• 7. Wild privet – Ligustrum vulgare 

• 8. Hawthorn – Cretageous monogyna 

  The Trees
  

• 9. Rowan – Sorbus aucuparia 

• 10. Wild service tree – Sorbus torminalis 

 

• 1. Purging buckthorn  - Rhamnus cathartica

  purging buckthorn

Named after the laxative effects its berries induce when eaten, purging buckthorn is a small, spiny tree native to England and Wales and throughout Europe. Mature trees can grow to a height of 10m, with grey-brown bark and spiny branches. The leaf buds are conical and black-brown in colour, and form on long stalks.

Purging buckthorn is the main food plant of the brimstone butterfly whose caterpillars eat the leaves. Its flowers provide a source of pollen and nectar for bees and other insects, while its dense growth makes it a valuable nesting site for birds.

Traditionally, the fruits and bark were used to make a yellow dye. The hard, dense wood is rarely used. As well as having a laxative effect, the berries are slightly poisonous and can irritate the skin, as can the bark.

• 2. Crab apple – Malus sylvestris 

  crab apple

A symbol of fertility and a forager's delight. Crab apple trees are associated with love and marriage and its small, hard fruits make an exquisite, jewel-coloured jelly.

One of the ancestors of the cultivated apple (of which there are more than 6,000 varieties), it can live to up to 100 years. Mature trees grow to around 10m in height. They have an irregular, rounded shape and a wide, spreading canopy. With greyish brown, flecked bark, trees can become quite gnarled and twisted, especially when exposed, and the twigs often develop spines. This 'crabbed' appearance may have influenced its common name, 'crab apple'. The crab apple is one of the few host trees to the parasitic mistletoe, Viscum album, and trees are often covered in lichens. 

The leaves are food for the caterpillars of many moths, including the eyed hawk-moth, green pug, Chinese character and pale tussock. The flowers provide an important source of early pollen and nectar for insects, particularly bees, and the fruit is eaten by birds, including blackbirds, thrushes and crows. Mammals, such as mice, voles, foxes and badgers, also eat crab apple fruit. 

 

• 3. Guelder rose – Viburnum opulua  
• guelder rose
  

Guelder rose is a spreading, deciduous, upright shrub. It can reach up to 4m high and can spread from 2–5m. It has greyish, hairless stems.

Look out for: the three-lobed leaves which have leaf stems with a channel running down the centre and a pair of round glands near the apex of the leaf.

Flowers: Distinct, branched clusters of creamy-white, or sometimes pink, flat-topped flowers appear in May to July. Each cluster of flowers is encircled by a ring of larger, sterile, flowers.

Guelder rose is an ancient-woodland indicator. If you spot it while you're out exploring, it could be a sign you're standing in a rare and special habitat. 

The red berries are an important food source for birds, including bullfinch and mistle thrush. The shrub canopy provides shelter for other wildlife. The flowers are especially attractive to hoverflies.

Guelder rose is one of the national symbols of Ukraine and is mentioned in many folk songs and featured in art and embroidery.

 

• 4. Spindle – Euonymous  europaeus 

  spindle

Spindle is a deciduous native tree, and mature trees grow to 9m and can live for more than 100 years. The bark and twigs are deep green, becoming darker with age, and have light brown, corky markings. Twigs are thin and straight.

After pollination, flowers develop into bright pink fruits with bright orange seeds, which look a bit like popcorn.

The leaves are shiny and slightly waxy, and have tiny sharp teeth along the edges. They turn a rich orange-red before falling in autumn.

The leaves are eaten by caterpillars of moths, including the magpie, spindle ermine and scorched, as well as the holly blue butterfly. The leaves also attract aphids and their predators, including hoverflies, ladybirds and lacewings, as well as the house sparrow and other species of bird.

        The flowers are a rich source of nectar and pollen for insects such as the St Mark’s fly.

• 5. Wayfaring tree – Viburnum lantana  

  wayfaring tree

The wayfaring tree is so named because it grows close to paths. Look for them in hedges and woodland edges, with full bloom in the spring and heavy with berries in the autumn.

The wayfaring tree is a deciduous shrub which can reach up to 5m in height.

Large, oval, slightly wrinkly-looking leaves with round-toothed edges. Leaves are placed opposite each other along the twig. The lower surface is densely covered with soft grey hairs.

Groups of oval, flattened berries which start off red then turn black. Both colours can often be seen together. They are poisonous.

Birds will eat the berries and insects such as hoverflies feed on the nectar. The larvae of several moth species will feed on the leaves.

 

 

• 6. Dogwood – Cornus sanguinea 

  dogwood
  

Dogwood is a small broadleaf shrub, typically found growing along woodland edges and in hedgerows of southern England. Mature trees can grow to 10m. The bark is grey and smooth with shallow ridges which develop with age, and its twigs are smooth, straight and slim. Leaf buds are black and look like bristles, forming on short stalks.

Look out for: a stringy latex-type substance which can be seen if the leaves are pulled apart.(This means you can do a magic leaf trick ! - it seems to hang in space if you tear a leaf gently. ) The four-petalled flowers have a bad smell !

Red twigs show up in winter.

The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of some moths, including the case-bearer moth, while the flowers are visited by insects and the berries are eaten by many mammals and birds.

• 7. Wild privet – Ligustrum vulgare 

  wild privet

        It has white flowers in summer and matt-black berries in winter that are very poisonous.

Height: 3-5m

Wild privet is a common, semi-evergreen shrub of hedgerows, woodland edges and grassland scrub on well-drained calcareous soils. It is also commonly used for hedging in suburban gardens. White flowers appear from June, and black berries ripen in autumn. Although the berries are extremely poisonous to humans, they are eaten by thrushes and other birds.
Wild Privet is also the main foodplant of the privet hawk-moth and provides cover for small birds and other animals.

• 8. Hawthorn – Cretageous monogyna 

  hawthorn

Also called the May tree because of its blossom in May. The trees form a stunning froth of white in the spring.

This species is commonly found growing in hedgerows, woodland and scrub. It will grow in most soils, but flowers and fruits best in full sun.

Mature trees can reach a height of 15m and are characterised by their dense, thorny habit, though they can grow as a small tree with a single stem. (They can be pruned to achieve this quite easily).

        Common hawthorn can support more than 300 insects. It is the food plant for caterpillars         of  moths,  including:

        - the hawthorn moth, orchard ermine, pear leaf blister, rhomboid tortrix, light emerald,         lackey, vapourer, fruitlet-mining tortrix, small eggar and lappet moths.

Its flowers are eaten by dormice and provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The haws are rich in antioxidants and are eaten by migrating birds, such as redwings, fieldfares and thrushes, as well as small mammals.

The dense, thorny foliage makes fantastic nesting shelter for many species of bird.

• 9. Rowan – Sorbus aucuparia 

  rowan

Mature trees can grow to 15m in height and can live for up to 200 years. The bark is smooth and silvery grey, and leaf buds are purple and hairy.

        After successful pollination by insects, the flowers develop into scarlet fruits. The seeds                are  dispersed by birds.

The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of a number of moths, including the larger Welsh wave and autumn green carpet. Caterpillars of the apple fruit moth feed on the berries.

Flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinating insects, while the berries are a rich source of autumn food for birds, especially the blackbird, mistle thrush, redstart, redwing, song thrush, fieldfare and waxwing.

• 10. Wild Service Tree – Sorbus torminalis  

  wild service tree

   This tree is larger so needs more space

A true springtime stunner, it’s not so long ago that you could find wild-service fruit at a market.

This deciduous broadleaf tree can reach 25m high when mature. The bark is brown and patterned with cracked, square plates, and the twigs are slender, shiny, grey-brown and straight.

Although rare, it is often found in oak and ash woods and pockets of ancient woodland. It grows best in clay and lime-based soils. The wild service tree is native to the UK and parts of Europe, Africa and Asia.

The flowers provide pollen and nectar for insects, while the berries are eaten by birds. The leaves are eaten by caterpillars of the moths Bucculatrix bechsteinella and Phyllonorycter mespilella.