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Acer palmatum 'Atropurpureum', or red leaf Japanese maple, is a slow-growing, deciduous shrub with delicate, upright branches and beautiful finely-divided, deep red leaves that change colour throughout the year. It is grown for its stunning foliage and interesting growth habit. Deep burgundy red of spring leaves fades to light green in early summer, then turn to golden, orange, and red in autumn. Unnoticeable red-purple flowers are followed by winged purple fruits.

Acer palmatum 'Atropurpureum' thrives in moist, well-drained soil, in a sheltered position. To achieve the best leaf colour, it must be in partial shade, though it tolerates full sun if the soil is moist. It also needs to be sheltered from drying winds. An outstanding ornamental tree, perfect for small yards, urban gardens, or as a front yard accent. Suitable for growing in pots and containers.

Acer campestre, or the field maple, a medium-sized deciduous tree, is the UK’s only native maple tree. Its round, dense, bushy crown is asymmetrical and capriciously growing. The branches have corky fissures. The foliage is dark green, turning golden yellow in autumn. Small, yellow-green flowers are followed by winged fruits. Acer campestre is a very adaptable tree. It likes rich and well-drained soil, but also grows well in high pH soils or acid soils. It is tolerant to draught and air pollution and resistant to frost and wind. In its first years, it is very shade tolerant, but subsequently, it requires more light. Apart from growing in woods and hedgerows, it is often planted in broad streets, coastal and industrial areas. It is perfect for medium and large gardens, as a tree or a hedge, and suitable for roof gardens and growing in containers.

Cornus mas is a vigorous, bushy, deciduous shrub or small tree with exfoliating bark and ovate, dark green leaves which turn purple in autumn. The clusters of tiny bright yellow flowers on short stalks bloom in late winter on bare branches, before the leaves emerge. Flowers are followed by edible, red, cherry-like fruits that can be used for making syrups and jams. Cornus mas is easily grown in average, medium moist, well-drained soils, in full sun to partial shade. It can grow in almost any type of soil, but prefers organically rich soils. Generally, pest-free and disease-free. Low maintenance and resistant to frost. To prevent spread, root suckers need to be removed immediately. Cornus mas is a very adaptable, highly decorative early-bloomer that brings brightness and colour to bare winter gardens. It is perfect as an unusual specimen plant, great for shrub borders, hedges and screens, informal and cottage gardens.

Laurus nobilis ½ std, or Bay Laurel, is a dense, compact, slow-growing, evergreen shrub or small tree of pyramidal habit, dark grey bark, and aromatic, narrowly ovate, leathery, dark green leaves used in cooking, especially in French and Mediterranean cuisine. Clusters of small, yellowish flowers bloom in spring and are followed by glossy, dark purple, berry-like drupes. Bay Laurel can grow in a wide range of soils, as long as they are well-drained, but thrives in fertile, moist, and well-drained soils. It prefers full sun, but doesn’t mind partial shade. It is tolerant of salt, therefore, suitable for coastal areas. Generally, pest-free and disease-free. In colder climates, it needs to be grown in containers and brought inside during the winter. Laurus nobilis ½ std is a wonderful, long-lived shrub, perfect as a specimen plant or planted in groups. Suitable for growing in containers, great as a topiary, and excellent for hedges and screens. Essential for herb garden.

Photinia x fraseri Robusta is an ornamental, fast-growing, rounded, dense, evergreen shrub or small tree with large, finely serrated, glossy, oval leaves – crimson to copper when young, dark green when mature. Small, inconspicuous, white flowers in dome-shaped clusters bloom in spring and are followed by red berries. Spring pruning eliminates flowers and stimulates new red growth. Photinia x fraseri Robusta grows best in average, fertile, slightly acidic, medium moisture, well-drained soils, but is adaptable to a wide range of soils, except waterlogged and compact. Once established, it is resistant of frost, drought, heat and urban pollution. Young leaves may be damaged by late frosts, therefore it should be sheltered, especially from harsh winds. Low maintenance plant, tolerant of hard pruning. Photinia x fraseri Robusta is great as an accent plant, but perfect for tall hedges and screens which are useful for noise reduction or wind protection in cottage and urban gardens.

Our spruce has been grown in a pot from seed right here at the Arundel Arboretum. 

Picea abies, commonly known as the Norway spruce, is a prominent coniferous tree native to Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe. Recognisable by its tall, symmetrical shape and dense, evergreen foliage, it often reaches heights of 35–55 metres, with some specimens growing even taller under optimal conditions. The Norway spruce is widely planted in Europe and North America, not only for ornamental and landscaping purposes but also for timber production, given its straight grain and versatility. Its wood, known as "whitewood," is prized in the construction industry and is also used in the manufacture of paper and musical instruments.

The tree's bark is brown to reddish and scaly, becoming rougher as it ages. Its branches grow in horizontal layers, with pendulous branchlets giving the tree a slightly weeping appearance. Needles are dark green, pointed, and around 1–2 cm in length. Cones are one of its defining features, typically measuring 10–18 cm, with a cylindrical shape and rounded, overlapping scales that turn brown as they mature.

Picea abies is hardy, thriving in a range of climates and soil types, though it prefers well-drained, acidic soils and benefits from full sun. In colder climates, it is often cultivated as a Christmas tree due to its classic conical form and appealing fragrance. However, it requires ample space for its expansive root system, making it unsuitable for small gardens.

Ecologically, the Norway spruce plays an essential role in forest ecosystems, providing habitat and food for various wildlife species. 

Malus x zumi 'Golden Hornet' is a vigorous, medium-sized, deciduous tree with broad oval crown, ovate, green leaves, yellow in autumn, and a profusion of fragrant, pink-white flowers, opening from pink buds and blooming in late spring. Flowers are followed by heavy crops of edible, golden-yellow fruits in autumn, persisting on bare branches in winter. Great for jellies and jams. Attractive to birds and bees. Malus x zumi 'Golden Hornet' prefers fertile, deep, loamy, moist, and well-drained soils, but tolerates many different soil types, except too wet. It thrives in full sun to partial shade. Resistant to frost and urban pollution. Low maintenance, doesn’t require much pruning. A self-fertile plant that can be used as a pollinator for other fruit trees. It can be susceptible to scab. Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’ is an attractive ornamental tree, perfect for informal, cottage, and urban gardens. Great as a specimen plant and suitable for growing in containers.

Photinia 'Red Robin Robusta Compacta' is a strikingly beautiful, dense shrub, renowned for its vibrant foliage. This particular variety is expertly shaped into a perfect ball, showcasing its dense, lush growth. The leaves are initially a brilliant red when young, gradually maturing to a deep, glossy green, providing a stunning contrast that catches the eye throughout the seasons.

This robust shrub thrives in a variety of soil types, though it prefers well-drained conditions. It's highly adaptable to different environments, making it an ideal choice for both novice and experienced gardeners. Regular pruning helps maintain its distinct spherical shape and promotes new growth, ensuring a vibrant display of red foliage in spring.

Growing to a manageable size, this Photinia variety is perfect for small to medium-sized gardens, and its compact, ball-like form makes it an excellent choice for borders, focal points, or as a structured element in garden design. Its evergreen nature ensures year-round interest, making it a valuable addition to any landscape.

Hardy and low-maintenance, 'Red Robin Robusta Compacta' is not just a visually appealing plant; it also serves as a natural privacy screen or hedge. Its dense foliage provides an excellent backdrop for other plants, enhancing the overall beauty of any garden setting.

Ilex Cornuta 'Furcata', commonly known as Chinese Holly, is an evergreen shrub with a unique and eye-catching appearance. This particular variety has been meticulously shaped into a cone, standing at an impressive height of approximately 170 cm. Its distinctive feature lies in its leaves, which are a deep, glossy green and possess a singular beauty. Each leaf boasts a unique forked shape, with prominent spines that add an intriguing textural element to the plant.

This conical form of Ilex Cornuta 'Furcata' makes it a stunning focal point in any garden setting. It's perfectly suited for formal garden designs or as an elegant accent in a more casual landscape. The plant thrives in a range of soil types, provided they are well-drained. It prefers full sun to partial shade, making it versatile in terms of placement. Additionally, it's known for its resilience and low maintenance requirements, making it a popular choice for both experienced and novice gardeners.

The dense foliage provides excellent year-round interest, making it a valuable addition to any garden. In winter, the rich green leaves contrast beautifully with snowy landscapes, while in warmer seasons, they provide lush, vibrant greenery. The Ilex Cornuta 'Furcata' is also an excellent choice for those looking to create privacy screens or hedges, as its thick foliage offers substantial coverage.

Overall, this conical Chinese Holly is a hardy, versatile plant that brings structure, elegance, and a touch of the exotic to any garden.

The Acer palmatum 'Red Emperor' is a captivating Japanese maple known for its deep red foliage that holds color brilliantly throughout the growing season. This bushy, upright tree features finely cut, vibrant leaves that emerge bright red in spring, deepen to a rich crimson in summer, and turn to fiery scarlet in fall, creating a striking display. Growing up to 15-20 feet, 'Red Emperor' has a graceful, spreading form and is hardy, resistant to leaf scorch in sun and heat. Ideal as a focal point in gardens, it thrives in well-drained soil with moderate moisture and partial shade. With its bold color, easy-care nature, and dramatic form, 'Red Emperor' is a favorite for adding elegance to any landscape.

Acer palmatum ‘Chitose-Yama’ is a striking and reliable Japanese maple valued for its seasonal colour shifts and strong garden presence. Its deeply lobed foliage emerges in spring as bright red-purple tones, gradually maturing to bronze-green through summer while retaining attractive reddish highlights. In autumn, the tree produces a vivid display of fiery crimson, orange, and gold, making it a standout feature in the late-season garden.

This cultivar has a more vigorous, upright habit than many Japanese maples, making it well suited to medium and larger gardens where it can develop its natural shape. It works particularly well as a specimen tree in lawns, mixed borders, or woodland-style plantings, where its changing foliage can contrast beautifully with evergreen shrubs and softer underplanting.

‘Chitose-Yama’ prefers moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil and benefits from a sheltered position away from strong winds. Partial shade is ideal, although it can tolerate sunnier sites if soil moisture is consistent. Once established, it is relatively low maintenance, requiring only light pruning to maintain structure.

With its robust growth, reliable colouring, and seasonal transformation, Acer palmatum ‘Chitose-Yama’ brings structure, movement, and exceptional year-round interest to the garden.

A deciduous, early-flowering large shrub or small tree with a dome-shaped crown. In spring, before the leaves emerge, clusters of mildly fragrant, star-shaped, white flowers appear. They are followed by small, edible, red to dark red, berry-like fruits in summer. The leaves are oval, toothed, dark green in summer and yellow, orange and red in autumn. Elegant growth habit makes it attractive even in winter. Amelanchier Canadensis is easily grown. It prefers moist, well-drained acidic soils, but it tolerates most soil types and both wet and dry locations. For best autumn colours and berry production, it should be planted in full sun. Very resilient, usually pest-free and disease-free. This attractive tree is perfect as a specimen plant, suitable for hedges, great for banks and slopes. It is especially nice when planted around ponds, lakes, and streams. It doesn’t mind marshy ground. It can also be used for erosion control.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum is a medium-sized, deciduous tree with ovate to round, densely branched crown, smooth bark that becomes grooved as it matures, and oval, sometimes heart-shaped, blue-green leaves, bronze when young, yellow, orange and red in autumn. The fallen autumn leaves smell like cinnamon, burnt sugar or ripe apples. Tiny, inconspicuous, fragrant, reddish flowers bloom in spring before the foliage. Cercidiphyllum japonicum grows best in rich, loose, fertile, loamy, moist, well-drained soil. It thrives in partial shade, but tolerates full sun. Doesn’t tolerate drought. It is resistant to frost and wind, but prefers locations sheltered from harsh winds and hot afternoon sun. The leaves may be damaged by late frosts. Tolerant of urban conditions. Generally, pest-free and disease-free. Low maintenance plant, doesn’t require pruning. Japanese Katsura Tree is an elegant, architectural tree, perfect as a specimen plant in large, informal, cottage, woodland, and urban gardens. Excellent for avenues and broad streets.

Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls', also known as the Ruby Falls Redbud, is an eye-catching, weeping variety of the Eastern Redbud tree. This cultivar stands out with its unique, cascading growth habit and striking foliage. The heart-shaped leaves emerge in a vibrant shade of ruby-red in spring, gradually maturing to deep purple as the season progresses. In early spring, before the foliage unfurls, the bare branches are adorned with a profusion of small, rosy-pink flowers, creating a breathtaking display. 'Ruby Falls' features a clear stem or trunk, which elevates the weeping canopy, making it an excellent focal point in landscape designs. It's a compact, deciduous tree, perfect for small gardens and spaces where a dramatic vertical element is desired. Its resilience and relatively low maintenance make it a favored choice among gardeners seeking a tree with year-round visual interest.

Abies koreana, commonly known as the Korean fir, is a striking, compact evergreen conifer native to the mountainous regions of South Korea. It is prized for its dense, upward-growing branches, dark green needles with shimmering silvery undersides, and distinctive purple-blue cones that often appear even on young trees, adding year-round ornamental appeal. This slow-growing species typically reaches a mature height of 6 to 12 metres, making it ideal for smaller gardens or as a feature tree in larger landscapes.

At Arundel Arboretum, our Korean firs have been lovingly pot-grown from seed, ensuring strong root development and careful cultivation from the very beginning. This method promotes healthier, more resilient trees that are well-suited for successful transplanting into a variety of garden settings. Grown with expertise and attention to detail, our Abies koreana trees offer not only exceptional beauty but also the assurance of quality and care from seed to sale.

Acer palmatum is a species with rich variety of deciduous trees or shrubs with elegant habits, palmate, lacy, hand-like leaves, and beautiful colourful foliage, especially in autumn. The colours vary from rich shades of yellow and golden-yellow, then red, purple, and bronze, to bright and dark green. Most Japanese maples belong to Acer palmatum species. It’s a slow-grower with an upright, bushy, compact habit, rounded to broad-rounded with layered branching structure. Acer palmatum is very adaptable and easy to grow. It prefers moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soils, but it can grow in almost any kind of soil. Leaf colour is best in partial shade, but the plant tolerates full sun very well. It needs to be protected from harsh winds. Lack of soil moisture and excessive exposure can cause leaf scorch. Acer palmatum is highly decorative and ornamental. Perfect as specimen plant, great for small, urban, cottage or rock gardens. Very suitable for growing in containers and pots.

Arbutus rubra is an evergreen tree of notable ornamental value, admired for its rich colouring, distinctive bark, and year-round interest. Typically medium-sized, it develops a rounded to spreading crown and a strong architectural presence, making it well suited to gardens, parks, and mild coastal landscapes.

The foliage of Arbutus rubra is one of its most striking features. The leaves are leathery, glossy, and deep green, often flushed with reddish tones when young. Elliptical in shape with finely serrated margins, they are held densely along the branches, contributing to the tree’s lush and robust appearance throughout the year. As an evergreen, it provides consistent structure even in winter months.

Its bark is particularly decorative. Smooth and richly coloured, it peels naturally in thin flakes, revealing layers of warm red, cinnamon, and copper beneath. This exfoliating habit gives the trunk and larger branches a textured, sculptural quality that becomes increasingly attractive with age.

Flowering typically occurs in autumn or early winter. Small, urn-shaped flowers appear in hanging clusters and are usually creamy white to pale pink. These blooms are attractive to pollinating insects and add subtle charm at a time when many plants are dormant. The flowers are followed by rounded fruits that gradually ripen to shades of red, enhancing the tree’s seasonal appeal and providing food for birds.

Arbutus rubra prefers well-drained soil and thrives in sheltered positions with full sun or light shade. Once established, it shows good tolerance to drought and coastal conditions. Its combination of colourful bark, evergreen foliage, delicate flowers, and ornamental fruit makes it a refined and enduring choice in temperate gardens.

Prunus x hillieri 'Spire' is a small, compact, vase-shaped flowering cherry tree of upright habit, with small, dark green leaves, bronze when young and vivid orange-red in autumn. As the leaves emerge, fragrant, single, soft-pink flowers appear on long petals along the branches in clusters of 3 to 5. It is sterile, therefore, doesn’t produce fruit. Prunus x hillieri 'Spire' a cross between Prunus sargentii and Prunus Yedoensis. It can grow in a wide range of soils, but prefers fertile, moist, well-drained soil in full sun. It’s a tough plant, resistant to frost and urban conditions. Low maintenance, doesn’t require much pruning, but if pruned regularly, it can be kept very narrow. Cherry 'Spire' is a wonderful, elegant, flowering cherry, perfect for small informal, cottage, urban or wildlife gardens. Excellent for urban areas, especially for narrow streets. Great in beds and borders, wall-side borders, or for hedges and screens. Suitable for growing in containers.

Cotinus coggygria 'Grace' is highly suitable for larger gardens or as a bold focal point in mixed borders. Its striking foliage and airy, smoky flower plumes create year-round interest, especially when planted as a specimen shrub. It thrives in full sun, which enhances its rich leaf color, and prefers well-drained soil. Once established, it is drought-tolerant and relatively low-maintenance.

'Grace' benefits from a sheltered position, protected from strong winds that can damage its broad leaves. It can be left to grow naturally into a large shrub or pruned hard in early spring to encourage fresh growth and more vivid leaf color. Its dramatic size, graceful habit, and seasonal color make it ideal for contemporary gardens, cottage-style landscapes, or as part of a wildlife-friendly planting scheme. Whether used as a backdrop or a feature, it brings elegance and visual impact to the garden

Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki' is a distinct cultivar of Japanese Maple notable for its stunning autumn foliage, which transforms into brilliant shades of fiery red. This deciduous tree has an elegant, rounded form and typically reaches a height and spread of 15-20 feet, making it a spectacular feature in gardens, especially in autumn.

The leaves of 'Osakazuki' are palmate and lobed, displaying a lush green color through spring and summer, before their autumn transformation. These leaves have a uniquely refined texture, enhancing its aesthetic appeal throughout the growing season.

Ideal for small gardens, 'Osakazuki' prefers well-drained, moist soils and sheltered locations to protect its delicate foliage from harsh winds. It can thrive in full sun to partial shade, but for the best autumn color, a location with more sunlight is preferable.

This tree is relatively low-maintenance but benefits from regular watering, especially in dryer periods, and mulching to maintain soil moisture. Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki' is highly resistant to pests and diseases, making it a robust choice for a wide range of landscapes. The vivid, extended display of autumn color, coupled with its graceful growth habit, renders 'Osakazuki' a coveted choice among garden enthusiasts.