Cell Grown Plants

Caltha palustris, known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium size perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family. Often found growing alongside streams or ponds, it produces a wonderful ball of yellow flowers between April and August. 

Native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland, the striking golden flowers are know for being pollen rich and beneficial for attracting bees and other pollinators. 

Abies alba - Silver fir is a long-living conifer upright-growing evergreen conifer with dark green needles that are silver underneath. The yellow-green cones which appear in late spring are cylindrical in shape and ripen to brown.

The strong, lightweight timber is mainly used for construction, furniture, plywood and pulpwood. Young trees are also popular as Christmas trees. Ecologically, the tree is important for maintaining high biodiversity in forested areas. The tree’s deep taproots offering stability, alongside its easily biodegradable needle litter, are key in the establishment and management of silvicultural systems.

Silver fir is shade-tolerant and able to act as a “seedling bank” under the canopy of older dominant trees for decades.

Iris pseudacorus - Yellow Flag Iris is a British native marginal plant that has tall, sword like leaves and striking yellow flowers. 

Water loving and often found along the margins of canals, ponds and in wet woodlands. 

Acer campestre - Field maple is a versatile and resilient fast growing small to medium sized tree that is also suitable for hedgerow planting.

It is a colourful species; the attractive five lobed leaves are flushed red in Spring, turning green and then yellow / gold in the Autumn. Deciduous. Native to the UK

Our cell grown Field Maple plants are often used for hedge planting either on their own or mixed with other species such as Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel etc. Usually at a planting density of 6 plants per metre.

Carex acutiformis is a tough native grass like plant with attractive black seed heads and a course greyish green foliage. Its native habitat includes river banks, pond margins and marshy areas and it is notably shade tolerant. It can grow as high as 1.5m tall and forms dense clumps which provide excellent protection for invertebrates and small amphibians.

Phragmites australis - Common Reed is a vigorous reed able to grow to 3m in height.  A fast growing plant able to form an extensive colony of erect stems.   It forms extensive, yellow-brown reedbeds in wetlands across the UK which are important habitats for birds, including rare and threatened species.  It grows from creeping underground stems and flowers from August to October.

The common reed is also one of the main wetland plants used in phytoremediation water treatment. This process filters water through the root system to remove toxic substances or excess nutrients. This process is often used to clean up contaminated ground water through planting directly in the contaminated site or through removing the contaminated water and providing it to these plants in an off-site location. 

Abies fraserii - Fraser Fir is a fast growing, large evergreen with dark green needles that have a silver grey underside.

Originally from the USA, this species is most frequently planted in the UK for Christmas tree crops as it has a dense, busy habit when young. Fraser Fir has a narrower and more compact shape than Nordmann Fir so is often suited to smaller rooms in houses if it is grown to then be supplied as a cut Christmas tree.

We grow several other species of cell grown conifers which are all suited for Christmas tree production.

Calluna vulgaris - Native Wild Heather is the dominant heath plant in many parts of the UK. It has a wide range and is widely distributed throughout Europe as far North as the Faroe Islands.

Mauve pink flowers bloom from July to September which create a colourful scene in the countryside. 

Native heather is an important source of food for butterflies and bees with hives often located on heather moorland in the Summer where the bees can easily obtain the nectar from the heather flowers to produce a very distinctive and much sought after ‘heather honey’.

The majority of the plants that we supply are used for heathland restoration projects in the countryside or on golf courses. 

The majority of the Buxus sempervirens - Box plants that we supply are used for hedging as it makes a fabulous formal hedge, but our clients also use it for planting as an understorey species in mixed woodlands or for game cover.

Evergreen with small, shiny dark green leaves. It is a very long lived species and can live for several hundred years.

Acer platanoides - Norway Maple is a beautiful fast growing tree of large stature which is best suited to parkland or settings where its superb autumn colour can be fully appreciated.

Deciduous. Native to Central / Eastern but widely adapted to the UK. Norway Maple has a typical maple shaped leave which turns bright yellow in the autumn.

Digitalis purpurea - Common Foxglove, is a shade tolerant biennial or short-lived perennial.

It is commonly found in hedge banks, open woods and woodland clearings, on heath and moorland margins, riverbanks, montane rocky slopes and sea-cliffs.  Digitalis purpurea is a native European woodland plant with spikes of tubular purple flowers with a spotted throat. It can appear in many guises, some dwarf and others very tall, with flowers in shades of pink, purple, white and red. Digitalis purpurea self-seeds freely and will quickly naturalise.

Digitalis purpurea is known for attracting bees and butterflies​/​moths. It is a caterpillar food plant and has nectar/pollen rich flowers.

Typha latifolia - Common Reed Mace, also known as Bulrush is a native marginal plant that has long sword like leaves and distinctive dark brown seed heads that are cylindrical in shape. It is very prolific so requires plenty of space!