« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Scotland's Native Trees and Shrubs
Tree growers are brokers too!
No large commercial tree nursery propagates and grows all the stock it lists in its catalogue. There are good reasons for this:
- the range of species and specification in demand is massive. Some species require special conditions and expertise to grow them successfully.
- it does not make commercial sense to grow a particular line if the right quality of plant can be bought-in from a specialist grower at less cost than the non-specialist can produce it.
- designers can be capricious, making it difficult for growers to forecast demand 3-5 years hence.
- buyers often need to save time and go 'one-stop' shopping.
Growers consequently act as homegrown suppliers and brokers. It is important to appreciate this because stock ordered from a grower's catalogue, unbeknown to a buyer, might have just been bought in before delivery and may be suffering a degree of stress or be of unproven provenance. Plants that suffer severe stress, as with other forms of living organisms, can be more susceptible to disease and less able to cope with the further stress of being manhandled and transplanted, often into less than ideal situations. A recent audit of native trees purchased on behalf of the Scottish Executive eventually revealed that a batch of three-year-old trees had changed ownership five times before reaching the planting site!
Privet can readily be produced from seed or from hardwood cuttings. So can juniper, holly, willow, poplar and others. The privet on the left of the photograph is a cutting and the other a seedling. In most cases, where there is a choice of propagating new trees and shrubs from seed or cuttings, seed is preferable to diversify the gene base and reduce the possibility of selecting plants that are susceptible to disease, are uni-sexual or have other undesirable characteristics.
« Previous | Contents | Next »