Rowan or mountain ash trees are always popular trees for small gardens. The tree bears white flowers in spring and bright, butter-yellow berries in autumn. It does well in moderately fertile soil that is acid or neutral and prefers a sunny or partially shaded area.

colour red

Identify the Sargent’s Rowan (sorbus hupehensis)

1. The leaves are shown on the left (click the picture to enlarge).
2. The bark on young trees is a shiny grey colour ageing to a brown-grey colour.
3. The fruits appear in late summer, and are initially green, they quickly ripen to a bright red in very early September.

Rowan trees have lovely dense corymbs of creamy white flowers in spring, followed by red, white, pink or yellow berries in autumn. Rowans are deciduous with foliage varying from dark green to silvery blue with striking red, orange and yellow autumn colours.

A small rowan with large, eye-catching white berries that hang in clusters from the spreading branches in late summer last well into winter. White and yellow berries are less favoured by birds so last longer in winter than red or orange ones.

S. vilmorinii is one; it’s a charming tree, perfect for the bottom of the garden where its elegant spreading habit will curtsey, arms out, and block out the neighbours. The fern-like leaves are composed of many small leaflets that turn first red, then purple, before dropping, leaving the red berries to persist.

The Rowan Tree in Scottish and Celtic Folklore Rowan trees are favoured in Scotland and are held with high esteem in Scottish and Ancient Celtic folklore. Within Scottish folklore, it was believed that chopping down a rowan tree would only bring bad luck as they are such a strong symbol of protection.

With people all over the world planting Rowan Trees outside their abodes to ward off evil spirits, witchcraft and the undead. In Wales, Rowan Trees were planted in the grounds of cemeteries, and to cut one down was forbidden. So people believed Rowan trees held significant power in protection against witches.

It was often used for tool handles, spindles and spinning wheels. Druids used the bark and berries to dye the garments worn during lunar ceremonies black. The bark was also used in the tanning process, and people used rowan twigs for divining, particularly for metals.

Although rowan berries aren’t packed with a variety of vitamins, they are found to have very high to extremely-high levels of vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is a very important element in human health, as it can stimulate the production of white blood cells and act as an antioxidant as well.

By having the name Rowan, which is unisex with a Gaelic background. More popular for boys than for girls, Rowan is the name of a mountain ash tree that produces white flowers and red berries (that explains “little redhead”).

Rowan berries, however, are dangerous because they contain a specific toxin. They can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, and excessive salivation, and affected dogs can show significant signs of disease.

Sorbus aucuparia has no toxic effects reported.

The rowan tree is a slow growing tree and can be pruned making it accessible for small and large gardens. It’s also great for attracting native wildlife. As well as attracting bees, flies, and beetles for pollination the berries will also attract birds to the garden, many similar to the holly tree.

Mountain ash, rowan (Sorbus) Mountain ash, or rowans, are attractive, deciduous, ornamental trees, many of which are suitable for even small to average-sized gardens. They look fabulous in spring, covered in their flowers, and again in autumn when their fruit and autumn foliage provide more interest and colour.

Hazel is a small, shrubby tree that can be found in a variety of habitats, such as woodlands, gardens and grasslands. It is famous for its long, yellow, male catkins (known as ‘lamb’s-tails’) that appear in spring, and its green, ripening to brown, fruits (familiar to us as ‘hazelnuts’) that appear in late summer.

Value to wildlife Hazel has long been associated with the dormouse (also known as the hazel dormouse). Not only are hazelnuts eaten by dormice to fatten up for hibernation, but in spring the leaves are a good source of caterpillars, which dormice also eat.

Witch hazel is not to be confused with the wild hazelnuts also native to our forests – beaked hazelnut and American hazelnut. The hazelnuts are actually in the birch family – Betulaceae – while witch hazel is in a different family called Hamamelidaceae.