A lustrously- glossy evergreen tree originating in Japan. The ‘x’ means it’s a hybrid of two other Oamanthusses: brace yourself for some taxonomy or skip over the next bit and just know that it’s a truly majestic creature.
Hardiness level Amber
Size matters: for instant visual heft and a decent bit of height we have these super multi-stemmed specimens of Common Bay. Carefully pruned and trained over many years to create a plant with multiple strong stems and a good thick thatch of aromatic leaves.
Hardiness level Amber
A native European tree, more often seen clipped as a hedge and as topiary. The foliage is toxic to many browsing animals (cattle, horses and sheep) and so in rural areas, you’ll only see this growing in church yards, gardens and some native stands of pure yew forest like the wonderfully ancient and slightly spooky Kingley Vale near Chichester in West Sussex.
Hardiness level Green
You cannot beat a Pittosporum for adding texture to any garden: and for a properly shrubby shrub you could pick any of them. However the multi-stemmed form of ‘Elizabeth’ has a subtle strength to its architecture that we feel is a glorious balance between cloudy volume and vaulted structure.
Hardiness level Amber
A clever idea from Italy – a bush grafted onto a trunk producing a tidy little evergreen tree with new growth that’s red and frothy with white flowers in May.
Hardiness level Green
Very grand. The mightiest of all the Evergreen Oaks. To 50ft after 80 years. Often used as posh topiary. It’s the dense thicket of lush deep green leaves that make this tree a stand-out star all year round, and when they’ve been as lovingly cultivated into multi-stemmed specimens as these ones, you can see what every garden needs one.
Hardiness level Green
Evergreen. Instantly recognisable with its curious perpendicular/pendulous leaves with their distinct texture. Masses of white flowers in May. To about 12ft or more.
Hardiness level Green
Ever bought a plant and then wandered around the garden looking for somewhere to plant it?…
Read the article
A well known deciduous British tree that’s long been used in gardens for topiary and hedges. These are our multi-stemmed trees.
Hardiness level Green
