Stock Availability 
Deciduous vs. evergreen
Deciduous
A tree that loses its leaves for the winter. Trees lose their leaves as the temperature drops and/or when the daylight shortens. Different trees have different temperature requirements, so a big spread can be expected as to when they leaf out, and they can even stop growing their leaves if it suddenly gets cold. Furthermore, this can vary from year to year depending on how soon the temperature rises in the spring.
Evergreen
A tree that never loses all its leaves. Obviously, as they grow or when under stress they will drop some of their leaves, but they should always grow replacement leaves when in the growing season. However, some trees are semi-evergreen, which means that if it gets too cold, or they get too dry, they can drop most or all of their leaves to protect the overall tree from death.
Terms describing shape
Trees are grown in a variety of forms (shape). Some forms are natural, but others are due to training and pruning over many years. This is why you will often see some varieties of trees in many different forms.
Standard (Std)
A tree with a trunk that is at least 1.8m (6ft) tall. However, a standard tree can have a 2-3m+ tall trunk, depending on how it is grown. Many trees grown to line a street, may have a 4m+ trunk, so as to clear tall lorries. Most tree branches are pruned off as they grow to make them into a 'standard', but a few types do naturally drop their lower branches as they grow.
Half-standard (HS)
A tree that has had its trunk cleared from 1.2 - 1.5m tall, often grown for a small garden bed or container.
Quarter-standard (QS)
A tree that has a trunk less that 1m tall, usually grown for a decorative pot on a patio bed or raised planter.
Feathered (Fth)
A tree that is a single trunk, but has branches from the ground up.
Multi-stemmed (MS)
A tree that has multiple stems from near the ground. A true multi-stem has one trunk that is cut off near the ground when younger (above a node) and then multiple buds appear and at least 3 are grown on to develop into a lovely tree. However, some so-called multi-stemmed trees are grown as 2 or more trees planted together when young.
Pleached (Plch)
A tree that has been trained onto a frame (usually a Bamboo frame) of varying proportions/sizes, pruned and tied onto the frame to fill it. A typical pleach will have a 2m trunk and a 2m x 2m frame on top to be used for aerial screening above a fence/wall or as a feature. However, many other forms are available pleached from the ground up to 2m or even 4m tall or on shortened trunks. Pleaching is often used to soften a wall or grow fruit trees along a wall and the bamboo canes can be taken off and replaced by a more permanent structure or by a stainless steel wire grid on a wall.
Terms describing size
Girth
This is the circumference at 1m up the trunk from the soil surface. You do not measure on a bump or around a bamboo cane. This is the industry standard though unfortunately some nurseries will measure lower down the trunk to significantly increase the girth. The only exception to this rule is when measuring a ¼ or ½ Std or an Olive tree, where they are measured half way up the trunk.
Height
The height is often shown on our availability list and shows the current planted height of the tree in question on our nursery, not what it will grow to when fully grown. However, it is possible to have a very tall skinny and weak tree that has been grown close to another, but has a very small crown that will collapse once planted alone. Always be very suspicious of large trees grown in small containers. Furthermore one of our competitor's claim that the tree is roughly the height of its girth, ie., a 12-14cm girth will be 12-14ft (3-4m) tall. However, this is not accurate on all trees, especially if grown correctly and in larger size girths, eg., a 30-35cm girth tree is not 30-35ft (9-10m) tall, but more likely 20-25ft (6-7m) tall! Always ask the salesperson if they have physically gone out and measured the tree. So many people cannot estimate the height of a tree once it's over 10ft (3m) tall as it towers above you, including many professionals.
