Melissa King, Landscape Designer with Aralia attends the Majestic Trees Open Day on 19th September 2013
As I arrived at Majestic Trees nursery, I could see trees being loaded onto lorries ready for dispatch: all was a blur of machinery and hi-viz vests. While the rain started falling, I changed into my boots ready to have a good look around the nursery. Majestic have a wide variety of trees both small, large and absolutely huge. I began by walking through avenues of Ficus and Malus, through Photinia and Quercus ilex and beneath towering Acer and Betula. After enjoying my wander about the nursery, I made my way to a muddy field where the demonstrations about planting large trees were to take place.
Mark Gregory, Adam Frost and Matt Biggs were the guest appearances and with the help of Steve McCurdy, Managing Director of Majestic, they staged a discussion session about all aspects of mature tree planting. The topics included: What to look for when selecting a tree, growing conditions, transportation, access considerations, marking out, preparing for digging and aftercare, to name a few. All the trees found at Majestic begin their life as root-ball stock but are quickly transferred to air pots, these are a great product to encourage and promote a strong, fibrous root system.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was the demonstration to aid with deciding the best power for planting. With five individuals poised to begin digging, I felt pity for the man holding a spade! As the clock ticked, it was very apparent that the correct machine size for the trees is an important consideration. The trees on the day were three Betula jacquemontii, a larger Malus and the star of the show a 3 000 litre, 70cm girth Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’.
Towards the end of the day I had a quick catch up with members of the planting team. I had worked alongside them a couple of years ago planting trees at Hampton Court, and it was great to know they are still going strong!
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