Rowan trees

Rowan or Mountain Ash trees are hardy attractive trees, easy to grow in most situations.

• Amber Light

  A typical Mountain Ash or Rowan, with particularly persistent red berries.

  £71.95buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Orange
  Sorbus

• Asplenifolia

  The Cut-leaf Rowan, an excellent form of the native Mountain Ash, orange-red berries, and highly feathered leaves.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Autumn Spire®

  

  Autumn Spire (Flanrock) is a columnar rowan with yellow fruitlets and excellent autumn colour.

  £45.95 - £77.00buy

  • Fruit colour: Yellow
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Beissneri

  Beissneri is a compact form of the Common Rowan, with red berries and good autumn colours.

  £71.95buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Red
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Chinese Lace

  

  A neat attractive Rowan with bright green leaves and dusky pink berries.

  £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Red
  Sorbus

• Common Rowan

  The Rowan or Mountain Ash, native to most parts of the UK. The leaves turn golden red in autumn, accompanied by clusters of red berries. One of the largest species of Sorbus.

  £45.00 - £70.00buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Red
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Copper Kettle

  Named for its attractive light copper-coloured fruitlets, Copper Kettle is easy to grow and takes up little space.

  • Fruit colour: Yellow
  • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus

• Croft Coral

  Croft Coral is a small rowan tree but the fruits are an orange coral colour rather than the usual red,

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Orange
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Eastern Promise

  Features feathered leaves, and pink-red fruitlets.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus

• Ember Glow

  This rowan has bluish-green leaves which turn orange-red in the autumn.The fruitlets are red, and persist well into winter.

  £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Embley

  Embley is a form of the Japanese Rowan, featuring red berries and scarlet autumn leaf colours.

  • Fruit colour: Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus commixta

• Emiel

  Emiel has long leaves, with silvery-green undersides, turning orange in autumn.

  • Fruit colour: Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus folgneri

• Fingerprint®

  A particularly upright form of the Mountain Ash, and one of the most disease-resistant.

  £45.95 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Red
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Gibbsii

  

  Gibbsii grows with a neat spreading columnar form, sprinkled with clusters of bright red fruits in the autumn.

  • Fruit colour: Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus hybrida

• Glendoick SpireTM

  A small compact rowan with an upright form, notable for its bright pink fruitlets and feathered leaves.

  £71.95buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Glendoick White Baby®

  Glendoick White Baby is a superb tree for autumn colour, with large bright white berries and bright red leaves.

  £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: White
  Sorbus

• John Bond

  An unusual species of Sorbus, the leaves are particularly attractive for their white undersides.

  • Fruit colour: Brown
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus hemsleyi

• John Mitchell

  John Mitchell is a popular whitebeam, notable for its large white-green leaves.

  • Fruit colour: Brown
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus x aria

• Joseph Rock

  A small rowan, with distinctive pale yellow fruitlets. Also one of the best for autumn colour.

  £71.95buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Yellow
  • Awards: RHS 1st class
  • Awards: RHS AGM (former)
  Sorbus

• Kashmir rowan

  An unusual rowan, with light pink blossom, and white fruitlets, which are larger than usual for rowans.

  £66.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: White
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus cashmiriana

• Lemon Drop

  Lemon Drop is a small whitebeam tree, with the characteristic white undersides to its leaves. As the name suggests, the fruitlets are bright yellow.

  • Fruit colour: Yellow
  Sorbus folgneri

• Leonard Messel

  

  A good all-round small rowan tree, with good autumn colours and cascades of pink fruitlets.

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus

• Lutescens

  An excellent garden tree, very hardy, easy to grow, and tolerant of a wide range of soils and conditions. Grey-green leaves turn russet in autumn, with orange berries.

  £44.50 - £71.95buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus aria

• Matthew Ridley

  

  An upright-growing Mountain Ash with dense white flowers and clusters of orange-red autumn berries.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
  Sorbus

• Olympic Flame

  Olympic Flame (or Dodong) is an attractive small rowan tree, its orange/red autumn leaf-colours are amongst the best.

  £44.50 - £71.95buyBest seller

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus ulleungensis

• Pearls

  

  A small spreading rowan tree, named for its clusters of pearl-white berries.

  • Fruit colour: White
  Sorbus bissetii

• Pink Charm

  

  A small rowan with a spreading habit, large feathered leaves, and bright pink berries.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  Sorbus vilmorinii

• Pink Ness

  A very upright rowan tree, with pretty pink fruitlets.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  Sorbus

• Pink Pagoda

  Pink Pagoda features clusters of pale pink fruits in late summer, and good autumn foliage colours.

  £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  • Awards: RHS AGM (former)
  Sorbus hupehensis

• Pink Pearl

  A small upright rowan tree with clusters of pink-flecked white fruitlets.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  • Fruit colour: White
  Sorbus

• Ravensbill

  This rowan tree is named for the the black colour of its winter buds. It also features yellow autumn leaves and orange berries.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  Sorbus

• Red Bird

  

  Red Bird features bright white flowers, orange / red fruits and good autumn leaf colours. It has a wider climate range than other rowans.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  Sorbus alnifolia

• Rose Queen

  An unusual small rowan tree, featuring clusters of dark-pink red very persistent berries.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Red
  • Fruit colour: Red - dark
  Sorbus

• Rosiness

  

  A small rowan tree with white-pink flowers and cascades of pink berries.

  £73.00buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  Sorbus rosea

• Sheerwater Seedling

  A compact upright form of the Common Rowan, notable for its abundant fruiting.

  • Fruit colour: Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus aucuparia

• Sorbus discolor

  

  Sorbus discolor features yellow berries which take on pink hues as they mature.
  Sorbus discolor

• Sorbus hedlundii

  A little-known whitebeam species, it features the classic downy grey-green leaves, and russeted fruitlets in autumn.

  • Fruit colour: Brown
  Sorbus hedlundii

• Sorbus helenae

  A species of rowan featuring pink/white fruitlets and good autumn colours.

  • Fruit colour: White
  Sorbus helenae

• Sorbus hupehensis

  A classic rowan tree with pink berries and good autumn leaf colours.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  Sorbus hupehensis

• Sorbus japonica

  

  An upright rowan with large oval leaves and attractive autumn colours and large red fruitlets.

  • Fruit colour: Red
  Sorbus japonica

• Sorbus pseudovilmorinii

  Similar characteristics to Sorbus vilmorinii, not quite as vigorous, but heavier fruiting.

  £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  • Fruit colour: White
  Sorbus pseudovilmorinii

• Sorbus sargentiana

  A broad spreading rowan with bright orange fruitlets and autumn foliage.

  £66.50 - £72.00buy

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus sargentiana

• Sorbus scalaris

  One of the more spreading smaller Rowan species, with orange/red autumn leaf colours, and clusters of small orange fruilets.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
  Sorbus scalaris

• Sorbus vilmorinii

  

  The main feature of this Rowan trees is the pink fruitlets, which turn white as autumn progresses. It is one of the smaller Sorbus species, but also one of the more spreading.

  £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Pink
  • Fruit colour: White
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus vilmorinii

• Sorbus wardii

  

  A little-known Whitebeam from the Himalayas, featuring large silver-green leaves and yellow-orange berries.

  • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
  Sorbus wardii

• Sunshine

  A small rowan tree with an upright form and golden yellow clusters of fruits, and strong autumn colours.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
  Sorbus

• Wild Service Tree

  A large traditional Rowan tree, native to England.

  • Fruit colour: Brown
  Sorbus torminalis

• Wisley Gold

  

  A good-sized yellow-fruiting mountain ash, with a spreading form.

  £44.50 - £71.95buy

  • Fruit colour: Yellow
  • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current)
  Sorbus

How to choose Rowan trees

The Rowans or Mountain Ash trees are a group of mostly small trees growing to about 7m, characterised by their heavily segmented or "pinnate" leaves, which often take on attractive autumn colours. They are also known as Mountain Ash trees, because the leaf has a passing resemblance to the common ash - although they are not related.

They are however distantly related to crab-apples and hawthorns, and most varieties bear clusters of fruitlets which hang on the tree into early winter. The fruits are usually red, but there are also yellow and pink varieties. The berries of many species (especially Sorbus aucuparia) can also be cooked and made into rowan jelly, similar to crab-apple jelly.

All forms of rowan are good sources of food for wildlife from late summer into the early winter.

Rowans are easy to grow, and most are tolerant of a wide range of conditions, including acidic soils, clay soils, wet soils, and exposed situations. Many will tolerate chalk, however they prefer well-drained neutral or acidic soils if possible.

Rowans flower very late - in May or June - and often set fruit by mid-summer. This makes them particularly well-adapted to northern climates with short damp summers and cold winters.

Rowans can be grown successfully in areas with long warm summers, provided you pay attention to watering (particularly with young trees) as they do not tolerate drought.

They can be planted in most locations, but for the best fruit and leaf colours plant in full sun.

They are invariably healthy trees, although (reflecting their relation with apples) they can be susceptible to fireblight - fortunately not a common disease in the UK. Scab and aphids can also sometimes be a problem.

The growth habit of most varieties is quite upright, making them good street trees.

Most of our Rowan trees are grafted on to Sorbus aucuparia rootstocks, to help give a consistent size and better tolerance to drought. Some are grafted on Sorbus intermedia which is more suitable for the Whitebeam varieties. Although they are usually just planted and allowed to grow naturally, young Sorbus trees can be cut back and shaped and pruned in a similar way to Malus and Prunus.

We also have advice on choosing a rowan tree for your garden based on berry colours and other characteristics.