Rowan trees

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

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Orange
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Bronze / Purple

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft

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

    • Growth habit: Columnar / Fastigiate
    • Fruit colour: Yellow
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Gold

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Bronze / Purple
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    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.

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Spreading
    • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Orange
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red
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    Features feathered leaves, and pink-red fruitlets.

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Spreading
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Columnar / Fastigiate
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red
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    Gibbsii grows with a neat spreading columnar form, sprinkled with clusters of bright red fruits in the autumn.

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints
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    A small compact rowan with an upright form, notable for its bright pink fruitlets and feathered leaves.

    • Growth habit: Columnar / Fastigiate
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Brown
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Brown
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints
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    A small rowan, with distinctive pale yellow fruitlets. Also one of the best for autumn colour.

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Yellow
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Gold

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Yellow
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints
  • In stockBest seller

    An attractive small rowan tree, its orange/red autumn leaf-colours are amongst the best.

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Bronze / Purple

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Gold

  • A very upright rowan tree, with pretty pink fruitlets.

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints

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

    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Gold
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Spreading
    • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Crimson
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Green

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Brown
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints
  • In stock

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Gold

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

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

    • Growth habit: Spreading
    • Fruit colour: Orange / Red
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

  • 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.

    • Growth habit: Spreading
    • Fruit colour: Pink
    • Fruit colour: White
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Bronze / Purple

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

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Yellow

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

    • Growth habit: Upright
    • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Orange / Red

  • A large traditional Rowan tree, native to England.

    • Growth habit: Upright-spreading
    • Fruit colour: Brown
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Yellow / Crimson

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

    • Growth habit: Spreading
    • Fruit colour: Yellow / Orange
    • Height 10 years: 3m-5m / 10ft-16ft
    • Leaf colour - autumn: Multiple tints

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.

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

Rowan trees are related to crab-apples and the berries of many species (especially Sorbus aucuparia) can also be cooked and made into rowan jelly, similar to crab-apple jelly.

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.