I’ve decided I’m going to plant a spindle tree

My little wood is pretty full now. In fact, there are parts of it where I should probably do a bit of thinning. Some of the most interesting and bio-diverse parts of a woodland are actually the spots where there are no trees. The woodland glade has an ecology of its own.

However, earlier this year, a tree came down in a storm, an old hawthorn, and I cut it up for firewood. I’m finding it hard to resist the temptation to plant something in its place, particularly as it was on the windward side of the wood where shelter is important. November is the best month of the year to plant trees in Ireland and November is just around the corner, so I really have to make a decision.

There is one species of tree which I love and which I think would do well on my lime-rich land and I haven’t got one. I’ve now decided I’m going to plant a spindle.

It’s a small, native deciduous tree which is good at resisting strong winds. However, for much of the year it’s not particularly spectacular with its smooth grey bark, dark green leaves, and insignificant little greenish-white flowers. However, in autumn all this changes. No other native tree species has better autumn leaf colour. It just lights up a hedgerow or a wood with a blaze of crimson and gold which is equal to anything you’d see in New England in the autumn.

As if this wasn’t enough, it produces its extraordinary berries at the same time. Four-lobed and bright pink, as they ripen they split open to reveal the orange seeds inside. Pink and orange sounds like a pretty horrible colour combination but somehow nature gets away with something that a fashion designer wouldn’t even attempt.

The berries often don’t survive for very long because birds love them. Several insect species are also hosted by spindles, making them a good tree for a wildlife garden. One word of warning, though; the leaves and berries are poisonous to humans and livestock. Most cases of human poisoning have involved children seduced by the sweet-like appearance of the pink berries. Beware of this risk and also of the danger of planting spindle where sheep might browse.

In the wild, spindle has a very localised distribution, demanding soils rich in nutrients and lime. It’s found in the Burren, though normally only as a stunted shrub, and is quite common as a taller plant in hedgerows in parts of east Galway. It’s also sparsely distributed on esker ridges across the Midlands and there is a fine, tall specimen growing on the banks of the Grand Canal quite close to where I live.

It can be propagated from cuttings taken at this time of year but I’m buying mine from a nursery. If you do the same try and get the native Irish one rather than a cultivar.