Acer pseudoplatanus 'Simon-Louis Freres 12Ltr pot

Acer pseudoplatanus 'Simon-Louis Frères' — 12ltr Pot

A real showstopper among variegated trees, Acer pseudoplatanus 'Simon-Louis Frères' opens the season with soft pink young leaves before they mature into a striking patchwork of pale green, heavily mottled and streaked with creamy white — a display that holds right through summer before finishing with warm autumn tones as the leaves fall.

Smaller-statured and slower-growing than the wild sycamore, this cultivar forms a bushy, rounded habit that still makes an imposing specimen given time, so it's best suited to larger gardens or open spaces where its eventual size can be appreciated. It's a genuinely tough, reliable tree, holding its colour well even in exposed or coastal positions and shrugging off urban pollution better than many ornamental trees.

Grow in full sun or partial shade, in any reasonably fertile, moist but well-drained soil — this variety tolerates chalk, clay, loam and sand, and copes with exposure that would trouble more delicate specimens. It's fully hardy (RHS H7) and needs only minimal pruning once established. As with other sycamores, seeds and seedlings can be harmful to horses if ingested, so it's worth siting away from grazing land.

Each tree is hand-selected before dispatch, supplied in a 12-litre pot ready for planting straight into its final position.