Tilia cor Winter Orange

'Winter Orange' earns its place in the garden in the coldest months. Once the leaves drop, the young shoots glow a vivid orange-red, tipped with bright red buds. They are a striking sight on a low winter sun. This colourful form of the native small-leaved lime was found as a seedling in a Dutch woodland in 1977 and introduced in 1988. In summer it carries rounded, heart-shaped leaves, dark green above and blue-green beneath, which turn butter yellow in autumn. In early to mid summer it bears clusters of small, pale yellow flowers with a sweet fragrance, and bees love them.

This is a large, broadly columnar tree that can eventually reach up to 25m in open ground. That makes it best suited to bigger gardens, parkland or avenue planting as a standalone specimen. It also responds very well to regular pruning. Pleaching, pollarding or cutting back hard each year keeps it to size and produces the most colourful new growth. At RHS Wisley a pleached screen of it makes a memorable winter feature. Plant in sun or partial shade in any reasonably fertile, well-drained soil, including chalk and clay. Once established it copes well with dry spells and urban conditions. It is fully hardy. Prune while dormant in late winter, and water well through its first summer.

Each tree is hand-selected before dispatch.

Available from Pengelly Garden Centre.