Sorbus aucuparia Autumn Spire

Sorbus aucuparia Autumn Spire is a small ornamental tree that enhances the garden from spring to autumn. Its beautiful slender silhouette is adorned with deciduous compound foliage, dark green turning to purple-red in autumn, passing through the most flamboyant shades. From May to June, it blooms with large silky white corymbs, followed by a profusion of small decorative yellow-orange berries, which remain on the tree for a long time. With its compact, columnar habit, it is a versatile cultivar suitable for planting individually, in hedges, or in alignment in small spaces. Extremely tolerant of soil types and exposure, it just needs to be avoided stagnant humidity and given some light. It can even tolerate poor, dry, acidic, or calcareous soils.

Sorbus aucuparia Autumn Spire is a primarily ornamental cultivar of Sorbus aucuparia or rowan tree. It is an extremely hardy species, quite common from Europe to Asia and rare in the Mediterranean, thriving in rather humid and temperate climates. It can live up to 150 years and reach a height of about ten metres. A light-loving species, it is often found at the edge of woods growing on light soils. It is an undemanding tree that tolerates all soils, even acidic or calcareous ones, as long as they are well-drained. Preferring coolness, it can nevertheless withstand occasional drought once established. Sorbus aucuparia Autumn Spire has a compact, columnar habit and reaches only 4 metres (13ft) in height and 1 metre (3ft 4in) in width after 20 years. It blooms from May to June with a profusion of typical single white flowers of the Rosaceae family, gathered in 12cm (4.7in) diameter corymbs. The 6-8mm (0.2 - 0.3in) flowers consist of 5 petals and 15 to 20 quite long stamens, far exceeding the corollas. At the end of summer, they give way to decorative light orange to yellow fruits, which persist until winter. The 1cm (0.4in) diameter berries are a delight for birds, especially thrushes, who love them. The delicate foliage of the rowan tree is deciduous and odd-pinnate, consisting of 9-15 oblong, lanceolate, finely dentate leaflets. They are glabrous and dark green on the upper side and pale, slightly pubescent underneath. In autumn, the leaves, which are 10 to 20cm (3.9 - 7.9in) long, turn purple-red, passing through orange and fiery red. The bark of Sorbus aucuparia is smooth and light grey in color. It becomes covered with white lenticels on old trees. It emits an unpleasant odour.

It is a decorative tree from spring to autumn and, due to its small size, it is increasingly used as an alignment tree, individually, or in informal hedges in parks and gardens. The small dimensions and narrow habit of the Autumn Spire variety make it suitable for even the smallest gardens, even when planted near entrances or facades. Use it to create medium-sized informal hedges by associating it with other wild, fruit-bearing, and honey-bearing species such as elderberries, hornbeams, privets, and dogwoods. It is a delightful species for aligning small garden paths or in flower beds accompanied by other species with fresh soil and purple, red, and acid green foliage (hazelnuts, Mexican orange, barberries, lady's mantle) and white and red flowering plants such as Astilbes, knotweeds, and Rodgersias.