Oriental Plane | Platanus orientalis Digitata | Bareroot Standard Trees
Oriental Plane - Large Standard Trees
Oriental Plane is a big, spreading, deciduous tree that grows quickly. It is known for its variable growth habit. There are old trees with tall elegant, straight stems and quite neat round canopies, trees with stubby short trunks and thick, winding branches and there is one famous tree in Wiltshire, planted in 1760, with vast, tentacle-like branches that rest on the ground in all directions, covering an area the size of a football pitch! The reason for this unpredictable shape is that unlike most trees, this species doesn't have leaf buds at the end of its stems and so each branch takes a slightly different direction every year.
All in all, it is a beautiful tree, full of character and well recommended for a large garden, park or golf course.
We also grow the related London Plane tree.
Growing Oriental Plane Trees
They will grow in any soil where there is a good amount of sun. They aren't commonly grown in the North or Scotland, but they should be fine for sheltered sites on the Western side of the country. They prefer a moist soil and love heavy clay, but mature trees can tolerate drought well. Plane trees are fine planting in exposed windy locations, but not on the coast. They are good for inner city planting.
Oriental Planes are native to Eastern Europe and have been grown in Britain since the late 1500's.
Please watch our tree planting video for full planting instructions.
How Standard Trees are Measured:
All the plants in the ornamental trees section are graded as standards, which means that they are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level (basically, their trunk's waist measurement). They aren't measured by their height, which will vary.
So, a 6/8 standard has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8 centimetres and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10 centimetres around.
This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height. Most standards are between 2 - 3.5 metres tall, but this is just an average. We cannot tell you how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.