Our tree and shrub hire service continues to be extremely popular. Sadly, as large wedding and social gatherings are currently on hold, we are receiving many enquiries for next year, in particular for weddings.
Decorating your venue with trees and shrubs can provide a more natural feel to your event, and with many weddings now taking place in barn conversions, it really does complement the overall look and feel. In addition, we have in the past supplied trees for churches and cathedrals too.
Most trees and shrubs can be considered for your venue and the form of your plants needs to be considered:
- Multi-stem
- Standards
- Half standards
- Topiaries
- Bushes
If you would like to consider the hire of trees or shrubs for your event, we would highly recommend a visit to Arundel Arboretum. Your initial visit would be to have a look at the plants available, and discuss your requirements with a member of the team. When you visit, we would need to know the following information:
- The address of the venue
- Access details – is there space for either our lorry or pick-up (possibly with a trailer) to safely deliver and collect?
- The dates for delivery and collection
- Whether you have a theme or specific style for your event e.g. an Italian theme
This information can then be discussed with you and a member of the team can then show you plants that would fit your criteria. We would recommend an early visit, returning about two weeks before your event to finalise the plants required. We are unable to hold plants for hire until two weeks before the event, but we are always available to discuss possible alternatives to avoid disappointment.
Costs
The hire charge is calculated on a percentage of the retail price of the trees and shrubs chosen.
Delivery and Collection Service
Our delivery and collection service charges are based on our normal delivery charges and are based on the distance travelled. If you would prefer to collect and return the plants yourself, this can also be arranged.
We recommend the plants are delivered two days before the event and we normally collect the day afterwards. This can be flexible to fit in with your requirements.
Care for the Plants
While the trees and shrubs are in your care, the most important point to remember is please water them! This is vital and can sometimes be overlooked when you are focussed on organising the rest of your event. Failure to water may cause the plants to suffer and even die. In the event of this happening, we reserve the right to charge the client the full retail value of the plant or plants that fail due to lack of maintenance, damage or not returned.
Decorations
Our trees and shrubs are all in plastic containers. We have no objection to the pots, trees and shrubs being decorated. We only ask that all decorations are removed before collection or return and that the plants are not damaged in the process.
Themes
Some of our clients have had “theme” weddings – for example an Italian wedding. Plants to consider could include:
- Cupressus sempervirens or Cupressus sempervirens ‘Totem’ (Italian Pencil Cypress)
- Olea europaea (Olive)
- Laurus nobilis (Bay laurel)
- Trachelospermum jasminoides (Star Jasmine) – a beautiful choice for a summer wedding as the scent from the flowers is particularly strong in the evenings
Alternatively, there are certain plants to consider depending upon the time of year:
Spring
There will be many choices for a spring wedding when the ornamental cherry trees (Prunus) or crab apples (Malus) are in full bloom!
Summer
A firm favourite is Hoheria sexstylosa ‘Snow White’ especially for a July wedding. Their dark green serrated foliage together with their white, star shaped flowers would add a delicate touch.
Autumn
Autumn colours would adorn any venue! Liquidambars have stunning autumn colours and one very popular variety is Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Worplesdon’. With rich autumn colours of mostly orange and red, and cork developing on the wood of the tree in winter, this would really make a statement.
Winter
Another variety of flowering cherry – Prunus subhirtella autumnalis ‘Rosea’ could be considered for a winter event. Their semi-double pale pink flowers appear from November – March and their green foliage turns shades of orange-yellow in the autumn.
If you would like further information about our tree hire service, please do not hesitate to contact us.
24 July 2020
