where to buy multistep tibetan cherry around London

[microbius]

I want to plant a multistem Tibetan cherry (prunus serrula), had an order placed from March which just got cancelled due to stock fail. So I am thinking this summer I will be travelling around some weekends, from London outwards, to Sussex or Essex, visit friends, to the sea, etc, it would be good to go physically into a nursery and chose it. However, places I visited before and the ones I know (admittedly all famous gardens) do not carry it. Beth Chatto, Great Dixter, etc. Does anyone have any advice? Any nurseries I can visit within day driving distance from London? I imagine we will be going at some point to the Southend, Brighton, Rye, etc. We will go to Cornwall in August but I expect the car to be packed, not really fit for picking up a tree. Many thanks

North End Road, St Peters Grove Piccadilly
online ?

I ended up getting mine online last year (5ft tall) and it is doing well this summer. Haven't seen any in the garden centres I visit, even larger ones.

Thanks both! I have been looking online without much luck. The prices also seem to have gone crazy, from around £50 to the best part of a £100. Didn't know we had shortages of plants now...

Have you tried Columbia road on Sundays?

@tedgran good point! haven't even thought about Columbia road

Have you tried the rhs plant finder? www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-results?query=Prunus%20serrula it comes up with several varieties, but then you can click on each one for a list of suppliers and then phone round suitable nurseries to check stock/whether they have any multistemmed plants in. I do find that sometimes it doesn't list all suppliers and you may find it elsewhere, bug it's a start.

www.paramountplants.co.uk/contact.html loads of trees etc here, on Crews Hill, Enfield- just off M25

@Fitzfatsfeist thanks! I did spend a few hours phoning around nurseries listed at the RHS as stocking this prunus, only to find out none has it. I don't mind waiting until winter to get it, but it now feels a totally elusive tree; only big £500 ones are available online. Maybe I should just abandon it for now and look again in the autumn

And thanks, flo, for the zara link. The length looks ok, but it is a bit much, isn't eat, pleats and broderie anglaise? Makes it too busy

This tree is generally nor multi stemmed as it is difficult to do so you normally see single stem specimens. I thik a multi stem might look a bit strange. Amelanchier are ready available as multistemmed if you want that cloudy look.
You are well below budget for a multi stem anything - they take much more time to shape & grow. I get mine from NL but you can't as you are outsider of EU now hence scarcity. I think some of the upmarket guys supplying chelsea garden designers might be best bet.

@ThisisMax I didn't know, this is interesting. Thanks for letting me know. Might need to go to Holland then, or budget more for it. I have a row of Amelanchiers in my front garden, and I wanted something in the back garden for winter months. It's not the cloud look necessarily I am after, but 3 big stems with interesting bark rather than one trunk in the middle of my garden for when I cut all my perennials down to the ground. Do you think I should rather look into crab apples? It's a small garden and limits the choice substantially, and I have a natural look very much a la Piet Oudolf

Apologies also for the wrong post intended for another thread

I have a plain viburnum and a naturally multistem american euonymus

Tibetian cherries are gorgeous and I would definitely try one, even a single stem. I have a half acre garden of mostly oudolf style planting and I use bamboo, euynomous etc for stem interest. Acer griseum are very good too and nicer stems. Slow growing also and easily found.

Cornus is a good option for interesting stems in the winter - red and yellow versions.