Common ash seeds - Fraxinus excelsior

Growing Fraxinus excelsior, the common ash, from seeds offers the opportunity to watch this majestic tree grow from its earliest stages of development. Its seeds, enclosed in elongated samaras, ripen in autumn and require winter stratification to break their dormancy. They will develop into a tree with an upright habit, whose straight trunk supports light and elegant branches. The ash bears dark green lanceolate foliage whose golden autumn colour illuminates the landscape. It can be planted to provide shade in a large garden.

Fraxinus excelsior, better known as the common ash or European ash, belongs to the Oleaceae family. This tree is native to Europe, Scandinavia and Russia, where it readily colonises riverbanks and cool, deep forests. Adapted to moist soils, it plays an important ecological role in stabilising banks and hosting rich biodiversity. Its naturally upright habit gives it an elegant and slender silhouette. It develops a straight, well-defined trunk, topped with a compact and elongated crown when young, which gradually opens up with age to become more airy. Its smooth and greyish young bark becomes fissured over the years, adopting a cracked and scaly appearance. With relatively fast growth, it can reach between 30 and 40 metres in height at maturity, with a spread of around 20 metres. Its deciduous foliage consists of light leaves, composed of 9 to 13 narrow, lanceolate leaflets, measuring between 5 and 12 cm long. Dark green in summer, they turn golden yellow in autumn before falling. Common ash flowers in spring, before the leaves appear. Small cream-yellow flowers, clustered in panicles, bloom discreetly on the branches. After pollination, they produce dry fruits called samaras, measuring 2 to 4.5 cm long, which disperse with the wind and ensure the tree's reproduction.

Perfectly hardy and with limited requirements, common ash tolerates all types of non-scorching exposures and adapts to any ordinary soil, including limestone. Its growth will be more significant in fertile, deep and moist soil. It tolerates pruning very well, even severe pruning, as it produces new shoots from the stump. If conditions suit it, it tends to self-seed very easily. In its natural form, its foliage and elegant habit give it genuine ornamental qualities. It will find its place as a standalone feature in a large garden, where it will provide pleasant shade in summer.