Due to chilly British Spring weather, the end of the 2024/25 bareroot planting season will be a whizz-bang corker on the discerning planter’s hit parade, and should last well into April for most of the country.
That’s longer than our official statement on the subject indicates:
“The bareroot season shall last from November, weather permitting, until end o’March; bit longer in Scotland or someplace brass monkeys like Newcastle.”
This year, everyone can feel like Newcastle.
We’re using Leeds for an arbitrary British mid-point; you naturally must check your own local weather forecast, unless you’re in Cornwall, where you already know it will be warm and postcard sunny.
Low Nightime Temperatures Extend The Bareroot Planting Season Into April
Those low night time air temperatures force plants to put the brakes on leafy and flowering growth above ground.
The night air will get colder until past the middle of the month, with a likely belt of frost as though Winter Is Comin’, then linger below 5C into April.
The sun still warms the soil, however, where the all important root growth is starting.
And to make planting work easy, there is a dose of rain every week that keeps the soil moist, but not day after day causing trouble.
Leeds Forecast for March: Cool Throughout, Frosty in the Middle
Every March, a cohort of people want to know, “is it too late to plant bareroot trees for 2025?”, and when asked in March, the answers is “no, March is definitely not too late to plant bareroot, assuming that you have already placed your order and the trees are booked for delivery; if not, buy online at your friendly local Ashridge now before everything sells out.”
This year, the answer in April to the question “is it too late to plant bareroot?” will be “no, but we’ve sold out of everything! We didn’t plan for an extra-half-month-plus of bareroot plant sales. That was a real mistake, considering we are supposedly experts who do this for a living. Hey, have you seen this cute dog jump on this guy?”
If you haven’t ordered already, some of Britains most popular plants are selling out as we speak, stocks are running low on Hawthorn, Boxwood, Beech, Raspberries, and Pear Trees.