Read our feature on New Wood Trees in the March 2021 issue of By The Dart magazine - here or below:
It was obviously ordained that Philip Nieuwoudt would eventually find himself running a tree nursery with his wife Tiffany. The South African born Philip’s surname - Nieuwoudt - means New Wood or Forest in Afrikaans. Their business is, therefore, appropriately and eponymously named, New Wood Trees. Based outside Stoke Gabriel, the nursery covers 80 acres in which over 10,000 trees are currently grown. The business was established in 2008 and is the only nursery in the UK that specialises in field grown, multi-stem trees.
Although Philip’s surname is well suited to his profession, he actually grew up in a desert with no trees around at all! Philip and Tiffany, who is English, met in South Africa and spent 8 years living together on the family sheep farm in the semi-arid region of the country called Namaqualand, near the border of Namibia and about 6 hours from Cape Town. The couple were kept busy with the arrival of their two eldest children and as well as running the 4,500ha farm, Philip focused on his passion for plants, completing a diploma in horticulture.
In 2004 the family decided to settle in the UK. Looking for an opportunity to use his horticultural knowledge, he was introduced by a friend for a role at a major UK tree nursery. Coming from a part of South Africa where it barely rains, it seemed inconceivable to him that trees could be grown and harvested.
His horticultural diploma only taught him about South African trees, so he had to learn everything about UK trees from scratch. In his new job he learned a lot about the ‘tree’ business, and soon the couple were keen to push out on their own.
They tried to set up in Yorkshire, from where Tiffany originated, but it wasn’t clear it could work. “It’s too damn cold for me,” he chuckles.
Eventually, they decided to relocate to Devon and quickly everything fell into place. They soon found some land in Stoke Gabriel: “Other than the fact we both love it here, the nursery is perfectly placed. It is the closest I could get to the equator and still be connected to the M5! The climate is friendly for tree-growing and the local soil is especially good. It is very well drained; no trees are growing in standing water. The local Torbay red soil is perfect as it has a neutral pH of 7 and there is enough clay content to keep the root balls together, which is very important. The trees are, therefore, easy to dig up and transport to their new owners. It couldn’t be better”.
Philip had been growing rather bored with the uniformity of commercial single stem tree growing in this country and was attracted to the creativity of multi-stems and the lack of rules and standards which apply to their standard stem counterparts.
“I have a creative side and realised that growing multi-stem trees would satisfy this and, importantly, no one in the UK was growing these trees on any significant scale. I like the fact that there are no rules which means you can do what you want and the end result is very sculptural and, in my opinion, beautiful.
“It allows you to add value at a smaller scale and still be competitive. Our main competitors are in Europe but following Brexit fewer trees are being imported and there’s greater demand for British grown stock.”
Multi-stem trees also offer great value for money: “Everyone loves the impact of a beautiful tree. The only problem is that it takes half a lifetime, if not more, for these trees to reach the peak of their aesthetic appeal. As a result, buying a tree from new can often test one’s patience, as it can take years to begin to see the benefits of your investment. You can, of course, buy older, larger specimens but this is an expensive undertaking and is out of reach of most budgets.
“Multi-stem trees have been cultivated for those who don’t want to wait. A typical two metre single stem tree can take ten years to achieve any great impact. Because a multi-stem tree has three, five or seven stems, the growth is more obvious because it broadens the canopy and enhances the overall presence of the tree. It gives it a size worthy of a much older specimen, which means more value for your money.
“The art of producing a beautiful multi-stem originates from coppicing and involves cutting a tree right back and leaving it to regrow multiple stems from its base, or stool. It is based upon lessons learned from sustainable woodland management, and a true multi-stem will have this coppiced look. Coppicing is followed by skilful pruning and shaping throughout the early years of the tree’s life. The architectural shape and instant aesthetic appeal of the multi-stem tree is currently much in demand. Multi-stems are now the creative end of the market and this is why garden designers and customers are falling for them.”
Producing these trees is very labour intensive. There are three or four people pruning from May through to October, day in day out. Over the winter, it’s all about lifting the trees and getting them ready for sale and delivered to customers. At the same time, they are planting new trees as quickly as they can.
It takes up to five years to grow most trees ready for sale. “We take a lot of care ensuring our trees are sold with proper root systems, allowing them to survive and thrive when planted in their new homes. This is achieved by using the transplantation system, a process by which trees are dug out of the ground and replanted in a different area of the nursery before sale. It means that effectively the roots are pruned, ensuring lots of roots develop around the base of the tree. I tell my staff we sell roots not trees! If a tree doesn’t have a proper root system it won’t survive the establishment phase after being re-planted when sold. This is what a nursery grown tree is all about.
“We only grow species which thrive here in Devon and which do not require artificial chemicals to survive. This means that we do not spray any of our trees with fertilisers or pesticides.
We prefer to grow tree species that we like, for instance Acer, Cornus, Malus, Pinus, Prunus, etc. We have over ninety varieties on offer and each tree is different and unique. I need to love what we grow in order to sell it to someone else and have realised over the years that it is easier to sell trees that I like! We specialise in small to medium sized trees of between two to six metres which grow to between two to twelve metres when fully grown. It means our trees are sized to suit most gardens and will have a sculptural impact which will satisfy every gardener.
We also containerise our own trees and are in the process of expanding our container area to meet the demands of summer sales. This will enable us to have approximately 500 trees ready for sale over the spring and summer months and give more flexibility to our customers.
Philip and Tiffany have recently made a big commitment to the future of the business by purchasing a further 45 acres of land that reaches down to the river Dart opposite Sharpham Trust. At the moment, they are focused on making it secure from rabbits and deer, tidying and organising the land to make it operationally easy to use before they start planting. Planting will be managed in line with demand, but the extra land gives them peace of mind that they have the ability to grow and develop the business over the long term when they are ready. “Not all the land will be planted,” explains Philip. “I quite like the idea to let some of it go wild to encourage more wildlife to the area.”
At a time when we are being encouraged to plant more trees, there’s something very special about a personal visit to Philip and Tiffany’s nursery, wandering through their fields and choosing your own special specimen.
If interested, call New Wood Trees to make an appointment.
New Wood Trees, The Barn, Broadley Lane, Stoke Gabriel, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6RR
01803 782 666
