Cultivation
It is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The alder is capable of enduring clipping as well as marine climatic conditions. The tree may be cultivated as a windbreak. It adapts to the conditions fast and the young trees also develop rapidly, almost growing about one meter or more in a year. Hence, the alder is an outstanding pioneer species for reinstating forestland or abandoned farmland and other problematic soils that do not support vegetation easily. Its rapid growth provides secluded conditions to establish more lasting forest trees. Besides, as nitrogen-fixing bacteria colonize the roots, it is able to enrich the soil and thereby help the proper growth of other plants which cannot cope with the impoverished conditions. Alder also provides shade to the plants growing below and the leaf fall helps to increase the amount of humus present in the soil.
The species is cultivated as a tree in parks and gardens, and the variety 'Imperialis' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Read more about this topic: Alnus Glutinosa
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