Tilia Linden

Botanical Name: Tilia cordata

Common Names: Littleleaf Linden, Small-Leaved Lime

Linden is a classic shade tree famous for its dense canopy and fragrant summer blooms.

The small yellow flowers produce a rich nectar that bees love, making exceptional honey, while the young leaves and dried flowers can be brewed into a relaxing herbal tea. It is a tough, long-lived tree that handles suburban conditions well and brings brilliant yellow autumn colour to the garden.

Features:

Ideal prune height range: 4-8m

pH growing conditions: 6.0 to 7.5

Shade or full sun: Prefers full sun to partial shade

Minimum pot year 5: 90L pot

Time to fruit age: 5-8 years for flowering and tea harvest

Cold and Heat Tolerance:

Linden is exceptionally cold hardy, easily tolerating temperatures down to -30°C and heavy frost. It handles warm summers well, but hot inland heatwaves above 38°C can cause leaf scorch if the tree is not mulched and kept watered through peak summer.

Clay Tolerance:

Handles clay soil very well. Once established, Linden trees tolerate heavy, compacted soils better than most other large shade trees, provided water does not pool continuously around the roots.

Linden trees grow into a neat, symmetrical pyramid shape with dark green, heart-shaped leaves. They are very adaptable once established and respond well to pruning or hedging. They make fantastic feature trees, shade trees for larger blocks, or windbreaks.

Interesting Notes:

Linden flower tea, known as Tilleul, is a traditional European remedy valued for its calming properties and pleasant, sweet flavour.

The tree is actually a distant relative of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), sharing the same broader Malvaceae plant family. In the 18th century, French chemist Missa discovered that grinding the tree's small fruits and flowers created a paste that surprisingly mimicked the taste and texture of chocolate. Roasting and grinding the fat-rich seeds produces a rich, caffeine-free cocoa substitute.

The wood is prized by carvers and woodworkers because it is soft, light, and rarely splits.

Limited stock. Pickup from Parkwood, WA. Delivery to Perth Metro only.

Keywords: Tilia cordata, Linden tree, Littleleaf Linden, shade tree Perth, herbal tea tree