This year has been an odd year climatically speaking. I picked out my Quercus cerris 10 months ago for being a perfect Chelsea standard tree. It has been in the UK for 2 years and completely acclimatised. Yet, when it was delivered, I realised that it was very late coming into leaf. The odd thing being, that cerris always comes into leaf before Q. palustris, yet palustris is already quite leafed up. So, much to my supplier's annoyance, I rejected it and asked for another. The next one will also not make the grade, so I drove up to the nursery this morning and spent some time searching for the best one. The jury's still out, but one thing is for sure: we are not having cerris at Chelsea this year, and time is running out for an alternative that sticks to the brief.