A plant, small tree or shrub to celebrate the birth of my son- recommendations please

[joymaker]

DS2 was born on the 9th July. So it would be nice if it were fruiting, blooming or whatever it would be doing then.

DS1 is 27 months so it would also be nice if it were something he could track the growth of IYSWIM

The place it will be put is quite shadey, partially maybe.

Any ideas would be great

I was going to suggest an apple tree but not sure about shade. Suggest you find a nursery that sells fruit trees and ask their advice. We're doing the same for our son although it'll have to be toffee apples around his birthday as he's end of Jan!

Cherry blossom?

There are some fan roses with quirky names, try the David Austin website to see if there's anything suitable. Love the idea of a fruit tree

Thanks all, shall have a look at your suggestions.

Anymore welcome.

ooh cherry blosom looks like it could get quite big.Lovely tree though

Roughly how big do fan trained fruit trees get, think this might be what I'm looking for, may get some of the roses for DS1 too

On closer looking these look like they may be a bit too much work i.e the training and the pruning...