Please recommend a small/miniature tree

[Bear2014]

Hello, we have recently moved into a house with a garden and know nothing about plants/gardening at all. In one corner there is a small Japanese Acer tree next to a load of weeds so the plan is to de-weed then put something nice next to the Acer. what would compliment well and be easy to look after? Thanks!

How about a Daphne? It has gorgeous smelling flowers in the spring and is mainly evergreen. It can be grown in full shade and doesn't mind root-competition. It's slow growing and won't want pruning. They come in various sizes but there are lots that reach about 1m high.

How large is a space? The thing with acers is that they often are quite structurally striking - so you might not want anything large too close to it. How about some lower level companion planting like variegated hakonechloa grass?

Thank you for your suggestions, I will Google. It's about 4 feet across so not a huge space. We don't want to crowd the acer as it's definitely the nicest thing in the garden.

You could go for a dwarf conifer or two if you want to extend the Japanese theme.

Have you got children as Daphne is poisonous? Cheal'ssweeping cherry.
Japanese azaleas go well.

azalea

Thank you everyone - love the look of the azalea, think we'll have a look this weekend. Yes we have a 2 year old so probably best steer clear of the Daphne.

You'll need a fairly acid soil to grow azaleas successfully in the ground (you can get a soil testing kit very cheaply if you don't know whether yours is). Otherwise you can grow them in ericaceous compost in a container.

I love fothergilla, they're small, slow growing and have lovely autumn foliage. They do prefer acidic soil though. Tree peony might go nicely with an average- they're also fairly slow growing.

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