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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Tree for a small garden?

40 replies

dimmu · 26/04/2020 14:45

We have a small overlooked garden and I was thinking of planting a tree to give us some shade and also to give a tiny bit of privacy.
Would prefer something that doesn't grow too tall or too wide, but would be fairly leafy.
Any suggestions?

Our garden is East/southeast facing so gets direct sunlight until around 4 pm. I was thinking of planting it in the market spot or thereabouts. We are half way up a hill so fairly exposed. I have never planted a tree before so would need to be something hardy and easy to plant. Would any fruit tree work? Would it have to be self-pollinating?

Our plan is to do up the whole garden or at least the lawn and patio in a few years but can't afford it at the moment.

Tree for a small garden?
OP posts:
Toilenstripes · 26/04/2020 22:22

An acre would be gorgeous. Lots of great colour.

Toilenstripes · 26/04/2020 22:22

Or an acer

firstmentat · 27/04/2020 09:39

You can plant a fruiting cherry tree on a semi dwarf rootstock there. Chances are that there is a suitable pollinator nearby already (almost all ornamental cherries would be suitable).

lekkerkroketje · 27/04/2020 09:44

Crab apples range from 4-10m in height depending on variety, and you can get weeping varieties that would look better in the winter. They're pretty now with blossom then have beautiful fruit in the autumn. You can make jam from them too.

Ihavenoidewhatsgoingon · 27/04/2020 09:51

Acers usually have coloured branches so won’t look too bad in winter

MereDintofPandiculation · 27/04/2020 10:05

Acer would work well Not if it's an exposed site, they don't like draughts.

Apples are not generally self fertile (although there may be trees in neighbouring gardens which can act as pollinator). They are listed with their time of flowering so you can be a partner which is in flowr at the same time. However, you can get "family trees" - several trees on the same rootstock - so they will pollinate each other.

Crab apples are nice, with flowers, followed by attractive fruit.

And am I correct to think most trees need to planted in the autumn/early winter, or could I get one now (or when/if the lockdown ends)? If it's grown in a pot, you could plant it now, although you'd have to water it heavily over the summer. If you order on-line, it's likely to be bare-root, so for planting over winter.

However deciduous trees aren’t pretty In winter They can be - Betula "jaquemontii" (one of the silver birches) has really white ttrunk and branches which look stunning in winter, Prunus serrula has shiny mahogany red bark which makes you want to stroke it, snake-bark maples have green and white sriped trunks, to name just a few. Crab apples like John Downie tend to hold their fruit most of the winter.

Evergreens can feel fairly boring because they don't do much - apart from possibly a short period of flowering they are just green. Whereas deciduous trees change through the year, from fresh spring foliage, yellowy green or sometimes pink, through rich green summer colours, then the autumn colours of gold, orange to red, to the winter look of a fine tracery of branches against the sky. And you only have to clear up leaves once - evergreen drop leaves all the year round.

Bluntness100 · 27/04/2020 13:15

I’ve never seen acer with a coloured branch, we have nine, i shit you not, and they are all different varieties, and every one the branch is a variety of brown.

yamadori · 27/04/2020 13:56

@Bluntness100 Acer palmatum 'Sangokaku' has red branches. I've got one.

PaquitaVariation · 27/04/2020 14:01

We have a silver birch in a similar garden. It’s grown tall but not too wide and the foliage isn’t heavy so still lets lots of light through. The bark is pretty all year round too

dimmu · 27/04/2020 20:56

Thank you so much everyone!

OP posts:
stella1know · 27/04/2020 22:18

John Lewis Stempel (renowned nature expert) recommends silver birch or crab apples for small gardens as the most wildlife friendly trees for anyone.
We recently planted a hazelnut. Because I like hazelnuts, and you can coppice them for tent sticks if they get too expansive Grin

EnormousSexyCrimeUnit · 28/04/2020 22:52

How about a Cornus kousa Chinensis? Lovely (smallish) deciduous trees which do well in sun/part shade. White flowers in summer and great colour in autumn.

Deepdale is a well regarded tree nursery but I think they only supply to trade. Might be worth checking their website?

TheSweetestHalleluja · 29/04/2020 16:40

Another vote for a silver birch here, casts a dappled shade so won't make your garden too dark, looks good year round and good for wildlife. You can get varieties that won't grow too tall. I want to get one for my garden too at some stage, they're beautiful.

CountFosco · 29/04/2020 17:46

Our last garden was small and overlooked and I wanted everything to be edible. We had a small apple tree (Katy which is an prolific early eater, very popular with the kids) and a rowan (Sorbus vilmorinii) as well as some espalier fruit trees (plum, fig and cherry). Rowan berries are edible but best in jams and jellies.

MereDintofPandiculation · 30/04/2020 09:48

Rowan berries are edible but best in jams and jellies. I've read that they're edible cooked but not raw.

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