Trees in small gardens

[WobblyLondoner]

Inspired by some photos on the show us your garden thread I'd love to see some pictures of trees in small gardens.

I've a small urban garden (c 40 foot by 15) and I currently have an acer and a witch hazel (both in large pots) and a really annoying apple tree (too dwarf and - through my own inept staking - completely lopsided). I have tried and failed with a rowan. I'm wondering about a tree to replace the apple tree and perhaps something else. But I'm always a bit fearful of buying something too big, and even the trees suggested for small gardens eventually grow pretty high and have a big canopy.

I'd love to see your pictures!

Hope ok but am tagging @Fiorentina (hope that's the right spelling) who had some fantastic photos on another thread.

It wasn’t me that shared any photos I’m afraid. I do like gardening though and have a couple of small apple trees in our town garden and an amelanchier which looks pretty. Also a couple of viburnums that were pruned to be more tree like than a shrub, so I can plant underneath them.

I don't have a photo but have just dug up a 20 year old crab apple - malus red sentinel. We are having an extension or I would definitely have kept it.

It's quite small but still a tree, if you know what I mean. In spring it has beautiful blossom and then during the rest of the year it has prolific scarlet apples. The apples persist even when the leaves fall off and stay on until the new blossom comes the following year. It's like having a tree with hundreds of Christmas baubles hanging off it and it looks spectacular in the snow.

When the apples get softer just before they fall off they provide a proper feast for the birds.
Beautiful tree. If you are tempted by a crab apple, check how long the fruit will stay on for maximum impact. They are called "persistent fruitlets"

I have two dwarf willows which are lovely.

Thanks all. I'll try again on the name - @florentina1 ?

Have just planted a crab apple 'professor sprenger' on a spindlebush rootstock. The shape is very controlled as it's designed for commercial orchards. We only had a small space and like you were wary of planting something too big, due to past experience excavating trees that were poorly placed.
I've also ordered a winter flowering Cherry and a Amelanchier lamarcki
Our garden is a decent size but narrow . I want to fit in as many trees as we can!

I had a Roman Joseph rock in about the same space than that. It’s upright and feathery so doesn’t block light. Lovely in autumn and the birds love the berries.

Also have 'Kojo-no-mai' in a pot for about 10 years, a lilac in a pot. Also got a amelanchier larmarki ballerina and a conus contra versa variegata. Though that is going to grow quite large. A couple of viburnum I’m going to try and turn into more of a tree sharp...

And about 5 acers .....some in pots and the ground.

In fact acers in pots would work for height for you as would hydrangeas.

I think you might mean me. My garden is 21 feet my 14 feet.
The trees I have are
4 Amelanchiers
4 silver birch
1 Rowan
Robinia casque rouge
Robinia Friday
10 Acers

Two things I have. Learned regarding keeping he trees manageable and not over crowding.

One is to prune out the lower branches so that you have lots of height without blocking light.

The other is not being afraid to prune to get the shape and look you want.

I don’t plant any traditional bedding , colour comes from leaves and ornamental grasses. I hope this helps but please ask if you need any thing else.

I have a Rowan Olympic flame, seems very upright in habit so far. What happened to your RowN?

Salix Flamingo do really well in pots. Once they get going they look really beautiful round about now with the pink outer leaves. They’re deciduous but once they lose their leaves in late autumn I wind little fairy lights round them til they start budding again.

These is from October and today

I’ve just bought a Salic flamingo so that’s good news, it’s for a pot.

@FLOrenze what kind of birch do you have..? I’m looking for ones for a very small back garden, For bark interest in the winter.

September and December 2017

We inherited a weeping ash tree in our garden. It is way, way too close to the house and gives me huge worry. It gives a great canopy in the summer for the kids’ trampoline, but I so wish it wasn’t there.

I would love a small tree elsewhere in the garden though. I’ve got my eye on a Magnolia Susan, and also an amelanchier. We borrow tree landscape from neighbours each side and behind. The garden would look very very open and flat without them.

I have a small acer (about three feet tall now) and we have some fruit trees (cherry, plum and apple) which won’t grow beyond a couple of metres. They’re about five years old. So all quite young.

Oh my, thank you everyone - how inspiring. @FLOrenze what a stunning garden! What is the tree that you can see staked in the bottom left hand corner of your first set of photos - that has shot up by the looks of it. I think my challenge is to accept that if I go down this route I will lose some planting space underneath - but gain higher up of course.

@applespearsbears it was a Joseph Rock. It was a while back now but my memory just never seemed to take to the spot - the final straw was that the new growth spurted up and up, with huge gaps, and looked really odd. In a bigger space I'd have left it but it was front and centre here and just looked horrible. I've read that the can struggle in alkaline soils so perhaps that was it.

My garden is tiny for the size of my five bedroom house, 8m by 8m. I've got an ash tree, two half size apple trees (one in a pot) , a half size cherry, a dwarf plum and a dwarf pear. An acer in a pot. Two vines and 4 black Berry/raspberry canes. I've placed the dwarf trees between the half size so they make the most of the space and it's working pretty well. I'll get some phi to is in a bit when I go out.

Yes my Rowan is a bit lopsided but hoping it will even out as the new growth is so fast. I also have a silver birch in a huge pot and it is very happy

It is Amelanchiers. I bought 2 from Barcham trees. They were 15 feet when they arrived and needed staking for the first two years. I have taken two lower branches from that one but left the other one alone.

I wanted a sort of woodland walk effect even though my garden is tiny. Barcham tree nursery were really kind at giving advice. I was then able to buy their recommendations from other places.

This is the first spring of the new garden.

Picture won’t load

We've got an apple tree, cherry tree and a lilac. The lilac is so beautiful I'm going to attempt to propagate it!

We've got a Cherry (Stella) in the ground & two olives in pots as well as lots of fruits, some in the ground & some in pots.

@FLOrenze your garden is beautiful. Can I ask how big it is please. It is just the style I would like

Had anybody got a pencil cypress tree?

Following! My garden is super small. We have a couple of bay trees and a small apple tree. Been trying to green it up in a controlled way since we have been here (nearly four years now).

It is 21 feet long and 14 feet wide. It slopes down so the landscaper made 3 steps for us. I wanted to have different areas to sit in which is why I designed the beds to come from the side . So we laughingly call them the the upper , middle and lower terrace.

The way it is planted you get the impression of a different garden where you sit. The lower is shady, so it has ferns, pyracantha, cotoneaster , silver birch and shade loving Acers. There are also rambling roses, honeysuckle and clematis. Despite fighting for space they do really well. It seems to have its own micro climate there.

In the middle it feels a bit like a forest and the upper is a real sun trap as the garden faces south.