Trees for small gardens

[astersugar]

Thanks for your help yesterday with my rose question. I have a newbuild so it's essentially a blank canvas devoid of wildlife! I've got a nice red brick wall that runs around half of the garden and a fence on the other side, which we have painted a dark grey colour. I'm trying to grow clematis and a climbing rose up the fence. I've been reading about blurring boundaries to make gardens look bigger and I also want to bring some wildlife back into the garden. So I'm looking at trees! My back garden is east facing and it is quite shady along the fence line. It is sunnier nearer the wall. I'd really like to plant some trees but I'm not sure where would be best. I've probably only got space for a couple. I think along the fence line, allowing enough room to prune them, would be best and would avoid upsetting the neighbours. I've always loved cherry blossom trees so I think I'm going to get one of them but I keep hearing nice things about amelanchier trees too. It's only a small garden in a densely packed new build development so I need to be considerate of my neighbours and not pick something that's going to block out all their sun. Ideally I would plant one in a corner near the fence but it's quite shady down there, as there's a garage which casts a bit of a shadow making up part of our boundary. I think it would be an OK spot as far as the neighbours are concerned though. Is it OK to plant small trees near buildings?

Please can anyone recommend me a small tree? I'm also looking at a grafted golden Indian bean tree and a cornus... Maybe a crab apple like Evereste. I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Here are some of the ones I'm considering:

www.grasslands.co.uk/catalpa-bignionoides-nana-standard-8-10cm-girth-200cm-stem.html?amp=1

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/cornus-kousa-china-girl-tree-p296

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/amelanchier-grandiflora-robin-hill-tree-p277

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/prunus-kiku-shidare-zakura-tree-p27

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/prunus-incisa-the-bride-tree-p815

I'm a novice. I've never bought a tree before. Please help! I can't see the wood for the trees. 😂😂😂

I have a similar type of garden and love my trees

Alamanchier are a nice choice because they have year round interest (blossom, then leaves that slowly turn autumnal colours) but also have quite a whispy growing habit so are not a solid block of shade for your neighbours.

The weeping cherry is also lovely (I have a soft spot for weeping trees myself).

I have a lovely small self-fertile damson (Shropshire Prune) which also is good for small gardens and gives fruit easily if jam's your thing

Not helping you here but I also have a small crab which is very slow growing so gives masses of lovely blossom and yet is very polite for the neighbours.

Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' has lovely leaf colouration in the autumn and might be a good choice.

Magnolia stellata (shrub or very small tree) could be another.

They are all lovely choices - don't think you'd go far wrong with any of them.
I planted an amelanchier Robin Hill in my small back garden. As it's casts feathery shade and is nice all year.

I've also got a cotinus that I'm going to keep small and lots of acers in pots - as that keeps them manageable too.

I'm going to put an acer griseum in a slightly larger pot and a acer sango kaku against a white wall as they have lovely stems in winter.

Have a look at small fruit trees too.

Basically anything you put in a large pot will stay small (pot them on rather than putting immediately in a large pot) and then once in final pot root prune or replace compost.

Shrubs can be great too as they get large and you can prune them to look more like trees.

And in slightly bigger front garden I've got a flowering cherry with red leaves, a weeping crab apple, a amelanchier ballerina multi stem, a cornus and a small magnolia.

I also have 2 kojo no mai in pots - I love them as very small but still give height and bloom the earliest - they are out now.

Have you thought about espalier? It's a way of growing fruit trees along a fence, great for small spaces and you'll have beautiful blossom in the spring.

Don't forget that if you, for example, to grow apples you might need to ensure you have an apple of each sex in the garden to enable pollination (although some varieties won't need a partner).

A few things to think about with your choices:
Cornus Kousa China girl is a wide-spreading tree and casts dense shade. It will restrict what you can plant around it - not one I would recommend for a small garden.
Ornamental cherry - beautiful and if you love them, of course choose one. Their disadvantage is they are lovely when in blossom - about two weeks of the year! The remainder of the time they are rather nondescript and not particularly interesting.

In a small garden you want your trees to be attractive and interesting across several seasons, easy to manage, and not cast too much shade.
This is why crab apples are often favoured, - a variety of sizes, interesting blossom - (almost as lovely as cherry); and a variety with smaller berry-like apples will provide winter interest and a source of bird food right up until spring; eg: Malus Admiration (also know as Adirondack). Lovely spring blossom, bright red berries (apples) all winter, not too spreading, easy to keep in check.

Another tree that works well due to it's size and attractive changing leaf colour (bright shrimp-coloured leaves intially, turning green in summer, then in autumn butter yellow), is Acer Pseudoplatanus Brillantassimum. Because it is a top grafted tree, you can choose the height of the trunk and only the crown will grow any larger. Very hardy, slow-growing in sun or shade, and easy to shape and keep in check. It's not a Japenese acer and is very easy to grow.

Amelanchier is also a good choice for multi-season interest, but choose the variety with care as some can grow quite large.

I'm looking at columnar Apple and other fruit trees in our small front garden. They can be planted only two feet apart, so lots will fit in a small space.

Thank you for your help. I am now the proud owner of a crab apple tree! We bought a Malus Evereste from our local garden centre. Thank you everyone for your useful thoughts and observations. It looks like a twig at the moment but I'm hoping it will prove to be a good choice in years to come. We've planted it in the lawn near the corner of our garden as I didn't want anything too close to either the garage or fence. I'm going to plant a row of Annabelle/Incrediball hydrangeas next to the garage wall, maybe with some Golf Ball pittosporum tenuifolium too, and plant some crocuses and daffodils in the lawn behind it. We settled on a crab apple in the end as we wish to attract more birds to the garden. We have a leatherjacket problem (newbuilds, eh?) and are hoping to restore some balance.

Congrats - crab apples produce stunning blossom!