Oh oh oh I just can't decide! To tree or not to tree?

[PrettyCandles]

Should I plant a shade tree, or put a gazebo up in the summer?

Our garden is about 10x8m, mostly lawn with beds around, and a triangular patio across the back of the house. The house faces SW, so the patio is flooded with sunshine all day. Which is lovely but gets terribly hot, especially in summer.

So I want to provide some shade near the house. We have a huge rotary washing line taking up one corner of the lawn (near the house), and I am contemplating planting something like a weeping birch in the other corner. But my LOs are 7, 5, 20m, so if it takes 5-10y for the tree to come to maturity and provide a respectable amount of shade, is it worth taking away 'playing field' for them? By the time the tree is mature, might they have outgrown the need for it?

Wow, you'll grow old waiting for a tree to grow big enough to provide shade! Nevermind your children, think grandchildren. But they are brilliant things to plant regardless for nature, birds and all that. Our garden didn't have any trees in when we moved in and it made it look strange and bare. You can always take them with you when you move of course. I love trees.

I guess you could shell out lots of money for a more mature tree? But I think planting trees is more of an investment in the future than a short term fix, so maybe the best thing to do would be to plant a tree you'll enjoy in 5 years and invest in a gazebo for the interim - they're on special offer at the moment in Argos, around £9.99 each for the basic model so you might be able to do both Very jealous of you having space for a tree....

A tree is an investemet for the future, I agree. There are several weeping birches in the area, and they look lovely, but I can't find one on-line to show you size (at least not a UK one) nor any info on how long they take to mature. I don't think they are slow-growing. Trouble is, if I plant a tree I won't have space for a gazebo as well as leaving open space for the boys to kick-about. Oh, decisions, decisions.

Message withdrawn

How about planting some living willow? you could have a playhouse, a tunnel, arbours.

Like this

For shade on a patio, you can also get canvas sails. I saw one in (I think) last Saturday's Telegraph gardening supplement, but don't remember the name of the supplier. This might be the best option for close to the house - a gazebo would be quite difficult to put up on the patio as you couldn't anchor it but you could, I imagine, attach the sail to the wall. Or how about an awning?

I think you're right about shade trees. They'd take a while to grow and some trees grown close to the house (such as willows) can cause subsistence problems.