i'd like to plant a tree in my garden

[misdee]

but have no idea what sort to go for. atm there is no trees or plants out there apart from stinging nettles.

dont want fruit bearing trees due to wasps etc. any suggestions?

my advice - get digging

Maple.

lol jools.

Rowan trees are nice, nice shape and colour leaves and they have pretty berries too. They are sometimes called the "tree of life". Very popular in (native to?) Scotland so they must be tough!

There's a tree near us that has lovely pink blossom in Spring (not fruit) and then red leaves through the summer. Think it could be flowering almond.

I love acers , misdee - loads of varieties, none of them very tall, very pretty leaves. I have the one at the top, it says it grows up to 6m but mine is planted in a small bed surrounded by concrete and after over 10 years (can't remember exactly) it's only about 10'.

They are really lovely and the leaf colour changes throughout the year, from pale yellowish green in spring through darker shades of green to orange in the autumn, and if it is a sunny summer and a frosty autumn they turn brilliant fiery red.

Let me know what size of tree you are thinking & where you live & I'll ask DH who is a qualified 'tree' person. Do you want nice leaves, nice colour, shade etc. Do you want to plant a bigger tree or happy to go for something small & watch it grow ?

Ah - apparently the one I mentioned is a flowering plum. There are some on this page. trees

do you have a budget, as horse chestnuts/sycamores can be grown from seed and grow very quickly and look lovely when grown, put it this way a sycamore can reach a height of over 10 feet in 3 years and grow over 30 feet tall.....if you like blossom the prunus variety are spectacular, cherry blossom etc..

no budget as yet. garden is a fair size, no overly huge, but not sure on the measurements. would like it to provide shade really, and look nice.

Willow trees look nice and provide good shade without being huge. I should think you would get good advice from a garden centre or arboretum.

DH suggested a birch - silver or himalayan. Or a Whitebeam. Acers are gorgeous - beautiful colours, but are expensive if you want a big one. If you go for a tree with berries - avoid the ones that are poisonous, with children around.

misdee...do you want a "wow" tree, or are you looking for something that will blend in with other planting?

We've put in a Eucalyptus which is beautiful. There is a really nice Acer with cinammon bark - think it's called Acer griseum - the bark kind of peels, to give a lovely effect. here it is