Small trees for garden, fast growing - or climber??

bells_on_it

Hi I've recently moved house and am hoping for advice on trees i can plant as my old house had a lovely Silver birch and other trees surrounding the area so it was very green and despite being in a area that has houses you felt like you were in the country, which clearly I can't recreate but I'd love to still have a tree or two that doesn't get ridiculously high, ie something up to 10ft that hasn't got a huge spread and has a slim trunk. Also I'm hoping it will grow relatively fast?

I've thought about climbers but can't really think of anything that will give a similar effect.

The new garden is about 80ft long though has a couple of sheds at the bottom. It also has houses at the end though the houses aren't too close to the end of the garden. We want the trees at the end / perimeter because we want to have a decent amount of lawn for our little one to play and have swings etc.

Also, would like a tree or hedge at the front of the house to make it look a bit greener and mask some traffic noise.

Thanks for your help and advice

malmesbury_2

How about some crab apples or dwarf stock fruit trees for a rustic feel, you get blossom in spring , fruit in summer and autumn leaves... For the front you could have an acer to add interest, maybe have a look in gardens close by to see what works and grows well in your area?

Hope this helps you a little, I'm sure others will have lots of ideas for you too soon!

aggypanthus

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Rosemoor/About-Rosemoor/Plant-of-the-month/November/Sorbus-vilmorinii

I planted this about 10 years ago, and it is still a good med size, I have it in the middle of a flower bed . for more height try the sorbus Joseph Rock .

I_have_spoken

Amelanchier × grandiflora ‘Ballerina’?



>ie something up to 10ft <

That's more a shrub, any tree would need pruning to be kept in check unless you went for a weeping form, like Prunus 'Kiku-shidare-zakura'

Errata

A rowan, not only looks good but it feeds the birds and keeps witches away.

bells_on_it

Thanks for these ideas, like the look of these ! Are they green all year round??

malmesbury_2

I don't think any of the ideas are evergreen unless I've missed something! But they give you year round interest with blossoms, berries fruit and leaves... Conifers are evergreen but don't tend to be short trees and usually take over the garden very very quickly so I wouldn't go down this route if it were me, I'd rather have seasonal changes to look at.

maybe put in some evergreen climbers like ivy, although its rampant, or i like rhe potato climbers( will remeber the proper name later but there part of the potato family and evergreen!)

Hope this helps

bells_on_it

Hi thanks for the advice, I'm really showing my gardening knowledge...

No I don't think Conifers is what I want, I remember my dads garden which they grew crazilly high and were a nightmare to cut down.

I guess evergreen isn't the word i'm looking for, I just mean that I want something that doesn't just appear as twigs in the winter, so something thats attractive to the eye. Shapes and colour is what I'm looking for even if its variations of green. So your suggestion of berries and blossoms sound nice. Would the above capture the best types of these?

I'm interested in climbers but not ivy, like you said it can be a nightmare, and I've seen people trying to remove it from walls and it pulls paint off etc. I guess if I'm doing it against a trellis at the back of the garden its not such an issue but I've had something like ivy before and it really smothered my apple tree, so I think I'd rather have a climber you had to help stick???

Davesnave

I guess evergreen isn't the word i'm looking for, I just mean that I want something that doesn't just appear as twigs in the winter, so something thats attractive to the eye. Shapes and colour is what I'm looking for even if its variations of green. So your suggestion of berries and blossoms sound nice. Would the above capture the best types of these?

Cotoneaster cornubia is almost evergreen and produces flowers/berries of wildlife value, but it won't stay at 10' by itself! It's not a difficult tree to keep within bounds, but if you can't trust yourself to do annual pruning, then get something else instead. Alternatively, you could probably get away with growing it for a few years, then cut it back to a basic framework and start again.

Some evergreen shrubs, like garrya elliptica, can almost make trees in time, as can pittosporum if you aren't in a cold area. It depends how much time you have!

Just about anything capable of becoming 10' tall will require some maintenance, so you need to think about the disposal of evergreen prunings etc. In the case of your old birch trees, the wind did most of that.;)

I_have_spoken

potato climbers

Solanum jasminoides 'Album'. Bought one myself earlier in the year, but am now in a dilemma as some peeps say it's only half-hardy until established and I'm in Scotland.

bells_on_it

Oooh I like the look of that, actually for the front of my house too! How fast does it grow??