Small tree recomendation please

twopenny

Gorgeous Farway! 
I didn't catch the variety but it was the current series for someone with a small boxy garden with walls. Three quarters of the way in.

RAS

Think about something you can "coppice and single". 

It's what a lot of the landscapers do.

Put in a tree, when it gets too big, cut down the the floor, or just above the graft if grafted. It'll put up loads of new shoots. Rub out all except the three strongest. When they are growing well a few years later, take out the tallest, then the next, and then chop it back when tool tall, rinse and repeat.

Mojisola

Floozie said:

We bought a crab apple tree last year as we wanted a tree that would add interest and also not get too big so it became unmanageable. It had beautiful pink blossom in the Spring, interesting leaf foliage and beautiful red crab apples which provided colour and did not drop off the tree until December. I would therefore recommend a crab apple for year round interest.

We've got a Malus 'Laura' which, as you say has lovely blossom, beautiful dark red apples (which make a fab crabapple jelly) and great autumn leaf colour.  'Laura' is also an upright grower so is good where space is limited.

We've also got a Sorbus 'Autumn Spire' which has amazing autumn colour and yellow berries - another narrow upright grower.

Sapindus

I have a Crataegus schraderiana in my front garden.  It's related to hawthorn but not thorny. It has lovely creamy white flowers in spring which the bees love, and big dark red berries which don't get massively eaten by the birds in late autumn.

The particular reason I like this little tree is that the berries are edible and make excellent wine.  They also make good jam but as they are very pippy you have to sieve or strain the pulp somehow.

The tree has started cropping so heavily in recent years that it now exhausts itself and only flowers every other year.  I could probably solve this by thinning out the flowers or fruit but I am too impatient!

twopenny

Sapindus does that mean that you can only have wine every second year?

Sounds drastic.

Woolsery

I have a Pyrus 'Chanticleer.' It might get a little taller than you'd like, but it's a popular choice for a small space. Mine came potted from a Somerset garden centre around this time last year and it was under£30, not the £70 or so I'm seeing on-line.

[Deleted User]

Sooooo many choices to be had !
Magnolia's have several small varieties, Prunus too, i could list a dozen or so suitable trees !
Do plenty of research because there's an abundance of it.

[Deleted User]

Woolsery said:

I have a Pyrus 'Chanticleer.' It might get a little taller than you'd like, but it's a popular choice for a small space. Mine came potted from a Somerset garden centre around this time last year and it was under£30, not the £70 or so I'm seeing on-line.

I'll almost guarantee that it's not a like-for-like comparison.
The online nurseries are always worth considering because a) it's supporting a small, independent business and b) the age of the plant, therefore size of pot, will be different.
Online sellers offer rootballs, bareroot, or potted.
All different price points !
All different sizes/ages of plant !

I buy trees and shrubs a lot (big garden) and am always looking for the very best deals, do hours of research and it always comes back to these types of sellers.
Garden centres only offer limited things and small local nurseries don't offer the same because they don't have the turnover - both completely understandable reasons,
So, for the very best value for money i choose independent, online, nurseries every time.

P.S.
For people looking for an already mature plant - up to 10 years old and more, there are some excellent nurseries out there, always compare them all though.

This is a useful aid, taken from the Jacksons Nurseries site.

Pot Size	Pot Diameter (Top)		Pot Diameter (Base)		Pot Height
9cm	9.0cm	3.5"	6.0cm	2.5"	8.5cm	3"
1 Litre	13.0cm	5"	10.0cm	4"	11.0cm	4"
2 Litre	17.0cm	6.5"	12cm	4.5"	13.0cm	5"
3 Litre	19.0cm	7.5"	13cm	5"	15.0cm	6"
4 Litre	20.0cm	8"	15.5cm	6"	16.5cm	6.5"
5 Litre	22.5cm	9"	16.5cm	6.5"	18.0cm	7"
7 Litre	25.0cm	10"	19.0cm	7.5"	20.0cm	8"
10 Litre	28.0cm	11"	24.0cm	9.5"	22.5cm	9"
15 Litre	33.0cm	13"	25.5cm	10"	30.0cm	12"
20 Litre	35.5cm	14"	27.5cm	11"	32.5cm	13"
25 Litre	38.5 cm	15"	30.0cm	12"	35.0cm	14"
30 Litre	41.0cm	16"	33.0cm	13"	36.0cm	14"
40 Litre	50.0cm	20"	35.5cm	14"	45.0cm	18"

 

Woolsery

Catsacor said:

Woolsery said:

I have a Pyrus 'Chanticleer.' It might get a little taller than you'd like, but it's a popular choice for a small space. Mine came potted from a Somerset garden centre around this time last year and it was under£30, not the £70 or so I'm seeing on-line.

I'll almost guarantee that it's not a like-for-like comparison.
The online nurseries are always worth considering because a) it's supporting a small, independent business and b) the age of the plant, therefore size of pot, will be different.
Online sellers offer rootballs, bareroot, or potted.
All different price points !
All different sizes/ages of plant

I agree with you up to a point, but the garden centre I referred to is Rocky Mountain Nursery on the top of Mendip, who  buy-in most stock and the nearest on-line supplier is Chew Valley trees, whose cheapest Pyrus Chanticleer is £78.  Sizes look similar.

The garden centre is independent not a chain. It has some mixed reviews and I've met the 'old lady' referred to disparagingly by some (!) but  the last time I visited many trees, roses etc were fresh in and healthy. Later in the season it may be different. I set Mother in Law on the old woman, but to no avail, as even she couldn't get an answer to when the oaks would be in. At around £20-25 they'd have been a bargain, judging by the two I had from A*hr*dge at £45 that both died due to careless lifting. I contacted A*hr*dge before I planted and sent photos. Their response: "Our guys know what they're doing."

Anyway, how about somewhere that's a garden centre and a nursery, like Buckingham Nurseries. They rarely disappoint me and they have pot grown at £33.

fatbelly

We just lost our Pineapple Broom Tree (cytisus battandieri ) in the gales. It is semi-evergreen and has wonderful pineapple scented yellow fowers in mid summer. Apparently they grow to 5m x 3m but ours never quite got there.