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Terrific trees for all spaces
ALMOST half a century ago, Dutch elm disease was sweeping the country and killing millions of trees.
The devastation prompted the National Tree Council to kick off a campaign – Plant a Tree in 73.
These days, we are encouraged to plant them to help save the planet because they furnish us with two of life’s essentials – food and oxygen.
Trees clean the air too, and provide vital shelter and help to prevent soil erosion.
They also make excellent urban homes for birds, bees and squirrels and absorb dust, noise and wind.
Even where space is limited you can probably squeeze in a slim-fit Prunus Amanogawa, Ginkgo biloba – or maidenhair tree – and skyrocket juniper.
On a patio, make a feature of a potted weeping tree such as the exceptionally small Salix caprea Kilmarnock, which produces catkins in spring before a cascade of grey-green foliage.
On a slightly larger scale, try the silvery-leaved weeping pear, Pyrus salicifolia Pendula, with its tumbling mound of silver.
Eye candy
Or Japanese weeping cherry, Prunus Kiku-shidare-zakura, which has a cloud of pink blossoms.
For something special, plant Sorbus cashmiriana. This pyramid-shaped rowan grows up to 15m, has incredible autumn colour and drooping clusters of gleaming white berries, sometimes tinted pink, that last into the winter.
Prunus Autumnalis is good eye candy, with flurries of flowers that stretch from autumn to spring. If the weather is mild you could be cutting sprigs for Christmas decorations.
Laburnum is a real head turner in early summer, when its branches are festooned with drooping chains, up to 60cm long, of lightly scented, bright yellow pea-flowers.
The only negative about this undemanding, quick-growing tree is that its seeds are poisonous. But the variety Vossii produces fewer seeds and is regarded as pretty safe.
Flowers open at the same time as leaves appear but are not obscured by the foliage.
With training, you can grow singlestemmed plants over a pergola alongside wisteria. Or thread clematis through a framework of branches.