Good copse, bad copse: Branch out with trees of all shapes and sizes
With the Scottish Tree Festival in full swing, Agnes Stevenson enlists expert help to bring her wish-list to fruition, from cedars to dwarf cherry
On a walk in a park last week I stopped to pick up the fallen leaves of a Katsura tree. Crushed in my hand, these gave off a fragrance of burnt sugars. I can’t think of anything more autumnal than a tree that smells of toffee apples and I mentally added it to my list of trees that I’d like to have in my garden.
This list is becoming rather lengthy. It includes several species of sorbus, many different kinds of acer, the Stag’s Horn Sumach (Rhus typhinia) and, most significantly the Cedar of Lebanon, a tree so large that it almost needs its own postcode.
As a young tree it is nothing special, but as it matures it develops a spreading habit, sending its branches out horizontally until eventually its width matches its height, at which point the full glory of this magnificent tree becomes evident.
The cedar is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Its wood, which is rich in essential oils, has long been used as an insect repellent, and from the 18th Century onwards it was the tree of choice for aristocrats to plant on their country estates, signalling their wealth and foreign connections, in much the same way as a Lear jet does today.
As I’m lacking both a title and a country pile, I thought I’d ask Craig Woods of Munro’s Nurseries near Inverness for some ideas on trees that would be more appropriate for my garden.
Craig and the team at Munro’s have been taking part in the Scottish Tree Festival, which runs until December 1, offering advice on trees to customers.
Craig brought me back down to earth by suggesting a dwarf cherry.“these have great autumn colour and produce
both fruit and blossom, so you get a long series of interest out of a single tree,” he told me.
Another possibility is the beautiful rowan ‘Autumn Spire’.
“This only grows to four foot wide, and that narrow canopy means that it is very suitable for small gardens,” said Craig.
From fruit trees grown on dwarfing root stock to the glorious crab apple, Malus ‘Pink Glow’, Craig had lots of tempting suggestions and his advice was to get ahead with planting now.
“At this time of year trees are available on bare roots and if you get them in now they will settle nicely over the winter and develop a strong root system by the time spring comes along.”
Planting them while still young, said Craig, results in stronger trees, better suited to local conditions, and it has environmental benefits too.
“No plastic containers or compost are involved, which is better for the environment and as bare root stock is cheaper than container-grown trees, it is better for your wallet too.”