HOW TO GROW SMALL TREES
Anne Swithinbank’s tips for spring-flowering trees
UNDER our noses, with people and traffic rushing by, all kinds of wildlife live out their days in towns and cities. Flocks of sparrows roost in roadside hedges under the beady eyes of tawny owls, and dusk brings out bats, even on fine winter evenings. Proper gardens with soil and the cover of woody plants will help these urban creatures survive. What they need most is a corridor of branches linking one garden to the next, with gaps in walls and fences below.
There are trees to suit the tiniest of gardens and they are good for us, too, absorbing pollutants, trapping dust and providing shade, shelter and privacy. A small collection will fill a year with leafy summer canopies, autumn tints, bark and berry, shiny evergreen foliage and spring blossom.
When you see fuzzy, pointed magnolia buds and the small dark fists of cherry, plum, pear and apricot swell and show glimpses of bright petals it is a welcome sign that spring is on its way. One of the best is star magnolia
(Magnolia stellata), a slow-growing deciduous shrub eventually making a rounded 5-8ft (1½-2½m). This will fill a corner with branching cover for wildlife, decorated by white, 4in (10cm) wide flowers. Best of all, this magnolia will grow on almost any soil. The Mount Fuji cherry (Prunus incisa) ‘Kojo-no-mai’ is a real miniature. Ours is about 30 years old, it spent the first third of its life in containers and it was planted out 20 years ago. This gives early blossom as well as autumn colour and is still only 6ft (1.8m) tall.
In truly tiny gardens, one finds that planting potentially large trees leaves a legacy of problems for future owners and their neighbours. Instead, you should look for small-growing varieties, choose multi-stemmed rather than standard shapes, prune regularly, and consider planting trees in wide halfbarrels to keep their size controlled.