BRANCH OUT
IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO PLANT A TREE IN YOUR GARDEN THIS SPRING, MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE
PEOPLE with small gardens are often afraid of trees.
It’s understandable – the worry is they will cut out light, affect your foundations and fill drains with roots.
Well, they can do, but not if you choose them carefully and plant them wisely.
Every garden can do with a bit of height. We all own our gardens right up to the sky – height requirement is no different in a patch 20ft by 30ft than it is in a stately home with acres. It is the spread of the tree and the density of its canopy that causes problems. The key is to choose the right tree from the start, one that has a light canopy and won’t grow so vigorously that it eats you out of house and home.
In smaller gardens, Japanese maples are perfect, as are apple trees grafted on to dwarfing rootstocks.
If there is a little more room, birch trees are a graceful addition, with their feathery canopy of leaves and shining white or buff bark. Seek out Betula ermanii or Betula utilis var. jacquemontii and such varieties as ‘Silver Shadow’ or ‘Grayswood Ghost’, which have decorative bark and a delicate tracery of leaves.
Crab apples such as ‘John Donnie’ and ‘Golden Hornet’ will give you blossom in spring and bright fruits in autumn that will make delicious crab apple jelly. None of these trees will grow into monsters and none of them has roots that will pose a problem to foundations or drains – although it does make sense to plant trees away from such services since they are keen to seek out moisture.
Now is a great time to plant. Buy a bare root or a container-grown tree and plant it in a square hole. Stake it for the first year and it should fend for itself.
Avoid planting trees much more than 6ft high if you want them to get away rapidly.
Smaller trees quickly overtake larger ones after planting, since they establish themselves more rapidly.
So get planting now for a spring and summer of shape and stature without being afraid of the future.
With the right tree in the right place you’ll find that your garden is all the more interesting as a result.
And you’ll have something under which to sit and read this newspaper of a weekend – perfect!
You don’t want it to grow so vigorously it eats you out of house and home