Plant a tree and be a part of the Tree Council’s national tree week, 21st November - December 2nd, 2007.
Trees, we can’t live without them, literally!
As a landscape designer, I don’t think a garden is complete without one. The rewards for planting a tree are many, shade, privacy, flowers, fruit and wildlife habitat to name but a few.
For many of us space in the garden can be tight, so look for trees that have more than one season of interest. Here are a handful of trees that are easy to grow, low maintenance and will work in any sized garden.
Amelanchier lamarkia or canadensis, also known as Serviceberry or Juneberry, this is a fine multi stemmed small tree. Good for massing or as a single specimen it has spectacular autumn colour, flowers in spring and produces berries for the birds, needs sun, deciduous.
Cornus florida, a beautiful dogwood native to the North East United States, their autumn colour is a gorgeous red and they bloom either pink or white before the leaves unfurl in the spring. This is an excellent choice for all gardens, grows in sun or shade, deciduous. One cultivar to look for is “Appalachian Spring”.
Styrax, there are two types to look for “Japonica” which has small fragrant bell shaped blooms along its wide spreading branches or “Obassia” more columnar with large camellia like fragrant blooms. Both are slow growing beautiful trees with brilliant autumn colour, exfoliating bark and interesting winter architecture, grows in sun, deciduous.
Acer palmatum, so many to choose from, upright, weeping, red leaves, green leaves or multi coloured and dissected leaves. Varieties to look for are “Sangu Kaku”, “Atropureum”, “Waterfall”, “Bloodgood” and the “Dissectum” group. It’s hard to go wrong with this tree, sun or shade, deciduous. My photo above is of an unnamed variety of Acer that I grew as a bonsai.
Magnolia grandiflora “Little Gem”, this is smaller version of its larger cousin, an evergreen that’s good for a courtyard or border. I have used this tree for espalier and large container plantings. Give it a little protection from winter winds, sun or shade.
Happy Planting!
Trees, we can’t live without them, literally!
As a landscape designer, I don’t think a garden is complete without one. The rewards for planting a tree are many, shade, privacy, flowers, fruit and wildlife habitat to name but a few.
For many of us space in the garden can be tight, so look for trees that have more than one season of interest. Here are a handful of trees that are easy to grow, low maintenance and will work in any sized garden.
Amelanchier lamarkia or canadensis, also known as Serviceberry or Juneberry, this is a fine multi stemmed small tree. Good for massing or as a single specimen it has spectacular autumn colour, flowers in spring and produces berries for the birds, needs sun, deciduous.
Cornus florida, a beautiful dogwood native to the North East United States, their autumn colour is a gorgeous red and they bloom either pink or white before the leaves unfurl in the spring. This is an excellent choice for all gardens, grows in sun or shade, deciduous. One cultivar to look for is “Appalachian Spring”.
Styrax, there are two types to look for “Japonica” which has small fragrant bell shaped blooms along its wide spreading branches or “Obassia” more columnar with large camellia like fragrant blooms. Both are slow growing beautiful trees with brilliant autumn colour, exfoliating bark and interesting winter architecture, grows in sun, deciduous.
Acer palmatum, so many to choose from, upright, weeping, red leaves, green leaves or multi coloured and dissected leaves. Varieties to look for are “Sangu Kaku”, “Atropureum”, “Waterfall”, “Bloodgood” and the “Dissectum” group. It’s hard to go wrong with this tree, sun or shade, deciduous. My photo above is of an unnamed variety of Acer that I grew as a bonsai.
Magnolia grandiflora “Little Gem”, this is smaller version of its larger cousin, an evergreen that’s good for a courtyard or border. I have used this tree for espalier and large container plantings. Give it a little protection from winter winds, sun or shade.
Happy Planting!
