Trees for small gardens by Sally Gregson
SPECIALIST TREES
Several years ago in Italy Carlo Petrini started the Slow Food Movement in protest against the proposed McDonald’s at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome. The idea of taking time to prepare, savour, and enjoy food in the company of others has grown to encompass other aspects of our stressful lives. And perhaps it’s time for the idea of Slow Gardens to take root.
Presented with a new, often very small, garden it’s all too tempting to budget for a quick-fix visit to the garden centre and cram the space with perennials and annuals just like they once did on that renowned gardening programme. But after a couple of years the perennials get too big; the bullies overwhelm the pretties; and the garden becomes an overcrowded, unsatisfactory mess. Instant gratification has its penalties in gardens just as in fast-food outlets.
The pint-sized plots around small, modern houses seem to suggest small, short plants, and the result can often resemble a patchwork quilt: very pretty but somewhat two- dimensional. A short, light tree such as a winter-flowering cherry, a Japanese Acer, or a mountain ash introduces the third vertical dimension. And, according to your choice, a small tree will highlight the changing seasons with flowers, foliage or fruit. And this can be emphasised or contrasted with whatever you choose to plant below.
And the developing crown, the flowers and the fruit attract birds and insects to its branches. In spring the blackbirds can nest in the dense thicket of its branches, and the bees pollinate the flowers. In summer and autumn the thrushes and robins fatten up on the berries. And in winter you could hang a bird-feeder from its branches and watch your air-force blue-tits enjoying their good fortune.
On a purely practical level neighbouring buildings can be screened more subtly with a well-placed, light tree than with a monster of a hedge. Breaking up the outline of a building is just as effective as blocking it out with a wall of green conifers. And a small tree will rarely cause enough summer shade to offend the neighbours on the other side of the fence.
Rosemoor in Devon has this formal vertical framework of Sorbus thibetica ‘John Mitchell’ with espaliered branches. Picture: Sally Gregson
The deeper satisfactions of gardening lie not just in getting the planting right, but in watching that planting develop and the garden evolve. Changing the planting every year can be fun, but in our time-poor lives how much more relaxing it is to watch those plants develop and mature. Trees in particular take time. Even in a small garden, trees have a dynamic effect on the plants around them.
Some small trees lend themselves to training and topiary. At the RHS gardens at Rosemoor in Devon, a formal vertical framework of Sorbus thibetica ‘John Mitchell’ with espaliered branches stands full-square among low box hedging. There is a simple seat along one side forming a nexus with the structure of the trees. In our garden at Henley Mill, we have planted a circle of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). The trunks have been cleared and the remaining top-growth has been trained to form a ‘roof’. The resulting living structure has become a focal point at the end of a pair of parallel borders of Hydrangea macrophylla. Such designs planted in scale with the garden look modern and interesting even in the depths of winter. Maintaining them is a simple job of pruning on a sunny winter’s day. The full design takes a few years to achieve, but what a simple and satisfying way to create a ‘slow’ garden.
Sally Gregson runs Mill Cottage Plants at Wookey
www.millcottageplants.co.uk
Extensive range of plants - throughout the year Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 9.00am - 5.00pm Sun 10:00am - 5.00pm
154 Burley Road, Bransgore, Nr Christchurch Hants BH23 8DB Tel: 01425 672348 Email:
office@macpennys.co.uk
Country Gardener 39
Gardeners should look at the planting of trees with a longer term view of how they develop with a garden
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