Want to plant a tree but clueless.

ClubDead

As the title suggest I'm a gardening dummy. My new home has small to medium sized garden. It has been well loved in the past and I hope to educate myself on gardening in the coming years. As the new owner I'd like to plant a tree and watch it grow over the years. Knowing nothing about trees...what tree do you suggest? (there are plenty of ferns already in the garden).

Lumen

What ultimate height and spread are you looking for?

Evergreen or deciduous? Flowers? Fruit?

Harry Palmr

Whatever you choose think about how large it'll be both in height and girth. Consider how much light it'll gobble up when in leaf and how this might rob your house of direct heat from the sun and what it might do to the lawn and anything else you intend to plant (think about whether it will have an effect on a neighbour) Also consider likely amount of leaf fall assuming it's a deciduous tree (and who'd want an evergreen really? ). Wonder if a single tree one it's own will look a bit wrong on your plot - companion planting of large shrubs can help in this regard.

magicbastarder

one of the benefits of going with a fruit tree is that they're grafted onto rootstock - i.e. it's a 'transplant' of the fruit tree onto the roots of another tree, which will control how big it gets, so you can get fruit trees that you know will grow to a certain size. this may help planning what you want for the garden.

ClubDead

good advice, thank you

magicbastarder

if you go down that route (root, see what i did there), any decent garden centre should be able to help with queries on rootstock size, but it should also be visible on the label on the tree.

Day Lewin

Rowan, or Mountain Ash, is a native tree that doesn't grow too big:
Has scented flowers in Spring, pretty leaves in summer, and beautiful clusters of red berries in Autumn.

Also, it's supposed to be lucky to plant it near your house: it keeps evil spirits away and brings good luck!

RebelButtMunch

Day Lewin wrote: »

Rowan, or Mountain Ash, is a native tree that doesn't grow too big:
Has scented flowers in Spring, pretty leaves in summer, and beautiful clusters of red berries in Autumn.

Also, it's supposed to be lucky to plant it near your house: it keeps evil spirits away and brings good luck!

Is that a fairy tree!? You can't cut them down you know.

magicbastarder

fairy trees are hawthorns.

macraignil

The Royal Horticultural Society web page on this link list a number of trees that they suggest for a smaller garden. It might be difficult to find some of the varieties listed.