Garden design - adding trees

update - soil type is acidic and the garden is south facing in North Hampshire, England.

Hi everyone,

I'm well under way with landscaping the garden now. Although planting is a little way off my wife and I have started to think about making it into a nice garden space. We'd like to add some height and depth using some trees and looking for recommendations. We'd like to use the trees to also provide some sort of seclusion too. We already have a Sangu Kaku Acer which, although in the wrong place seems to be happy and is growing well. We also have a Cornus Kousa Florida Rainbow which is slowly growing.

I'd like another tree behind the Sangu Kaku to provide some seclusion from the back houses and another at the side fence. See photos that I've marked up.

We'd also like to plant a tree with small spread to provide some seclusion when approaching the house from the side (see photo).

I've also included a sketch I did of a square border near the house which I think would be nice with a tree in the centre with underplanting (TBD). Again ideas for the tree would be much appreciated.

Any ideas would be much appreciated. We love the multi stem Silver Birch Utilis Jacquemontii but I fear these will grow way too big.

 

Hello! Before giving recommendations, we need to know whereabouts you are What will thrive in SE England won't necessarily do well in Scotland, and vice versa....

 

Of course.... I'm in North Hampshire, England. Soil is acidic, clay underneath but reasonable soil on top. South facing garden.

 

Lucky you! Here's my two pennorth.....Arbustus unedo Rubra. Beautiful evergreen with either flowers or fruit for most of the year and attractive bark too. Rubra is more interesting than the plain white-flowered A.u. Then there's Eucalyptus gunnii. Fast growing but takes hard pruning which produces attractive juvenile foliage. Albizzia julibrissin has light, feathery foliage and pretty pink, bottlebrush flowers. Bet you a quid that someone will be along shortly to recommend Amelanchier

 

Not amelanchier! I think of it more as a shrub.
I'd suggest a crab apple. Tons of choice, some with red flowers, some the classic pink/white, some with purple foliage, and different sorts of fruit shapes and colours. A friend suggested malus transitoria to me as an option because the tiny fruit looks like fairy lights. And it's got interesting leaves. I'm going to start saving...

 

It’s worth considering Catalpa bignonioides Aurea, allowed to establish to your preferred height then pollarded regularly to restrict growth and produce huge leaves. If you want something evergreen, once established Bay laurel is quick growing and can be pruned to shape. I grow the more common white flowered Arbutus unedo, the flowers and fruit appear towards the end of the year but not in great numbers. It’s an attractive shrub/tree though and can also be pruned to shape. I have a clematis growing through it to add extra interest.

 

Some great suggestions there.

Definitely looking for something that gets big enough but not too big. Being able to keep under control is key.

I see a lot of beautiful gardens with multi stem silver birch trees that look great at the size they are (4m ish) but on searching they will grow to 15m+. What happens then?

I like the idea of a Bay tree for the square border with under planting. Crab apple looks lovely too. I’ll check out some of the others too.

I find it difficult to visualise the combination of trees/plants in my head. Why gardening is tricky I suppose.

Thanks for you suggestion so far much appreciated.

 

I do love this garden and the multi stem trees in the central borders. Are they hornbeams?

 

I disagree re Amelanchiers - they're are various types and can easily be grown as a small tree. I have one here, but have also had them in other gardens as multi stem specimens. They're versatile because they can be grown either way, and aren't fussy about soil and conditions once established.
When you say south facing - do you mean the aspect from the house is south @machtucker ? Each site you have could have quite different conditions because, for example, the third pic with the little square that's quite enclosed, could be vastly different from something in a more open setting. Your climate will also dictate what works well. I can easily grow rowans [mountain ash] and never need to water them, but in drier areas that's not so easy. They don't appreciate being dry for too long. It would help to have each area separate in pix, with it's aspect etc stated.

Not possible to ID those trees in your photo, but hornbeam is often used for pleaching, which is what you can see along the boundary. Beech and hornbeam are often used for that, and are quite similar.
Anything multi stemmed can be pollarded, so although those birches can get large, they can also be kept at a suitable size if you're vigilant. They have airy canopies [smaller foliage] so they don't create the heavy shade that many other trees would. The surrounding gardens and what they have in them is always a factor with the amount of shade and moisture uptake in them. Don't dismiss things like Ilex [holly] either, especially for that little corner. Very easy, and many have a natural, uniform shape. Rhodos would also work in that little area ,and many have a good shape without any help, and some have more interesting foliage than others - the ones with new foliage that has a rusty colour underneath are very nice.
Everything will take a while to get to a decent size though

 

Consider Drimys winterii. Not tooo big. All year around interest between its white flowers, pink berries, black berries in different seasons. Easily shaped (if need be).

 

Also Acacia baileyana purpurea. Beautiful tree and would love Hampshire soil.

 

One further consideration @machtucker, if planting trees near paths or a paved area be aware that some can be quite messy, with leaves, flowers, pollen, resin, seeds, berries, twigs and other detritus being shed at various times of the year. I have a large Acer Japonicum and Rowan in my garden which create a lot of work as they are close to paving and steps, but I like them and so do the birds! Some tree pollen can also trigger hay fever in spring so research your possibilities well beforehand.

 

Don't forget that many shrubs can be treated as trees, or just as really good specimens in their own right, and can be pruned almost as 'tree shaped trees' if that makes sense!
Philadelphus, for example, can be treated as quite shapely trees, as opposed to shrubs. Pieris are good for that too, and will be happy in the soil, and Cotinus and Sambucus as well.
The very colourful [in autumn] Euonymus alatus is a good example of a very ordinary shrub/small tree that comes to life later in the year when more colourful specimens have faded.

If the ground has had a lot of compaction with the varying bits of landscaping being done [highly likely] then it always pays to make sure it's in good condition before planting anything. It can be false economy otherwise.

 

Many thanks for your recommendations. I will get a better plan together and show the areas in more detail.

 

As promised @fairygirl I have created some more detail on the areas I'd like trees in. I've attached 3 animations of the areas including the light at different times of day. These are all done for 30 May so the light will be a bit different in the summer and autumn obviously. Should give you a better idea of the layout and areas.

Lower Gravel Border Area - https://imgur.com/M54OhIx
Upper Patio Area - https://imgur.com/QyV24Ps
Western Borders - https://imgur.com/GKlOg2H


Many thanks

Ed