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Where would you plant a cherry tree

londonerlondoner Posts: 3
in Garden design
Hi, I am a newbie here and in the gardening world, my fingers are the opposite of green and I have so far only experience of destroying plants rather than growing them successfully. We moved in a few years ago and garden was overgrown and ugly, so we scrapped the whole thing and laid a lawn, a new patio and a shed. Now I really want a cherry tree, picked out a self-fertile Stella variety online, hope it's a good one.

Attached is my garden plan, where would you plant it? I'm thinking either instead of the rose bush in the back (can't see it anyway from behind the tree) or the opposite side from it? Or between the rose bush and shed to provide shade over shed in the future? Both patios and shed are on concrete bases, in case that matters. We get lots of sun along the right side of the garden but not left, 6ft fences both sides.

There is literally nothing else growing the garden, it's all lawn, thinking of growing some things in pots on the patio for some colour, maybe some berries as well.. 

P.S. I hate the ugly view blocking tree at the front, but it hides lots of neighbours windows, so we kept it.

Thanks



Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Some cherry trees grow up quite tall and straight, some spread out taking up a wide space. Some are 'weeping' and droop poetically. Which sort have you chosen? Oh, and welcome to the forum, there's always lots of help to be found here.
  • londonerlondoner Posts: 3
    Thanks for the welcome! That's a good question, it seems to be shorter wider spread rather than tall and narrow!


  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Hello @londoner, welcome to the forum.
    Cherry trees need sun and shelter behind them so best planted in your sunniest spot. If you have chosen one on an ultra-dwarfing rootstock (the plant label should tell you), it won't get much more than 2 metres high and possibly a bit wider. It's unlikely to bear cherries for the first couple of years.  Choose your spot, buy some bagged well-rotted manure from a GC, dig it in but wait until the spring to plant the tree. Water it well in the first few years.  Cherry trees like these can be trained onto wires screwed to your fence, which then makes it easier to net the tree so that birds don't pinch your cherries!

    If you want a tall, narrow cherry tree, then the best one is called 'Amanogawa' but this is an ornamental cherry but a fruiting one. 
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Hello, @londoner!  I guess your cherries will ripen better on the sunny side of the garden, so I'd put it on the side opposite the rose, if it were mine.  You need to research the eventual height & spread of the tree you've chosen ("Stella" is a reliable variety but there are other self-fertile ones around; for instance, I've seen "Lapins Cherokee" recommended though I've not tried it myself).  It's mostly the rootstock on which the variety is grafted which determines the eventual size.  Many cherries are on "Colt" rootstocks and this produces a tree 4-5m in height, with maybe a similar spread eventually... which looks a bit big for your garden, to be honest.  You'd have to site it near the centre of the garden or you'd eventually have fruit hanging over the fence!  But you can also get cherry trees on more dwarfing rootstocks; something like "Gisela 5" will produce a tree up to 3m tall.  You could buy a fan-trained tree on a dwarfing rootstock and grow it on wires on the fence, if that suited you better.  (It's easier to protect the fruit from birds if you grow the tree as a fan.)  If you Google "Orange Pippin Trees" they have a lot of choice, plus very useful information and explanation to help you choose...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    Plant it as far away from your house as you can,the tap roots can be very long as a friend of mine found after a few years.  The lawn had to be dug up to follow the root which had made it underneath the house. This was from about 25' away.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • londonerlondoner Posts: 3
    Thanks everyone for your advice!! I will research the rootstock types and pick something for an average size tree, and will plant at the end of the garden on the sunny side! Thanks!
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