Right, so in response to this thread and Tesco's excellent plan of putting plants next to the till (the middle aged bloke's confectionary counter!) I bought these two little fellows for £3 each.
The plan is to plant them into these terraced beds:
Should I keep potting them on until they are a bit bigger before planting them or should I just bung them in? I'm aware that they are very slow growing so I'm just wondering if I'm going to end up waiting years before planting them!!
So I've decided that this autumn I want to get two beech trees and a malus everest planted in the positions I've shown in the picture.
A couple of questions:
1. Do you think that malus will be to big for the garden? Research shows a final height of 6-8m. 2. Is it easy enough to shape the beech trees the way I've drawn them, especially with the clear trunks? I'm happy that I can keep the height to something I like easy enough.
The malus will be bought as 6/8 bareroot standard. The beech trees as 100/125cm bareroot.
I don't know where you plan to source from but given your location I would say steer away from Tendercare, who tried to sell me a tree with obvious coral spot. I declined, so they offered a discount. I declined again and went to Barcham Trees, who have supplied me with some lovely trees over the years, including Prunus avium 'Plena' which has matured nicely since I planted it 10 years ago.
Whatever the size of your tree, make sure that you plant it deep enough, I bought an Apple tree and it has now grown quite tall the apples wheigh the tree down so much that it leans over and has to be tied to my shed to stop it falling over, this is because i did not plant it deep enough.
Keeping a beech tree down to size is going to be a lifetimes work, they are massive 20m + trees They do pollard well so yes it should be possible to make them something like that. Basically a beech hedge on a stick.
The advice on planting apple trees on mm106 which gets around 5meters tall is that they need 5m space so if you have 6m for a 6m tree you should be fine.
I can’t answer your questions but I do like the artistry of your tree drawings.
It's easier than actual gardening!! I'm thinking of just putting big cardboard cutouts instead of trees
@rachelQrtJHBjb thanks for the info. I've been into Tendercare many times but had not heard of Barcham. I hadn't planned buying from either though as they are way beyond my budget!
@Skandi you're now worrying me about these beech trees. The plan was something along these lines:
Though I was hoping to do something a little less formal than the structured pleaching, more lollipop. I'm assuming it needs no more maintenance, once established, than a normal beech hedge would?
As for the Malus, it's a crab apple so, unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't come on rootstock, does it?
You can certainly do that with almost any tree, but it always looks 'false' unless in a very structured, formal garden. Beech responds well to pruning and shaping though. You can pollard each late winter/spring, which allows a more natural look.
Never plant any tree deeper than it is in the pot [obviously bare root trees are a slightly different matter] and then stake properly.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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It certainly is a difficult balance although it becomes slightly easier when you look at your bank balance!
Everyone's thoughts have really help though!
Hi all,
So I've decided that this autumn I want to get two beech trees and a malus everest planted in the positions I've shown in the picture.
A couple of questions:
1. Do you think that malus will be to big for the garden? Research shows a final height of 6-8m.
2. Is it easy enough to shape the beech trees the way I've drawn them, especially with the clear trunks? I'm happy that I can keep the height to something I like easy enough.
The malus will be bought as 6/8 bareroot standard.
The beech trees as 100/125cm bareroot.
Thanks all.
@rachelQrtJHBjb thanks for the info. I've been into Tendercare many times but had not heard of Barcham. I hadn't planned buying from either though as they are way beyond my budget!
@Skandi you're now worrying me about these beech trees. The plan was something along these lines:
Though I was hoping to do something a little less formal than the structured pleaching, more lollipop. I'm assuming it needs no more maintenance, once established, than a normal beech hedge would?
As for the Malus, it's a crab apple so, unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't come on rootstock, does it?
You can pollard each late winter/spring, which allows a more natural look.
Never plant any tree deeper than it is in the pot [obviously bare root trees are a slightly different matter] and then stake properly.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...