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Tree in a Pot in a Windy Spot

Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
in Plants
I'd appreciate suggestions please for a suitable small tree  or large shrub for my daughter to grow in a pot on her south-east facing front patio. The house is on the side of a hill, high up and exposed to full sunshine and high winds (she's about 15-20 miles from the coast) in mid-Devon. She hasn't got a lot of money to spare and it's a rental property, hence the pot.
I'm a bit stumped, thought of olive, pittospermum, griselinia or laurel, any thoughts please?
North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone

Posts

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    Arbutus Unedo do well in containers. There are now smaller versions like Arbutus Unedo 'Compacta'. Leathery leaves stay evergreen and can withstand winds well.

    I suspect for the location a Polygala Myrtifolia shrub can do well there provided it is not too cold. They too cope well with windy positions. 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    May I suggest you use a large pot with some very heavy material - stone or bricks - in the bottom? i have two standard bays and learned the hard way that a tree in leaf is very easy to blow over.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Thanks Borderline and Posy, I'll look into those suggestions. Bricks in the bottom of the pot had already occurred to me!!!
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Whatever she chooses she'll need to be vigilant with the watering cos of the added drying effects of wind on the foliage.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Yes, Obelixx, she's already talking about acquiring a hosepipe and putting a water butt on her shed. 
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited May 2021
    Well I'm 20 miles from the coast, high up in mid-Devon and I can't grow a laurel in a pot - the leaves burn. I'd suggest a deciduous type stands a better chance when it's windy. Although, having said that, my neighbour does have a rather bedraggled olive that is still alive - they are a bit more sheltered than us though and it's on a warm west facing patio.
    Phormiums will cope, if she likes something like that, or probably bamboo. Or lilac if she'd rather have something more floriferous, or weigela.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
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