Talkback: Trees for small gardens 2

Posts

• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  I wish professional gardeners would stop recommending Silver birch for small gardens without specifying the size they mean! I have a small suburban garden & in summer the back garden is shaded by a Silver Birch 2 doors away. Although beautiful it really should be in a larger garden.
  Incidentally they are also really bad for causing hay fever & oral allergies.Their pollen can sensitise people to apples & other fruit!

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  There is a silver birch of unknown variety - of about 50mtres in height - to the east (thank goodness)of my garden. It is absolutely beautiful and a joy to see - placed as it was in a field. Unfortuantely, with a new house being built next to it I fear it's days are numbered. A worse offender- the dense green pines of about 40 metres in height. Lovely in the forest but not in a domestic garden. They shade my garden - keeping the grass green in summer- but this doesn't make up for the frost circle in their shade in winter though.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  There was untill three weeks ago a beautiful silver birch growing in a corner of the yard of a neighbour's house. Don't ask me why, as it was a joy to see and doing no harm to anybody, but he has pollarded it, cutting off the top and the branches and leaving the bare tall trunk like a mutilated arm. It makes me want to cry - if he wanted to get rid of it, why not cut the whole thing right down? There's so little left, only a couple of twigs, I don't think it will ever regrow or recover.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  The Arbutus unedo, the strawberry tree is native to my contry Portugal. the world famouse Medronho *(native name fro the plant) produce the strongest Fire whater sometimes reaching 90vol of alchool. the latin name as you meation means "eat only one" perhapes comes from the fact that when the fruit is rip if you abuse on its sweetness it ferments before beeing digested leaving the picker tipsy. Some of my childwood memories and of most Southern Portugues is the january\february season of hill walking and berry picking with the amazing finnaly of collective gigling..
  This is beutifull tree that some times resembles a large bosai, very exotic looking.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  I love silver birch and want to plant them in my small garden but if I want more than one, how close can I plant them to each other?

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  My sunflower has 13 heads on one plant is this uncommon

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  My neighbour has a Wysteria which has thrown some pods that look like Runner Beans. Is this normal and what are they? should they be removed?
  Would be extremely grateful for your advice

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  the complete leaves of my red berry fruit bush have been eaten by some sort of insect and most of my raspberries are bad and not growing as they should be what can i do about it

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  I think you'll find that the things that look like runner beans on the Wysteria are seed pods.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  When I enter the plant section of this website and enter white water lily, why do I get every type of plant imaginable? What am I doing wrong?

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