There are some fine specimens of Met.Seq. in this country, with lovely fissured/twisted bark and fresh green foliage, renewed each year as is unusually deciduous. Good overall shape, but give it plenty of room as no-one knows how large it will grow in the Uk, as there are no mature specimens yet... it having been thought to be extinct and then rediscovered in China in the 1940s.
My salix tortosa drinks gallons of water a day. It's 40 years old now, but it would be impossible to get on my garden till about June if I didn't have it. It's pretty with it's curly leaves and twigs.
My alder is thriving at 1000ft in the Pennines, by a stream. I am sure it would cope just fine a bit further North. You could add dogwoods for an understory and more winter interest. If left unpruned they make quite large shrubs with an attractive, twiggy growth habit. Though the colour is less vivid on older twigs it is still there and the new growth is still bright. Make sure though that you cut out any downward drooping branches - you will find they feel rough, as they are covered with lots of little root buds as they go into thicket building mode. Unless you want a thicket that is!
Willows will definitely take all the water. They are one of my favourite trees, but next door has one which is planted very close to our border. It looks beautiful but we can't get anything to grow down that end of the garden. Their roots go on and on. The old NDN planted it incase houses were ever going to be built in the field behind us.
Thank you soooo much for all of your help, I did move my willow with me when I moved to one of the wettest parts of the garden but I am not sure if it will take , it is looking a bit sad in places and has been attacked by my woodpeckers!! I will definitely look at getting some different varieties of willow and will look into the Met. Seq.
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There are some fine specimens of Met.Seq. in this country, with lovely fissured/twisted bark and fresh green foliage, renewed each year as is unusually deciduous. Good overall shape, but give it plenty of room as no-one knows how large it will grow in the Uk, as there are no mature specimens yet... it having been thought to be extinct and then rediscovered in China in the 1940s.
My salix tortosa drinks gallons of water a day. It's 40 years old now, but it would be impossible to get on my garden till about June if I didn't have it. It's pretty with it's curly leaves and twigs.
Willow and alder are typical river bank trees. Not sure if Alder is okay up north.
My alder is thriving at 1000ft in the Pennines, by a stream. I am sure it would cope just fine a bit further North. You could add dogwoods for an understory and more winter interest. If left unpruned they make quite large shrubs with an attractive, twiggy growth habit. Though the colour is less vivid on older twigs it is still there and the new growth is still bright. Make sure though that you cut out any downward drooping branches - you will find they feel rough, as they are covered with lots of little root buds as they go into thicket building mode. Unless you want a thicket that is!
Willows will definitely take all the water. They are one of my favourite trees, but next door has one which is planted very close to our border. It looks beautiful but we can't get anything to grow down that end of the garden. Their roots go on and on. The old NDN planted it incase houses were ever going to be built in the field behind us.