[Closed] Singletreeworld - recommend a smallish tree for a front garden

Flowering dogwood in single-stem standard tree form (not shrub)
It's different, it flowers, fruits and has bright-coloured branches in winter. Lots of mythology attached too

Amelanchier lanarkii is often a good bet - spring flower, decent foliage, autumn berries but it's deciduous so not ideal if you want year round privacy.

So you may be better off going for a large shrub that can be grown single stemmed, maybe Cotoneaster Cornubia which is semi evergreen (ie some leaves may drop, depends on location), small bee friendly flowers in summer and red berries in autumn, and will get to about the size you want

Where do you want the privacy? Tree canopy at 4-5 meters tall won't give you ground floor window privacy. As suggested a good shrub would possibly be better.

I wouldn't recommend a magnolia. In recent years they all seem to flower too early, get caught by frost and look rubbish until the leaves finally appear.

Probably privacy is the wrong word, more to break up the view of other houses for us. There is a bedroom looking out the front on 1st floor so if that gets a bit of privacy in due course that’s great.

Thanks for suggestions so far

What thepurist said.

We have a young amelanchier out front and a cotoneaster it back. Both are between shrubs and trees from what I've seen - will grow big or can be well tamed and shaped. Cotoneaster good for winter interest and attractive leaves.

You could go for a fruit tree - something self fertile like a Braeburn on a MM106 root stock would grow as a small tree.

Acer

Pampas Grass

I’m with @thepurist on this, but make it two apple trees (a car sized space is plenty for the smaller varieties of apple or pear).

I planted a willow about 12 years ago and that's about 2 metres tall. It was grafted so wont really get much taller but is perfect as it stops us looking directly into the front door opposite.
The dense mass of branches mean it still provides cover after it loses its leaves in the autumn.

Pampas Grass

They are seeking privacy, not like minded friends.

We have a tree out front that was here before us and I think its a Japanese Privet with variegated leaves. Lovely shape, evergreen (but sheds leaves periodicallly) and amusingly (for me when I walk past) the same as the two trees opposite Parliament by the Jewel Tower.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/jrZMGDQqHZpWaysQ8

Use Google Street View to 'drive' around the area looking for nice gardens with trees in and then identify the ones you like. That should ensure they are also suitable for the location.

I would also suggest fruit tree.
Ask a nursery about self fruiting/pollenating varieties and shrub rootstock.

Not just apples and pears, but also plums, damsons, nuts.

I planted a yellow Mimosa ten years ago, it's now at eaves level so provides privacy for the first floor and seems to have stopped growing, well slowed anyway. It is covered in yellow flowers, the bees love it and we get lots of admirers.

However...

Every tiny leaf gets in the car, down the window rubbers, inside the mechanisms. You might think this won't annoy you, it will.

The wind, streets have a hell of a 'tunnel' effect, poor thing gets hammered and has developed a bit of a windswept and interesting shape. 😬

For a second suggestion, a silver-leaf weeping pear; foliage (but not the trunk) looks like an olive tree if you squint a bit 🙂

rowan or pyracantha or holly

I wouldn’t recommend a magnolia. In recent years they all seem to flower too early, get caught by frost and look rubbish until the leaves finally appear.

This. Has happened each year for the last 4. Lovely looking tree when it comes into leaf and easy to keep small and to a nice shape, but gets hammered by frost and can be bare for 1-2 months after everything else is in leaf.

Rowan - the witches tree.   A good choice just don't tel the wife why you chose a rowan 🙂

Dwarf crab apple. Nice shaped trees, good blossom in spring, coloured fruits into autumn for a bit of interest, won't get scrumped like normal apples.
Could pair it with an eating apple or even get one of the drooping ones if you like that shape.
Wouldn't recommend willow. It's rampant and really difficult to get rid of.
Rowan is good too, and the birds love the berries in autumn.

Sorbus cashmiriana. Bit different to the usual Rowan. Pink flowers in spring, leaves golden yellow in the Autumn and white berries after that.

We have a Acer in the back garden and in 20 years has achieved guttering height.It has delicate green foliage in the summer and glorious colour in the autumn.

It might be that small and fast growing might be slightly problematic, so it might be worth buying a larger tree initailly and and looking after it. Lots of the trees near me have suffered from the tree ties cutting into the bark and lack of water in the first few years

Thanks all, lots of options, I’ll have to get googling them!

or pyracantha

Dear god no. I have a twice annual battle with this evil bastard in my garden. Like razor wire. But worse.

A Cherry or Acer for Blossom or autumnal colours

I'd also recommend a Rowan for its apotropaic properties.

You could go for a fruit tree – something self fertile like a Braeburn on a MM106 root stock would grow as a small tree.

That's what I did about 15 years ago. It's about to be removed because the roots are affecting the foundations of the house...

Cercis siliquastrum may be another option. Lovely silver-grey bark, pollinator friendly pink flowers in spring before vibrant green leaves for early summer. Leaves and seed pods also have good autumn colours, so something to enjoy all year.

Dear god no. I have a twice annual battle with this evil bastard in my garden. Like razor wire. But worse.

Seconded. Vicious, vicious stuff.

We have a nice cob nut tree which is probably about the right size for you. Might not be fast growing enough though.

What area of the country are you in? Some great suggestions in this thread so far but varying quite wildly in climatic / cultivation requirements.

Acer and Ribinia are both very nice

Acer Palmatum ‘Osakazuki’. Not fast growing, but it won’t outstay it’s welcome, about the highest it’s likely to get is 13-15 feet, but it’ll reward you with glorious, glowing red foliage in the autumn.

This is mine, it’s roughly thirty years old, maybe getting on towards forty, I bought it as basically a stick about a metre tall from a nursery in Newbury, as a present for my mum, and I’m very proud of it. All my bird feeders hang inside it.

Lots of nice choices suggested so far, to add a couple you could consider Viburnum plicatum, or for a flatter inflorescence Viburnum plicatum 'Maresii'. If you are still considering a Magnolia take a look at Magnolia stellata or Magnolia x loebneri 'Leonard Messel'. Stone Pine would let you make your own pesto in a few years time though may eventually get too tall, perhaps Common Juniper would work, tough as old boots and not too fussy with respect to cultural requirements.

I asked on here a while ago, and everyone said don't do it. In true STW style, I recommend a silver Birch.

Paperbark maple which I think it's a type of Acer?
We've got one in our back garden & it's a really nice looking tree.

We've also got a twisted hazel which I also like but my Wife doesn't. Leaf coverage is really dense and it's quite fast growing but really easy to prune & always seems to come back well.
It's a shrub rather than a tree. Stuff online reckons it only grows to about 10ft, but ours goes way bigger than that if you let it, although perhaps not high enough to obscure first storey windows.

Might be worth checking ground for underground services, cables, pipes etc before digging and planting anything.

I love my pyracantha, more accurately the spuggies love my pyracantha, the neighbours cat hates it and i tolerate a twiceyearly accupuncture session for them.

Rowans are quite nice, pretty tree and the birds will love you forever. Laburnums, aka the national garden tree of scotland look ace and later you can chop it down for guitar fretboards.

My guidance on such matters is go to jurassic plants and set out you criteria then scroll through the pictures for some unusual options.

Thats the reason i now have a pomegranite and something called a blue sausage plant to grow in the garden.

That Acer is stunning! It's a shame they are such slow growers. I would maybe go for something native, maybe a Rowan, Service Tree or Hawthorn. All have the benefit of blossom or berries.

Or with reservations and the caveat that you probably shouldn't plant this too close to the house a Eucalyptus of some kind? Fast growing, if your in the south you might be able to get one with flowers as well.

But again if your on sticky clay... Maybe don't.

Just make sure that you read the label properly if you're considering Eucalyptus 🙂
They vary from a 1m tall dwarf shrub at maturity to 37m in the UK
Surprisingly hardy (-15C for some) and tolerant of rubbish soil, but in case I haven't already mentioned it, read the label

Also check with your neighbours if they want sharp pointed Eucalyptus saplings sprouting free of charge.

Eucalyptus are crap in the UK. I was given one and regret planting it. All our other trees have fruit or flowers or insects in the bark for birds. Nothing ever visits the eucalyptus except  pigeons who love it to roost and shit. It doesn't belong over here, they're completely sterile. They also have an alarming habit of snapping branches.

Mrs Bruce has suggested you look at The Barchams trees website and speccifically their guide to trees. Mrs Bruce plants lots of trees for work and in currently planting a wood.

https://www.barcham.co.uk/guide-category/time-for-trees/

I'd consider a lilac (depending on your soil type). Nice to get the lovely scents wafting in through open windows.

I've got a beautiful Midland Hawthorn in my garden. Paul's double Scarlett is the variety, beautiful dense fresh green leaves in Spring, stunning acid pink double flowers in Summer, and lively little red Haws in autumn, until tbe blackbirds muller them.
A flowering crab apple like Profusion or Royalty on a semi dwarfing rootstock would be nice too. Mine has gorgeous purple flowers, bronze tinged leaves which go bright orange in autumn and hang on the tree quite tenaciously, then red fruits, like rock hard apples about the size of a Malteser all winter.
That acer shown earlier was beautiful mind.

Japanese maple like countzero's can be slow growing but they can also be bought/transplanted at a pretty good size- more expensive obviously but could be a good option to overcome the slowness and to get an immediate improvement in the garden?

I like to grow from seeds or sticks tbh but sometimes you just want to get the job done.

I confess Northwind, I had you down as a clapped out mondeo estate on bricks in your front garden kind of a guy, not a horticulturalist.

Neither 🙂 May have written the mondeo off, and I just muck about in the garden a bit.

Thanks all, s. Wales based. We’ve actually got some kind of shrubby Acer in the front at the moment and I do like it so guess a more treey version would work (we’re only moving a mile away to a similarly orientated house).

It’s a good point about going native and getting something with blossom/
Berry for the wildlife. I love hawthorn flowers but the spikes make me think having one in the garden would get painful!

Crataegus crus-galli Inermis is supposedly thornless, the species is commonly known as the Cockspur Thorn. In truth it is a striking small tree, the thorns are truly impressive and can be avoided when pruning if some care is exercised.

If you're considering a palmatum Acer check the prevailing wind before planting. They don't like a draft when young.

There's a lilac that flowers twice a year if you go down this route, I can't remember its name but there's one in my shrubbery at the front. A bit slow growing but perfect for a knight of Ni!

I started worked on what I hope will be a mixed Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Crab Apple hedge last winter. That explosion of blossom in early spring is a magical thing and I think the thorny stuff provides really good shelter for birds as well.

Still no closer to deciding.. but just moved in and looking at the front garden there is a 1ft dia. tree stump cut off at ground level exactly where I’d thought to plant, with holes drilled in but not started to rot yet. How far away would I have to plant from this as I guess a pretty substantial root system underneath?

1ft? get in there with a matttock and a drywall saw.

you only need to dig the core out the wider roote system can be left behind.

Ok cool, will do that… might have to wait till I recover from lugging boxes though 😂

A Cercis of some sort would be a good shout.

I like to grow from seeds or sticks tbh but sometimes you just want to get the job done.

I’ve got six or seven tiny seedlings sprouting from my big Acer, I’ll be digging them up and re-planting them in pots soon, although three of them are already growing in a large pot that had flowers in it. Hopefully I can get them to grow and then I’ll give several of them to friends.

I started work on what I hope will be a mixed Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Crab Apple hedge last winter.

Hmmm, I’m really not sure about Blackthorn in a hedge, unless there’s concrete on either side; it’s a bugger for wanting to colonise anywhere it grows, sending suckers out and expanding outwards as much as it can.

Have planted these in the garden and all sensible sizes*
Arbutus (strawberry tree) - just let it go, amazing red bark , evergreen and pretty red fruits
Paulonia - Very vigorous. Exotic looking leaves and flowers but *needs pruning (treating it like a shrub) every couple of years to keep it a sensible size
Banana depending on where you are in the country preferably somewhere not too exposed to frost and wind
Hoheria - evergreen, flowers profusely and quick growing, pretty trouble free and sensible size.
Cork Screw Hazel - maintains a screen without leaves in winter.

Interesting, doing this myself, but want a tree to stay around 5ft ish tall. Bookmarked.

Forgot all about this thread, what ,if anything, did you end up getting, OP? You say youre South Wales based, coastal or mountainous?
Just had a thought too, was there any signs of fruiting fungus bodies on your tree stump? I lost an apricot tree and a beautiful flowering cherry (okame) both to honey fungus. Dont know if I'm just unlucky, or whether its a local thing. None of my other trees have had it, and you do see it quite regularly on old stumps here in my part of South Wales.

ETA another option is an ornamental plum. My neighbour has a very attractive one with dark purole leaves and pink / purple flowers in abundance, been there for years and is about 7' tall and nicely bushy. Might see if I can get some twigs/buds off him in July for a bit of propogation.

I went for a dwarf crab apple in front of my house for same reasons as you. Has lovely dark red leaves and rich red blossom.

Pieris japonica?

We love ours. So do the bees!

https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/pieris-japonica-flaming-silver?fee=2&fep=15289&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgYSTBhDKARIsAB8KukvESq6H3oMZf3EGCu6wDn0gen6H0GaGAenmJcB6cjIUpQQJs85Lz-0aArwJEALw_wcB