Trees for Small Gardens
One of the most important plantings you will make in your garden is a tree.
Trees for Scale
A tree adds scale and structure to a garden; its bulk prevents your garden looking fussy and itty-bitty, and it pulls together the various elements in your design. A well-chosen and well-placed tree will link the house with the space of the garden, lacking the height and bulk of a house, and provides a balance to it in your garden design.
A planting scheme without trees is flat and uninteresting. Walking around a garden without trees, we focus on the individual plants but don’t look up at the whole. A tree lifts the eye above the flatter planting of the flower border, terrace or water feature and draws attention to the overall scheme, rather than just focusing on small elements at a time. In a small garden this means that we look up and beyond the garden, even if only at the sky, making it seem larger, less closed-in.
Trees frame the garden, especially tall, column-shaped trees, that act much like a gate way or arch in directing and centring your view. Don’t always place a tree at the end of your garden; placing it partway can add more to the design. Looking through the spreading branches of a tree makes can also frame a scene, but, more importantly, it makes an informal division and makes the garden seem larger than it is.
In a small garden a single tree adds the same element of structure as a grouping of, say, three or more trees in a larger garden. But remember always to consider the long-term impact and the relationship between the trees and your overall design elements of terraces, borders, arbours as well as the house itself.
Modern designs often substitute hard elements such as fences, walls and obelisks for trees, but these do not change with the seasons, bringing variety and change into the garden. Trees provide shade in summer, a brilliant burst of flower or autumn foliage interest, or they can provide quiet backdrop to your planting, adding to your garden design.
Screens and Privacy
A tree can screen out a nearby building or eyesore, and it can increase the privacy within your garden and house. Too large a tree produce a great deal of shade, and sunlight is essential not only to plants but to people! A deciduous tree will still provide some privacy during the winter, the tracery of branches breaking up a building and reducing the feeling of being overlooked, and we spend less time sunbathing and eating on the terrace in mid-winter anyway!
Contrasts, Texture and Form
Think about contrasting foliage and form when choosing a tree, perhaps a tall slender tree to lift the eye above a planting of rounded, flatter shapes such as hebes, or rounded tree to balance out a vertical element. A tall column demands attention and give height without blocking light, and this is one reason a palm is a good choice in a small garden. Horizontal spreading trees, such as the silk tree, cast shade over a wider area without the bulk, or blocking as much light, as a conical of rounded tree.
Foliage colour provides another contrast, the golden leave of Robina pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ have made it a garden cliché. There are other golden-leaved trees such as the golden-leaved elder, Sambucus ‘Aurea’, and Gledistia. Too much gold can be overpowering, so use a light hand. In shady areas, avoid purple leaved trees such as Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ or the purple akeake, Dodonaea viscosa 'Purpurea', as the foliage will make them area appear even darker.
Leaf shape is a final way to introduce contrast and interest. From feathery fronds to the broad apddles of the puka, spiky cordylines and the smooth outlines of a conifer, there are many way to contrast leaf shape in your planting.
Don’t overdo the contrasts, or you risk a 'restless' scheme that lacks an overall coherence and harmony.
Aspect
A tree that thrives in a bright sunny spot will often linger and look miserable in a shady corner. Check that your tree prefers the conditions in your garden – if you can only have one or two trees you want them to be absolutely splendid!
Many New Zealand natives that come from the bush will grow in part or full shade. Choose those with lacy foliage, such as Putaputaweta or marble leaf, Carpodetus serratus, with lovely marbled leaves and an open habit, or those with light coloured leaves, such as the lemonwood, and they will brighten the planting scheme.
Plants for hot, exposed aspects will need to tolerate these conditions. Again there are some wonderful native plants for hot sunny gardens and lots of trees suited to coastal conditions. In warmer areas Mertya sinclairii, the native 'Puka' is great tree for coastal gardens and the paddle-shaped large, glossy leaves lend a very tropical look to a garden.
Multiple Roles
As the seasons play out many trees play more than one role in the garden. Classic plantings such as cherry trees have a froth of spring blossom, cast summer shade, then burst into brilliant foliage colour in autumn, and spend winter as an outline of branches against the sky. Other trees that can be used this way include amelanchiers, cornus and the snowbell tree, Styrax japonicus. In warm climates deciduous trees colour less brightly, but the summer shade and welcome increase in light during winter still make them valuable additions to the garden.
Other candidates for seasonal change are the silver pear, Pyrus salicifolia, maples, especially Japanese maples, silver birches (although some can become enormous), the Australian frangipani with masses of yellow flowers, irresistible to tui and bellbirds for warm areas and the rowan family (e.g. Sorbus cashmiriana, S. hupehensis and S. aucuparia) with flowers, bright berries and colourful autumn foliage.
Crape Mrytles, Lagerstromeria indica, flower, colour in autumn and have stunning bark. Silver birches have white trunks that are a feature in winter, but be careful for their ultimate size and extensive root systems may rule them out of most small gardens.
Wildlife
Trees are important to the wildlife in our gardens – and we don’t mean the opossums! Birds need trees for nest sites, roosting, for food and for shelter. Many of our most attractive trees are important food sources for birds and most will provide shelter or nest sites.
Fit the Tree to the Plot
As most of us have smaller, even courtyard, gardens today, the choice of a tree becomes more challenging as we have to consider the impact of a tree on sunlight, other garden elements and planting, as well as our neighbours and the foundations of our house. Whatever tree you select, you should try to opt for one that can remain in place without too much attention from the tree surgeon or having to be removed after a relatively short period.
Ultimate Size
Today most of us have a small garden, or even a courtyard, and the challenge of selecting a tree that is and will remain suitable can seem daunting. Work through the choice and placement issues carefully as any tree should be enjoyed for many years after planting.
Consider the 10-year or 20-year height and width of a tree when selecting that tiny whip-like stem at the plant nursery, it may well bulk out to become a very substantial round-headed tree in your garden. Read the label carefully before you buy, and believe that that tiny tree can indeed become a sizeable tree.
The Good Neighbour Factor
Fast growing trees that cast dense shade or extensive greedy root systems do not make for good neighbours. Remember that any branches or roots that intrude into your neighbours’ property can be removed without notice, and this may seriously damage or visually spoil your tree.
Unsafe trees are your responsibility if they are on your property, so avoid planting brittle or potentially dangerous trees. As complicated and expensive legal issues can arise over trees on your boundary or in your garden it is far better to choose a tree which will not outgrow its position, sucker and emerge in your neighbours tomato patch, or become a hazard. (Note: we do not attempt to advise on legal issues and strongly recommend that your consult your lawyer)
A Selection of Trees
There are many wonderful trees suitable for smaller gardens
In short, there are so many desirable trees for the small garden that we are simply spoilt for choice.
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A maple adds emphasis to the pond, the Robina 'Frisia' behind lifts the eye
Trees create a frame for garden scenes
Contrasting textures add more interest
Balance trees and other major design elements, and your house
Trees are invaluable for privacy and screening
A tall column demands attention, Eucryphia cordifolia 02.jpg
Yellow and gold foliage lift a scheme but don't overuse them
'Albizia julibrissin', the 'Silk tree', feathery foliage and enjoys sunny positions
The Lemonwood, Pittosporum eugenioides, grows in shade and has glossy light green foliage that reflects light
The puka, Mertya sinclairii, has large glossy 'paddle' leaves
Acer palmatum; small, good foliage and form, interesting bark
Hymenosporum flavum, Australian frangipani, a small tree suited to smaller gardens
Some trees become too large for small gardens, here Jacaranda mimosifolia
A traditional choice, Prunus 'Accolade' with frothy blossom and autumn colour
A funky look, grouped Pseudopanax ferox
Embothrium coccineum, or Chilean Firebush; colourful nectar-rich flowers are irresistable to birds
Magnolia stellata 'Waterlily'
Chionanthus retusus, or Chinese Fringe tree
Eucryphia cordifolia
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