On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 17:42:14 GMT, Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

~The message
~from (jane) contains these words:
~
~ My place of work is thinking of planting a cherry tree for their 20th
~ anniversary next year. It's June (couldn't be worse for tree planting)
~ and I'm advising that they get a tree now and put it in to establish
~ and do a mock planting/plaque unveiling at the right time.
~
~ However, the variety is going to be fun to choose! Do any of you know
~ of a spectacular flowering cherry they can recommend for sticking in a
~ grassed area which spends half the summer baking in full sun and half
~ the winter being damp?
~
~ How big is the available space..across and upwards? There are small
~ones, and giants..and the bigger ones grow fast.
~
It's the edge of a big field in front of the buildings, so as long as
it's one of the ones that go up rather than across it should be fine.

The problem is there's already two maple-like trees in the same area,
both of which are stunted with twisted trunks and which have never
grown beyond about 7' tall in 4-5 years, probably because they spend
the winter 6" deep in water. I'm going to use this fact to show how
bad the location is. I've seen lots of plants get put in round here
and then neglected and then get dug up or mown over by a totally
uncaring and unobservant ground management team (I'm not going to give
them the compliment of calling them gardeners!).

I am thankful they told me now - so I have time to change their minds!
Sadly we are limited as to location because there's only a small bit
of field that we can lay claim to out the front. And they are
resistant to it going round the more enclosed back ("but nobody will
see it") where the poor thing has a chance of surviving. What's really
needed is a huge hole with massively improved drainage and grit,
backfilled with something that builders' trucks haven't driven over
and over.

We shall see!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!