On Thu, 4 Nov 2010 09:03:39 +0000, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:

In message , lid
writes
Does anyone have any experience of these trees? Is it known also by
another name?

Also known as Sweet Gum.

I'm trying to find one that doesn't get too much taller than 4-5
metres. I wonder, does it exist and how quickly does it grow?

The usual species grown is the American Liquidambar styraciflua, which
Wikipedia says reaches 30m. Wikipedia also tells us that 'Gumball' ('Gum
Ball' per PlantFinder) reaches 2m, and 'Parasol' 10m.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidambar_styraciflua

Googling for 'Worplesdon' (the most popular variety) finds a Gardeners
World blog entry mentioning that 'Moonbeam' also reaches 10m. This also
says that the size of Liquidambars can be controlled by pruning.

http://blog.gardenersworld.com/2008/...lant-this-tree
/

Otherwise, work your way through the names in PlantFinder and see what
Google turns up in the way of descriptions.

much obliged for this - at least the tree looks controllable up to a
point and with regular pruning.

I'd be inclined to go for the moonbeam but as this is for france and
will be from a french supplier, I'm not sure if they would name it
similarly?

(thanks too to Mike and Bob Holden - at least I'm forewarned about
it's tendency to grow big)