"Spider" wrote in message
...
On 10/12/2012 22:10, Kate wrote:
Hi

Can anyone suggest a shrub that has a profile a bit like a tree... grows
to 5-6 feet tall, only spreads 2 to 3 feet, and is quite "leggy" or
"trunky" (most interest is found in the top foot or two) ?

Many thanks in advance

Kate xx


Can you tell us if you want deciduous (drops its leaves) or evergreen
growth .. do you want flowers? It's obviously got a specific job to do.
Why does it need to be narrow .. near a gate (with lots of foot traffic),
near an alley (is there a wind tunnel effect). The more you can tell us,
the easier it is to suggest something.

It would also help us to know roughly where you live and what your soil is
like.

Hardy throughout the Bitish Isles is Amelanchier. Thin growing, flowering,
edible fruit and autumn colour. What more could you want?

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland

Mine is exactly the shape she describes, but it is now about 12ft high after 20 years.

Another with vertical stems and therefore a narrow shape is the scented winter flowering Viburnum bodnantense. It will eventually get too tall but it will take a long time doing it.

My guelder rose (V opulus) also has much of the same habit (the few spreading stems can be chopped out) but grows much more quickly. And some mock oranges - although others are very spreading.

In article , Sacha
writes
It's a beautiful tree but a bit too tall & spreading for what Kate describes?


Obelisk isn't Sacha it's quite fastigate and much smaller than the
normal A.
--
Janet Tweedy

In article , Sacha
writes
Sounds good and as if it might do the job then.


A picture
http://www.frankpmatthews.com/amelan...ia-obelisk.htm
--
Janet Tweedy

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Sacha
writes
Sounds good and as if it might do the job then.


A picture
http://www.frankpmatthews.com/amelan...ia-obelisk.htm
--
Janet Tweedy

It's not just the flowers but the edible fruits and the stunning autumn
colour.
It is quite hardy here in the far north of Scotland (Bonar Bridge).

Phil

That says to 4m. But mine has remained less than 2m after 10 years, but it clearly isn't very happy. I think Amelanchiers don't like dry conditions. The flowering period is extremely short, blink and they've gone.

Maybe that's another effect of the dry conditions? Mine seems to be in flower for a reasonable amount of time. Not the months-on-end of Viburnum bodnantense, but comparable to other flowering shrubs. Better, than , eg lilac.

On 12/12/2012 16:13, echinosum wrote:

'Janet Tweedy[_2_ Wrote:
;974784']In article , Sacha

writes-
Sounds good and as if it might do the job then.-
A picture
'Amelanchier alnifolia 'Obelisk' ® amelanchier - Trees for Life - Frank
P. Matthews Ltd.' (http://tinyurl.com/c88y2uw)

That says to 4m. But mine has remained less than 2m after 10 years, but
it clearly isn't very happy. I think Amelanchiers don't like dry
conditions. The flowering period is extremely short, blink and they've
gone.





*Is* flowering that brief, or could the dry conditions you describe
cause the buds/flowers to abort? I would love to grow Amelanchier in
the near future, so would like to understand a bit more about its habit.
I'd be grateful for your reflections. For instance, are there plenty
of berries despite brief flowering,(which suggests to me that the
flowers persist long enough however apparently brief) or do you feel
there is a poor crop of berries. Do you know which form of Amelanchier
you are growing?

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 12/12/2012 11:32 PM, Spider wrote:
On 12/12/2012 16:13, echinosum wrote:

'Janet Tweedy[_2_ Wrote:
;974784']In article , Sacha

writes-
Sounds good and as if it might do the job then.-
A picture
'Amelanchier alnifolia 'Obelisk' ® amelanchier - Trees for Life - Frank
P. Matthews Ltd.' (http://tinyurl.com/c88y2uw)

That says to 4m. But mine has remained less than 2m after 10 years, but
it clearly isn't very happy. I think Amelanchiers don't like dry
conditions. The flowering period is extremely short, blink and they've
gone.

*Is* flowering that brief, or could the dry conditions you describe
cause the buds/flowers to abort? I would love to grow Amelanchier in
the near future, so would like to understand a bit more about its habit.
I'd be grateful for your reflections. For instance, are there plenty
of berries despite brief flowering,(which suggests to me that the
flowers persist long enough however apparently brief) or do you feel
there is a poor crop of berries. Do you know which form of Amelanchier
you are growing?


Jumping in here, I grow A. lamarckii, flowering is indeed very brief
(but lovely). It's in a pretty wet spot where it thrives. Birds get
the berries before us, though!

I would have said it was a spreading shrub, so 'Obelisk' sounds very
interesting.

The spring leaf out is a gorgeous bronze colour, and the pure white
flowers make a really pretty contrast. Good fall colour too, mixed reds
and purples.

On 12/12/2012 22:34, Emery Davis wrote:
On 12/12/2012 11:32 PM, Spider wrote:
On 12/12/2012 16:13, echinosum wrote:

'Janet Tweedy[_2_ Wrote:
;974784']In article , Sacha

writes-
Sounds good and as if it might do the job then.-
A picture
'Amelanchier alnifolia 'Obelisk' ® amelanchier - Trees for Life - Frank
P. Matthews Ltd.' (http://tinyurl.com/c88y2uw)

That says to 4m. But mine has remained less than 2m after 10 years, but
it clearly isn't very happy. I think Amelanchiers don't like dry
conditions. The flowering period is extremely short, blink and they've
gone.

*Is* flowering that brief, or could the dry conditions you describe
cause the buds/flowers to abort? I would love to grow Amelanchier in
the near future, so would like to understand a bit more about its habit.
I'd be grateful for your reflections. For instance, are there plenty
of berries despite brief flowering,(which suggests to me that the
flowers persist long enough however apparently brief) or do you feel
there is a poor crop of berries. Do you know which form of Amelanchier
you are growing?


Jumping in here, I grow A. lamarckii, flowering is indeed very brief
(but lovely). It's in a pretty wet spot where it thrives. Birds get
the berries before us, though!

I would have said it was a spreading shrub, so 'Obelisk' sounds very
interesting.

The spring leaf out is a gorgeous bronze colour, and the pure white
flowers make a really pretty contrast. Good fall colour too, mixed reds
and purples.



Thanks, Emery. That useful to know. Reckon I'll have to put up with a
short flowering period then. I could always grow a clematis through it
for summer flowers. Can you tell me if A. lamarckii, in your
experience, is the obedient tree type or the suckering shrub type?

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

I was referring specifically to my Amelanchier alnifolia "Obelisk". It does produce berries. They aren't very nice to eat though, very pippy, a bit like flowering currant berries. I've read that one should use a variety selected for berry quality if you want to eat good saskatoon berries (saskatoon being the common name for A. alnifolia), but such are hard to obtain in UK. Though maybe the berries would be a bit more juicy if I weren't so dry. The birds don't seem to bother very much with them. A disadvantage of alnifolia is that it flowers as the leaves come out, so the flowers are less showy than the usual variety, as well as the flowers being even shorter lasting.

I also have Juneberry A. lamarkii/canadensis (which may be synonyms). Again in a very dry spot, which doesn't work very well. It doesn't get bigger than about 1.5m for me, and suckers a bit. It won't bush out for me, I just get very long straggly bits which I have to shorten or it looks ridiculous. The berries are much nicer to eat than the ones on A alnifolia Obelisk, when I manage to get to a ripe one before the birds, who really like them. I've seen them growing in moist soil in Abingdon, and they grow bushy to 3-4m, a very effective screen while in leaf, and are well covered in really tasty berries.

"Sacha" wrote in message ...


I think there might be some confusion here. I didn't recommend Amelanchier
but people who are happy with it did and I made the "Sounds good" remark. I
don't know if will suit the OP's needs. One other thought occurs to me and
that is a Wisteria, grown as a standard. We have 3 on a lawn here and the 2
best flowerers look superb. The oldest is no more than 5' tall after about
5 years and of course, is on a 'trunk' with the branches weeping towards
the ground.
--
Sacha

Well -- I would not call standard wisterias naturally tall and thin,
although
some pruning could assist. (see one of my 20 yr olds ).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8130344...in/photostream

Very beautiful, but in need of Very strong support. I have had to resort to
guy ropes
a la tent style !

Pete

On 13/12/2012 18:16, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-12-13 12:24:07 +0000, "Pete" said:



"Sacha" wrote in message ...


I think there might be some confusion here. I didn't recommend
Amelanchier but people who are happy with it did and I made the
"Sounds good" remark. I don't know if will suit the OP's needs. One
other thought occurs to me and that is a Wisteria, grown as a
standard. We have 3 on a lawn here and the 2 best flowerers look
superb. The oldest is no more than 5' tall after about 5 years and of
course, is on a 'trunk' with the branches weeping towards the ground.

Pete's reply is 'greyed out' so I reproduce the whole thing he


"Sacha" wrote in message ...


I think there might be some confusion here. I didn't recommend
Amelanchier but people who are happy with it did and I made the
"Sounds good" remark. I don't know if will suit the OP's needs. One
other thought occurs to me and that is a Wisteria, grown as a
standard. We have 3 on a lawn here and the 2 best flowerers look
superb. The oldest is no more than 5' tall after about 5 years and of
course, is on a 'trunk' with the branches weeping towards the ground.
--
Sacha

Well -- I would not call standard wisterias naturally tall and thin,
although
some pruning could assist. (see one of my 20 yr olds ).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8130344...in/photostream



Very beautiful, but in need of Very strong support. I have had to resort
to guy ropes
a la tent style !

Pete

Your Wisteria is simply beautiful. We're letting ours do something
rather different and allowing the branches to arch over towards the
ground. I saw this first at a friend's house in Jersey, about 25 years
ago. Their Wisterias had been in for a very long time and looked like
ball gowns, sweeping the grass with their blossom.

I wonder if Myrtus communis, would answer the OP's requirements. While
they seed, it's not so badly as to be uncontrollable or a nuisance, imo.




But would it be hardy enough? I thought they were borderline hardy and
the OP is in the Midlands.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 12/13/2012 10:13 PM, Sacha wrote:
But would it be hardy enough? I thought they were borderline hardy
and the OP is in the Midlands.

It depends very much on her particular area. We've had some lasting cold
snaps here that they've sailed through. But we're not talking months.
Greece, where they grow most beautifully, can be very cold but it's very
well drained. Personally, I'd be tempted to try it, if it's the right
tree for the setting in terms of shape etc. But I wouldn't be prepared
to risk a lot of money on it if the ground is soggy and holds winter wet
They hate wet it seems, I killed a well established one that way (change
in the drainage).

On 13/12/2012 21:13, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-12-13 19:29:05 +0000, Spider said:

On 13/12/2012 18:16, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-12-13 12:24:07 +0000, "Pete"
said:



"Sacha" wrote in message ...


I think there might be some confusion here. I didn't recommend
Amelanchier but people who are happy with it did and I made the
"Sounds good" remark. I don't know if will suit the OP's needs. One
other thought occurs to me and that is a Wisteria, grown as a
standard. We have 3 on a lawn here and the 2 best flowerers look
superb. The oldest is no more than 5' tall after about 5 years and of
course, is on a 'trunk' with the branches weeping towards the ground.

Pete's reply is 'greyed out' so I reproduce the whole thing he


"Sacha" wrote in message ...


I think there might be some confusion here. I didn't recommend
Amelanchier but people who are happy with it did and I made the
"Sounds good" remark. I don't know if will suit the OP's needs. One
other thought occurs to me and that is a Wisteria, grown as a
standard. We have 3 on a lawn here and the 2 best flowerers look
superb. The oldest is no more than 5' tall after about 5 years and of
course, is on a 'trunk' with the branches weeping towards the ground.
--
Sacha

Well -- I would not call standard wisterias naturally tall and thin,
although
some pruning could assist. (see one of my 20 yr olds ).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8130344...in/photostream



Very beautiful, but in need of Very strong support. I have had to resort
to guy ropes
a la tent style !

Pete

Your Wisteria is simply beautiful. We're letting ours do something
rather different and allowing the branches to arch over towards the
ground. I saw this first at a friend's house in Jersey, about 25 years
ago. Their Wisterias had been in for a very long time and looked like
ball gowns, sweeping the grass with their blossom.

I wonder if Myrtus communis, would answer the OP's requirements. While
they seed, it's not so badly as to be uncontrollable or a nuisance, imo.




But would it be hardy enough? I thought they were borderline hardy and
the OP is in the Midlands.

It depends very much on her particular area. We've had some lasting cold
snaps here that they've sailed through. But we're not talking months.
Greece, where they grow most beautifully, can be very cold but it's very
well drained. Personally, I'd be tempted to try it, if it's the right
tree for the setting in terms of shape etc. But I wouldn't be prepared
to risk a lot of money on it if the ground is soggy and holds winter wet.



The OP is on slightly acid clay, so I'd be a bit worried about drainage.
All the same, if drainage were improved, it could work. It's a lovely
shrub and can be clipped to keep it within bounds, so it may work.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay