About a year ago I decided a silver birch would be ideal for a
particular spot in the garden, but because our garden is only 35ft x
21ft (with another house directly siding onto the bottom of it), the
tree will have to either stay below about 20ft or be cut down when it
gets there.

Looking on the web, it seems no site can agree what size different
cultivars grow to. The "Snow Queen" looks as if it would do according
to some sites whereas others put it 3 times bigger!

Also I can't find a supplier who a) has them in stock and b) can
deliver. I know we can't get one locally, so it would need to be
delivered.

Is there a service I can phone up and ask them for a specific type of
tree and they'll source it, deliver it, and plant it for us? I would
have liked to get one that was already about 10ft or so tall.

In article ,
Inge Jones wrote:
About a year ago I decided a silver birch would be ideal for a
particular spot in the garden, but because our garden is only 35ft x
21ft (with another house directly siding onto the bottom of it), the
tree will have to either stay below about 20ft or be cut down when it
gets there.

Looking on the web, it seems no site can agree what size different
cultivars grow to. The "Snow Queen" looks as if it would do according
to some sites whereas others put it 3 times bigger!

Why do you feel a silver birch would be ideal? They are nice trees
but seriously overplanted and their roots get into everything!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

"Inge Jones" wrote in message
. ..
About a year ago I decided a silver birch would be ideal for a
particular spot in the garden, but because our garden is only 35ft x
21ft (with another house directly siding onto the bottom of it), the
tree will have to either stay below about 20ft or be cut down when it
gets there.

Looking on the web, it seems no site can agree what size different
cultivars grow to. The "Snow Queen" looks as if it would do according
to some sites whereas others put it 3 times bigger!

Also I can't find a supplier who a) has them in stock and b) can
deliver. I know we can't get one locally, so it would need to be
delivered.

Is there a service I can phone up and ask them for a specific type of
tree and they'll source it, deliver it, and plant it for us? I would
have liked to get one that was already about 10ft or so tall.

You are really asking the impossible. This is something I was frequently
asked for by landscape architects. Usually multistemmed around 6 metres high
and going to stay at that for ever. Sorry trees do grow - if they don't they
die.

If you want 3 metres high I suggest you look for a heavy standard at about 2
metres of a species which is going to grow to perhaps 5 metres in time. Say
something like an Amelanchier.
As for varying estimates of size - well some suppliers specify expected
height at 5 years, others at 10 years but in any case it's subject to widely
varying site conditions and individual plants.

hth

Rod

In article ,
says...

As for varying estimates of size - well some suppliers specify expected
height at 5 years, others at 10 years but in any case it's subject to widely
varying site conditions and individual plants.

Yeah, that makes sense really. I suppose I was just thinking that if
they've got genetically modified tomatoes that won't freeze or rot, why
haven't they nobbled a tree to make it grow to a certain size or
something (-:

In article ,
says...

Why do you feel a silver birch would be ideal?

With such a small garden, I wanted the height to add interest, but at
the same time to plant under it, as this was the one spot that gets a
few hours sunshine in the summer so was attracted to the idea of a tree
without a dense canopy. I was then intending to put a light underneath
pointing up and lighting only the tree itself for night time. I'm
afraid that without anything tall and thin the garden will just look
like a little postage stamp with a border. I also like poplars but have
been advised that they canot be planted so close to buildings. We had a
plum tree but I had it removed as it kept spread too far, dangled down
too low and brought the visual focal distance too close and became
claustrophobic. I want something that you can look up and see the
branches, but you can see past the trunk, but that won't spread too wide
or stop rain reaching the ground.



They are nice trees but seriously overplanted

Well, they could be becoming a little cliched, I agree.


and their roots get into everything!

I didn't know this.

In article , Inge Jones
writes
In article ,
says...

Why do you feel a silver birch would be ideal?

With such a small garden, I wanted the height to add interest, but at
the same time to plant under it, as this was the one spot that gets a
few hours sunshine in the summer so was attracted to the idea of a tree
without a dense canopy. I was then intending to put a light underneath
pointing up and lighting only the tree itself for night time. I'm
afraid that without anything tall and thin the garden will just look
like a little postage stamp with a border. I also like poplars but have
been advised that they canot be planted so close to buildings. We had a
plum tree but I had it removed as it kept spread too far, dangled down
too low and brought the visual focal distance too close and became
claustrophobic. I want something that you can look up and see the
branches, but you can see past the trunk, but that won't spread too wide
or stop rain reaching the ground.

What about a Sorbus (mountain ash) with a columnar shape - sorry, cant
remember which ones. Light canopy, white flowers, coloured berries, and
without that irritating habit of birches of dropping twigs all over the
place.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

"Inge Jones" wrote in message
. ..
About a year ago I decided a silver birch would be ideal for a
particular spot in the garden, but because our garden is only 35ft x
21ft (with another house directly siding onto the bottom of it), the
tree will have to either stay below about 20ft or be cut down when it
gets there.

Looking on the web, it seems no site can agree what size different
cultivars grow to. The "Snow Queen" looks as if it would do according
to some sites whereas others put it 3 times bigger!



Try a multi stemmed Birch B.jacquemontii is my favourite. They take very
well to coppicing. ie when it get too big chop it down to near ground and
its well established root system will quickly push up new growth.

Specimen multi stemmed can be quite expensive esp @retail prices. But you
could try making your own by planting three young trees very close together
in the same planting hole. In fact, that is a better bet for future
coppicing than a purpose grown multi stem which will normally be a single
stem with cut out leader to give busy growth


pk

In article ,
says...

Specimen multi stemmed can be quite expensive esp @retail prices. But you
could try making your own by planting three young trees very close together
in the same planting hole. In fact, that is a better bet for future
coppicing than a purpose grown multi stem which will normally be a single
stem with cut out leader to give busy growth

I'd much prefer an upright single stem, as my plan to uplight it was
intended to catch some of the white trunk as well as the leaves. Also
the less spread the better. It seems your suggestion is better suited
to spread than height, and I already have a list of spreading shrubs I'd
like to fill the rest of the garden. For this one spot I'd dearly love
something very narrow and consistently about 15-20ft tall at full
maturity.

Has anyone any suggestions for something other than a betula of that
eventual height and no more than 2m spread and/or very sparse canopy?
I have also heard of a eucalyptus - Niphophila penduala? - that might
do, if I could find out more about it.

In article ,
says...

What about a Sorbus (mountain ash) with a columnar shape - sorry, cant
remember which ones. Light canopy, white flowers, coloured berries, and
without that irritating habit of birches of dropping twigs all over the
place.

I've got a Rowan outside the front of my house (on the pavement). It's
beautiful particularly in late summer early autumn, and attracts lots of
birds. I keep an eye on it and call the council if it needs some
attention. But that particular tree would be far too wide and dense for
my back garden - as it must be planted in the only spot that gets
sunshine, it would completely eliminate anything other than moss or
shade-loving plants from my planting scheme, and cover a quarter of the
garden (-: Presumably there are varieties of sorbus that grow
differently? Do you happen to know a URL where I could see some? I'm
doing a search right now....

in article , Inge Jones at
wrote on 30/1/03 7:43 am:

snip
Has anyone any suggestions for something other than a betula of that
eventual height and no more than 2m spread and/or very sparse canopy?
I have also heard of a eucalyptus - Niphophila penduala? - that might
do, if I could find out more about it.

Inge, try these people for Eucalyptus: www.eucalyptus.co.uk
They're very knowledgeable and very good. We sometimes buy things in from
them and before I married Ray they supplied me with about 8 beautifully
healthy plants. There's a huge variety of Eucalypts and you'll surely find
one with lovely bark, too.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

In article ,
says...

Inge, try these people for Eucalyptus: www.eucalyptus.co.uk

Very useful link, thanks. But - bah! - they're out of stock of the very
one I was thinking of. But then since it is such a useful site it has
informed me that now is not the time to be planting eucalyptus anyway,
so they might have them in when the time comes.

I smiled and recognised myself in this: "Some customers would like a
species that will grow rapidly for two or three years, get to about
15ft, and then stop. This is not the way that Eucalypts grow."

in article , Inge Jones at
wrote on 30/1/03 1:12 pm:

In article ,
says...

Inge, try these people for Eucalyptus: www.eucalyptus.co.uk

Very useful link, thanks. But - bah! - they're out of stock of the very
one I was thinking of. But then since it is such a useful site it has
informed me that now is not the time to be planting eucalyptus anyway,
so they might have them in when the time comes.

I smiled and recognised myself in this: "Some customers would like a
species that will grow rapidly for two or three years, get to about
15ft, and then stop. This is not the way that Eucalypts grow."

Console yourself with the thought that this is something Ray says to me at
least 5 times a season about some of *our* customers, too! A few want
something that will go to precisely 8' and not 6" more, yet others buy some
young and hopeful plant and promptly ask how soon they should start hacking
it down! Takes all sorts. ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

In article , Inge Jones
writes

I've got a Rowan outside the front of my house (on the pavement). It's
beautiful particularly in late summer early autumn, and attracts lots of
birds. I keep an eye on it and call the council if it needs some
attention. But that particular tree would be far too wide and dense for
my back garden - as it must be planted in the only spot that gets
sunshine, it would completely eliminate anything other than moss or
shade-loving plants from my planting scheme, and cover a quarter of the
garden (-: Presumably there are varieties of sorbus that grow
differently? Do you happen to know a URL where I could see some? I'm
doing a search right now....

I have one of the white berried species - sorry, can't remember which -
which is fairly delicate in that its branches aren't particularly dense.
Maybe that's because it's not very old - I planted it only 10 years ago.

The other suggestion in this thread is an interesting one - amelenchier.
It has small delicate leaves which seem translucent in the spring.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

In article ,
Inge Jones wrote:
In article ,
says...

What about a Sorbus (mountain ash) with a columnar shape - sorry, cant
remember which ones. Light canopy, white flowers, coloured berries, and
without that irritating habit of birches of dropping twigs all over the
place.

I've got a Rowan outside the front of my house (on the pavement). It's
beautiful particularly in late summer early autumn, and attracts lots of
birds. I keep an eye on it and call the council if it needs some
attention. But that particular tree would be far too wide and dense for
my back garden - as it must be planted in the only spot that gets
sunshine, it would completely eliminate anything other than moss or
shade-loving plants from my planting scheme, and cover a quarter of the
garden (-: Presumably there are varieties of sorbus that grow
differently? Do you happen to know a URL where I could see some? I'm
doing a search right now....

My feeling is that you are crying for the moon. Perhaps a better
possibility is one of the borderline tree/shrubs that can be pruned
as a tree (i.e. cut out suckers). If it gets too tall, you can then
cut it down and it will grow again at the rate of 3-6' a year!

Plants in that category include hazel (ordinary growth, not contorta)
and several willows. S. daphnoides should do well, as might
S. viminalis. They are rather thirsty, but their shade is fairly
light.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

In article ,
says...

Console yourself with the thought that this is something Ray says to me at
least 5 times a season about some of *our* customers, too! A few want
something that will go to precisely 8' and not 6" more, yet others buy some
young and hopeful plant and promptly ask how soon they should start hacking
it down! Takes all sorts. ;-)

I've had a bit of an evil idea - a bit unkind to the tree perhaps
anyway. I could just devise a giant container (something like a water
storage tank) to limit the growth of a tree that would like to be
bigger? A sort of outsized bonzai...