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Please suggest a pretty tree for a small space

16 years ago

I have a 6' privacy fence about 10 feet from my patio. I'd like to plant a small tree near the fence to give more privacy from the neighbor's windows. Only need 15'-20' or so in height, and something without a lot of spread.

Since it will grow so near my patio, I'd like something pretty; be it spring-flowering, interesting during the summer, or lovely fall color. I'd prefer a tree that doesn't drop fruits or seeds if possible.

Thank you!

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Comments (11)

giboosi_alttara
16 years ago
Heptacodium miconoides
laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years ago
What giboosi said. Great small tree. Narrow and multistemmed at the base, interesting bark, coming into fragrant bloom now to be followed by a long show of red calyxes, pretty much pest and disease free, and tolerant of a wide range of soils. They grow very fast so don't spend a fortune on a large one. The 6" plant I put in last year is over my head now and will be 12 feet tall by next year. They sometimes need a little shaping when young.
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I can't figure out what your goals are for this area. Do you want to screen the chairs from view? Curb appeal and interest from inside. I do not care about screening chairs from view. In fact, I do not want anything so tall and wide that we wouldn't be able to look out when sitting on our porch. You said you replanted, what is there now? You will be surprised how tall Joe-Pye weed gets. It looks great with feather reed grass, coneflower and sedum. All of these perennials have good winter interest, and can take snow load. But unless you add some shrubs for structure, these may not be the best choices. I'm not sure how the maple relates to this planting area. I think you might be happier if you widen the bed to include the maple and use groups of three to five shrubs to fill in the space between. That little evergreen could use a couple of buddies, going out towards the spruce. I would love to see more repetition (small plants repeated in groups)and structure from the shrubs, instead of one of this and one of that. "That little evergreen" will eventually meet her demise too. It's a dwarf Alberta Spruce and it gets terrible tip burn. I'll be replacing her within a few seasons I'm sure. Most of my neighbors have already taken theirs out. The raised bed has a mixed bag of tricks.... Iris, Turtlehead, 2 sedum, a pinks, japanese hakone grass, joe pye weed, Tiger Eye Sumac and a couple other perennials. I knew they'd get crowded last year so I planned to thin them out this year. I am considering widening the bed to include the maple too. Maybe in 2011. I don't want to set myself up to only half-ass these projects. And hubby hates it when I start killing grass for planting beds.... I have to choose my battle there!... that battle is probably better fought next year! As of today, if I HAD to choose what to put in that spot, I would probably choose Silver Feather Maiden Grass. I have a 3-year old clump in my back garden that I was thinking of moving anyway, so I'm giving some very serious thought to that proposition. And then there is still the option of a structure of some sort. I'm going to shop around a bit to see what there might be. I love Ken's idea of an armillary sphere. We have a few of them in the house as bookshelf art. And we have an armillary style sundial in our back garden. I bought it for him on our honeymoon! I've been giving a lot of thought to paying for a designer to draw up a plan for our front yard. I know I need to remove the rock... I can't imagine how many tons of rock the previous owners had delivered to this house.... too bad it's rock mulch and not boulders. In some places, it's 8" or more thick. But, the good news is that with the heavy duty landscape plastic that was used, we RARELY have weeds. The bad news is that once I take all that up, the soil is going to not have touched oxygen for 8-9 years. Ugh.
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Wow, thanks for the recommendations to all of you. I do like the idea of Ribes, it has flowers similar to fuschia and the birds will love it. Many of your other recommendations I planted at my parents' home during the last few years, so I can easily make cuttings. I might have to grow some of those full sun species in pots up on our balcony where some spots get full sun year round. Carpenteria may be nice, too. Some white to brighten up the shady spot. Calycanthus is a nice flower morphology, and I love the fragrance of it. Yerba Buena would be a nice groundcover under the trees by the street, and again, I like that it has fragrance. It will like the fog in Summer, too. Phacelia campanularia is one of my favorite flowers, the blue color is amazing. I only worry about the kids in the neighborhood touching it, it gave me a pretty bad dematitis a few months ago when I collected seeds from them. I've been trying to estimate how much sun that area will get in the peak of summer, in June. I think one strip will be filtered/dappled shade, and half of one will be in direct sunlight for a few hours when the sun is highest in the sky. The Las Pilitas site is basically my encyclopedia for getting info about plants, especially their hummingbird and butterfly plant lists. That, google image searches and the online Jepson manual. And even though they aren't natives, I've always wanted to grow Hellebores, so maybe that will go in somewhere too. Thanks again, and happy gardening.
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Thank you tussy mussy for the reference. As I have none of the problems referred to in the leaf drop comments, I think it must be a cultural problem. My soil is about 6.5 PH and my tree is in the lawn next to my patio. Blooming starts about memorial day the end of May and continues non stop until the fall leaf drop, which is my ONLY leaf drop. My tree is not too large but I do prune it back fairly hard every year because my electric service to the house is directly over the tree. Originally I had another Chitalpa planted in in the garden but I removed it because it shaded an area needing more sun. My current tree is started from a cutting of that tree. Al
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Does the pot have a hole in the bottom? A pot this size may dry out every day in hot weather. Left outside below freezing, it could crack. 'Porch pots' are usually planted fresh each spring, and almost as often, changed at least once when the first plant fizzles from the heat of mid-summer. The sun beating down from above creates heat, and will probably heat up the porch to a sizzling degree. Even plants that like to be in the sun all day can get too hot at the roots to do well in these conditions. Knowing what the porch is made of would help predict possible heat levels. If you feel like adding a pic of the front of your house, you might get some suggestions beyond plants that one might put in a pot on the porch. Maybe an idea you hadn't considered.
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kcmojoe
16 years ago
This tree sounds interesting. Do you have any pics of yours? I have a similar situation with my patio and neighbors. I have about 3 feet on the side of my patio and then my neigbors have about 7 feet to their house. No fence in between us. I would like something fragrant to put at the very edge of my property that is tall and then I could put some shade stuff under it. Would love to see a pic of what you are describing.
snasxs
16 years ago
Note the mass of blooming is not due to the petals of the flower, but rather the persistent sepals. Heptacodium is monotypic, it is the only one remaining species in the entire genus Â seven-son flower.

Unknown to Western science prior to 1907, it was encountered by E.H. Wilson during one of his expeditions to China. It remained unknown to Western horticulture until 1980 when a group of scientists from the Arnold Arboretum and the US National Arboretum collected seed from a cultivated plant in Hangzhou Botanical Garden.

Stephen Spongberg, one of the members of the expedition, notes "...today there are undoubtedly more individual plants in cultivation in North America than in all of China"

White
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Pink
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Red
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
the tree sold as tricolor beech ... fagus roseomarginata .. if zone appropriate .. you have to do the research ...

here is a picture.. ignore the dwarf ... ken

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kcmojoe
16 years ago
Laceyvail,
Do you have a pic of your tree?
Dibbit
16 years ago
Kcmojoe, you might want to discuss varieties with your neighbor. The airspace over his property belongs to him, and he can cut off any branches that stick over onto his side of the property line if they bother him. He can't kill the tree if it is on your side of the line, nor cut off so much it kills the tree, but he can cut...

If the 2 of you agree on a tree, then it's more likely that he won't object, and if it is well-grown, the next owner may like it, when the time comes. Otherwise I would advise getting something that grows more upright than wide.
laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years ago
So sorry, I'm too technologically challenged to have a digital camera or any idea how to post pics. I know plants, but not technology! Have you tried googling images?

Also, my plant is only two years old. I got it as a 4 inch tall specimen a year ago. It's now taller than I am, or at least one stem is, but I find that it needs a little shaping when young to get a nice growth habit. I tied a couple of stems this spring to stakes to straighten them, which has work perfectly and I'll do the same next year to two others after I prune off some of the lower growth. I think that will be all it will need and then can be on its own.
snasxs
16 years ago
Kcmojoe,

I have posted the images of several cultivars of Heptacodium miconioides (scroll up). I am sorry for the broken image. The pink colored one is at this website: http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2006/08/heptacodium_miconioides_1.php

Ken_Adrian,

Your tricolor beech is just stunning. I love it.
giboosi_alttara
16 years ago
We'd been discussing this one OT in the perennials forum and a few different folks posted pix to that gallery.

I've removed a lot of side branches to display bark and the result is quite a narrow tree. It takes well to pruning for shape, grows quickly and has 4 season interest.

The thing with Ken's beech is that it's a slow grower and you wouldn't be able to limb it up and have a canopy for years and years, since the tree would need those branches and their leaves for more growth.

The hept puts on at least 3' of growth in a season, and I've limbed mine up before the branches spread too wide and got in the way of underplanting.

Here is a link that might be useful: heptacodium
lou_spicewood_tx
16 years ago
You might want to look at Shantung Maple (acer truncatum) 'Fire Dragon'. Very nice and apparently very hardy tree. Go to www.metromaples.com for pictures and info and also to find out if they will ship a dormant 4 feet tree this winter. They did last winter but I don't see any info if they are doing it again this winter. I have 'Fire Dragon' and they are proving to be excellent trees. They grow fast, nice yellow flowers in spring, new leaves are rosy red before they turn green then back to red for the fall.

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