Suggestions for small, flowering trees or shrubs

17 years ago

Hello all,

I have a narrow strip of land between my house and my neighbors house that I am looking for a small tree or taller shrub to help provide a little shade/privacy for my house. Here is what I would like in the best of all possible worlds:

No taller than 10 - 15 feet (5 - 10 feet would be best)

Spread about 10 feet

Flowering (fragrance gets two big thumbs up!)

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Dawn Marie

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Comments (8)

leaveswave
17 years ago
How much sun does the area get? Sounds like it might be at least part sun. How 'bout pagoda dogwood, can be pruned into tree or shrub shape. Or viburnum or serviceberry...
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dmarie
Original Author
17 years ago
It gets full sun in that area. :)

I had started to look at the pagoda dogwood. It is a beautiful tree. The other thing that I really like is Japanese Lilac, but I am afraid they are too big.

I don't know much about serviceberry, but will do some more investigating. Thanks!
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Dwarf conifers are a possibility - there are scads of varieties and many will never exceed 15' in a lifetime. Since they are evergreen, they look as good in winter as in summer, but they don't flower and they don't grow fast. Evergreen flowering shrubs are limited for your hardiness zone but you could look at rhododendrons or pieris. Some varieties are more sun tolerant than others but again, none growth particularly fast. There are any number of deciduous flowering shrubs that could work for you - lilac, forsythia, smokebush, rose of Sharon, chionanthus. These tend to grow more rapidly than either conifers or broadleaved evergreen shrubs but they are pretty much uniformly naked in winter :-) It is hard to find any flowering trees that wil remain below 15'....and even these generally tend to have naked trunks or seldom branch to the ground. Personally, I would opt to create a larger planting bed somewhere along the street side that is appropriate to your screening requirements. And I'd use a mix of plants - something tall and full to provide screening, something that provides seasonal bloom color and something to give evergreen/winter attraction. I know not everyone thinks this way but a tree (or two) or even a large shrub plunked down in the middle of the lawn looks to me extremely awkward and disconnected. Even less appropriate with a small garden such as yours - it comes across as a bit of an after thought instead of a planned landscape. I would much prefer to see a well thought out planting bed with maybe a larger tree to anchor it and smaller shrubs as an accompaniment.
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Comments (7)
Hop bush is a great suggestion (Dodonea viscosa and Dodonea viscosa 'purpurea'- the purple tends to come out when chilled - it's also a bit more frost sensitive, but next to a western wall it should be fine). I also love the Fern of the Desert (also called Fern tree, Fern bush, etc. - Lysiloma thornberi). You can also get the soft, lacy look from Guajillo. They are all very drought tolerant. If you want some pretty blooms and a bright green leaf, I would suggest the desert willow, Chilopsis linearis. It has the added benefit of being deciduous, so that same western wall can warm your home in the winter. I went down to Baker's last spring and looked at some of their trees, with the same parameters in mind - a number o the Eucalyptus are small, with yellow or red blooms. I bought a mulga - it has silvery leaves and bright yellow blooms that look just like catepillars. It grows to about 15 feet. Lemon Euc and Forman's Euc are two more you might want to look at. There's tons more, we're lucky to have a large number of smaller trees. Don't forget the Texas Mountain Laurel (both green and silver leaf forms) many of the Acacias are smaller trees, the Screwbean Mesquite has very interesting seed pods, Caesalpinia cacalaco, mexicana & gilliesii are all very pretty, blooming trees. HTH!
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sjmarq
17 years ago
Good sugestions. Other dependable bushes to consider would be many dogwood (cornus) varieties, Ninebark (Physocarpus), mockorange, viburnum. Personally I'd go with a mix of viburnum to get the berry production.

Seems like you want mutually exclusive things - shade vs privacy. I guess it depends on the layout of the houses/windows. Most privacy would require fairly thickly branched bushes. Most shade would require more height than 10 ft. You're not likely to get both. Anyway - the UM Plant database has some nice search features including desired size - take a look http://www.sustland.umn.edu/plant/plantdata.asp
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meeperx
17 years ago
Ornamental Crab Apples would work-'Tina' is supposed to be one of the smaller ones

Purple Ornamental plum trees are also quite manageable.

'Miss Kim' Lilac standards are very nice

Star Magnolias and grafted forsythia trees are great for very early spring flowers.
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bkoopman
17 years ago
DMarie,

I would look seriously at the Pagoda Dogwood or Amur Maples.

Both are extremely hardy, can be grown thick and bushlike, or trimmed up at the base for a more tree-like look with bare trunks beneath and lots of foliage above. They have multi-season interest and nice form for neighborly politeness. Neither get terribly large, the dogwood a little smaller than the maple. I think both are attractice as a series of three planted in a group or row. To my taste, groupings accentuate their attractive form.
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Karen Jurgensen (Zone 4 MN)
17 years ago
PeeGee hydrangea standards are grogeous, don't get too big. They don't smell... but your area might be too sunny for them. what about a star magnolia?
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leaveswave
17 years ago
Please don't plant amur maple. If it's in your yard, I urge you to consider replacing it. The DNR considers amur maple to be an invasive: link to DNR's page about this alien invader
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bkoopman
17 years ago
leaveswave, I am SO saddened to read about the amur maple. It is such a lovely tree, IMHO. I planted 2 three years ago and they are just settling in this year, stretching out and showing their best. So far I've not seen any seedlings, but I'll remove the trees if they do sprout any. There are times that being responsible is just plain not nice!

Any news on the Korean Maple?
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Suggestions for small, flowering trees or shrubs

Comments (8)

leaveswave

dmarie
Original Author

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sjmarq

meeperx

bkoopman

Karen Jurgensen (Zone 4 MN)

leaveswave

bkoopman

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Suggestions for small, flowering trees or shrubs

Comments (8)

leaveswave

dmarieOriginal Author

Related Discussions

sjmarq

meeperx

bkoopman

Karen Jurgensen (Zone 4 MN)

leaveswave

bkoopman

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

dmarie
Original Author