Tuesday, January 16, 2007

A Tree Question...


A Tree Question


I have a question for all you gardeners out there. As I have lamented in previous posts, I am in a new home with NADA in the back yard! Not one tree!!! It''s a shallow, but fairly wide back yard. The houses are on top of each other! I am looking for a multi trunked tree with character to plant in the corner in the back yard. I have a crape myrtle in front yard that's pretty, but I'm wondering if there's something else out there that I can't think of... several trunks, character, color, somewhat fast growing, but doesn't have to get huge.

15 comments:

Nickie said...

How about a dog wood or a tulip tree?

Nickie said...

PS....you could go for fruit trees as well....interesting and useful!

Carol Michel said...

I don't know what zone you are in (guess I could look more closely at your blog), but I like Serviceberry as a small multi-stemmed tree. White blooms in spring, good fall foliage, berries for the birds to eat.

Unknown said...

How tall do you want it to get? If you could handle "giant shrub" instead of "small tree" some of the purple ninebarks, purple smoke tree, various viburnums, etc., might be a nice alternative to a true tree...

gardenmomma (Chris) said...

Thanks for the ideas and keep them coming. I'd like it to be 12-15 ft tall. The dogwood might get fried in the full TX sun. The fruit tree might be an option. I'll look up a Serviceberry. Blackswamp girl, I'll read about your suggestions. Thanks again!

Muriel said...

I am assuming your soil is dry there, so I suggest that you first look into how much water you would need to give some of the shrubs you are considering. I know that a nine-bark needs very little water as it bakes on the mountainsides around here, where we get no moisture in the summer.

Is there a native plant nursery in your area?

gardenmomma (Chris) said...

Great suggestion! We are in the middle of a very nasty drought, though we've had some precip lately. It will take years to catch us up. We have heavy clay soil, though I planned to amend the area before planting. I've not heard of a nine bark, though I will research it.

Unknown said...

gardenmomma, the latin name (if it helps) for the ninebark is physocarpus. There are some very pretty cultivars like Diablo, Summerwine, Coppertina, etc.

gardenmomma (Chris) said...

Blackswamp,
The ninebark looks beautiful, but not tall enough. It looks like it maxes out @ 6 ft. or so. I'm looking for 12 or so. The serviceberry looks great, but not sure how it would do down here. Everywhere that offers it seems to be in the north(west).

Carol, do you have a serviceberry? I'm sorry, I don't remember where you are. I really like that it feeds the birds.

Ki said...

How about heritage river birch. Multi-trunked, upright, fast growing. We have the same problem with a huge house being built behind our house and have planted about 3 kinds of birches to help block out the ugliness.

Japanese lilac tree would be another choice. Some of the magnolias are fast growing too. I don't know if any of these will grow in your zone though so you'll have to do some research.

Annie in Austin said...

Hello Gardenmomma,
My garden is in Austin, but I'm pretty sure there are some things that we both can grow, even though you're a few hours north.

Two smaller native trees come to mind, and I've seen both of them in multi-trunked form: the Texas Redbud,Cercis canadensis var. texensis; and the taller forms of Yaupon [also seen in shrub form] which has the advantage of being an evergreen.

Good luck with the new garden!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

gardenmomma (Chris) said...

Hi Annie,
Your blog has just been recommened to me (in the past few minutes!). I think I have decided on a Yaupon Holly tree because they make birds and butterflies happy. The bright berries are a plus in the drab winter. I do love Redbuds. I think I will try several suggestions I have received here to form a barrier across the back of the yard...just don't want to block ALL the sun. Thanks for visiting! Chris

Carol Michel said...

I have a serviceberry, but I am in Zone 5.

gardenmomma (Chris) said...

I like what I have read about the Serviceberry. Again, I am trying to create a habitat for wildlife in the middle of my world in this suburban jungle. If I can find one for the right price, I may just give it a try and see what happens.

Anonymous said...

How about some silver maples or red maples, my friend lives in allen tx. and she planted some maples. there are fastest growing trees and pretty. well i planted to in my front yard in oct,2006 and there are huge, so i planted two small ones in my backyard that's all i have. am doing my own landscaping.