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Trees are the most long-lived
growing features in any garden. Once they are well established,
it is very difficult to move them; pruning them if they
become too big is difficult, needing skilled workmanship,
and is never a permanent solution to the problems of
excessive roots and over-extensive shading that arise.
Since the early 1900's
the gardener's problems in tree-planting are much easier
by the introduction of new selection, of a wide new
range of trees which are of moderate size. These include
excellent maples, whitebeams, rowans, cherries and ornamental
apples (crabs), as well as birches. Many of these also
provide what is wanted in a small area, a tree that
has more than one season of interest, such as decorative
bark in mid-winter, attractive unfolding foliage in
spring followed by a period of flowering, then brightly
colored fruit and finally graceful coloring of the leaves
before they fall. Trees often have at least two if not
three seasons of interest.
Evergreen broad-leaved
trees are of particular interest in winter, and many
have variegated or colored-leaved forms, and the number
available is now greatly increased. All are least satisfactory
in towns where air pollution takes away the shine of
their foliage.
The same applies to conifers
a number of which are of too great a size and too slow
growing for gardens, and are seen at their best in forests
and pineta.
For road planting and
use in smaller gardens narrow (fastigiate) forms of
many trees have been selected and are propagated as
cultivars. They are also useful in planting on a large
scale on account of their beautiful shape. This applies,
also to the numerous weeping trees available.
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