Which small trees flower in spring?
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I am looking for a small tree that will give me flowers in spring. Any ideas?
Now is a great time to plant trees so you are wise to get thinking now. The March issue of The English Garden is packed with ideas and in many of the gardens we feature you will see fine examples of flowering trees such as flowering prunus, apple blossom, cornus and damson trees.
Fruit trees such as apple and pear can be bought on rootstocks which dictate the final height of the tree. When looking for trees at the garden centre or nursery you will see codes such as M26 – this represents the rootstock which in this case will allow trees to reach to 3m. One of my favourite trees for a small garden is the silver pear, Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’.
It has silver foliage and the white spring flowers are followed by tiny inedible silver pears. It has a weeping habit so in most cases creates a neat mound shape.
Another favourite is Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ which offers red flowers in early summer and reaches a height of about 7m.
To find your perfect tree it might be a good idea to visit spring gardens this year so that you can see the actual specimens. Once you have fallen for a tree then plan to plant in autumn.
Tamsin Westhorpe - Editor, The English Garden magazine
