Shrubs & Trees

It’s easy to mock our climate right now, with its somewhat schizophrenic behaviour, but it does allow us a certain amount of freedom when it comes to trees and ornamental shrubs. We can grow a much wider range than any other country and with literally thousands of beautiful specimens to choose from.

It’s sometimes quite difficult to know how to begin, that’s the trouble. However there are several ways of finding out what you need to know. The larger flower shows are always supported by leading nurseries and worth a visit, or the nurseries themselves will have a catalogue that can be browsed at your leisure.

Even ambling around some well-planted public parks can be instructive and if the park is run by a progressive parks department, the plants are usually labeled well and the whole thing can be thoroughly educational.

It’s often difficult to imagine a tree or shrub in maturity, the main problem with this is size as people generally plant too closely and the plants cannot develop properly or bloom into their full beauty. As mentioned in ‘Starting Right’, if you plant without a good idea of eventual spread and height, some of your green friends will have to face the chop. Catalogues will often give this information anyway, but if in doubt, ask a nursery.

Moving house

Unless the plants are coming in from a local nursery, they will arrive in a bundle with a protective covering. Trees and shrubs that don’t move house so well-magnolias and conifers, for instance will also have sacking wrapped around their roots for extra protection. Others, such as ornamental cherries and roses, which can re-establish themselves quickly and easily, will travel without anything around the roots. Clematis, pyracantha and so on will arrive in pots.

If the weather is bad (which it probably will be!)

If you can, plant the new trees or shrubs on the same day they are delivered. But doing this if the weather isn’t really ideal is just asking for trouble. Don’t, whatever you do, plant in frosty weather or during really wet times, as the soil becomes incredibly sticky.

In these kinds of conditions, it’s best to heel-in the plants until the weather clears up somewhat. Firstly, unwrap the bundle and if there is more than one plant, lay them out separately. Secondly, take out a shallow trench in the most sheltered and least damp section of the garden, just deep enough to take the roots comfortably. Then, leaving each plant in its original protective wrapping, lay them with their roots in the trench and their top growth in an angle to the ground. Cover the roots with soil and then tread firmly.

If need be, trees and shrubs can be left like this for quite a while, but they should, obviously, be planted in their permanent places as soon as possible.

Planting evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs

With ornamental trees and shrubs, if you get them off to a good start, the battle’s already half-won. So, follow some simple rules and hopefully you won’t run into any difficulties.

The ground needs to be really well prepared, and well drained. When you plant is always important, but even more so with evergreens as they have no period where they lie dormant. Anything deciduous can be planted whenever you like between late October and March, or even the beginning of April, so long as the weather holds out okay and the soil conditions are right.

With your evergreens, it’s best to plant in late September to late October, and early April to May when the new roots will grow best in warm soil. Always plant them in firmly, and if the roots are not already in a ‘ball’ of soil, work some nice loamy top soil around them with your fingers when you plant, treading in the soil with your heel to firm it up.

The hole should be big enough take in all of the roots fully spread without cramping their style, so to speak. If you’re unsure of the depth, there should be an easy to spot soil mark in the stem, which should tell you how deep it was planted in the nursery.

Be patient at this time and allow settling, which should happen in a few weeks. If you’re going to stake your trees, it’s best to do it at planting rather than later, so you can avoid damaging the roots.

Something else that requires special care is the round ‘ball’ of roots that some plants arrive with, be very careful not to break this up when you’re planting, it’s full of very delicate feeding roots, and if these get broken off re-establishment will take a lot longer. Make sure that roots aren’t allowed to dry out (this applies to all trees and shrubs) while they’re waiting to be planted, also protect the roots from sun and wind with some sacking or other material.

If the soil is dry, water really well after planting, making sure you give enough to get right down into the roots; this is especially important with evergreens as they lose a lot of moisture through their leaves.

Wind causes just as much damage as bright sun in terms of moisture loss, so with your evergreens it’s probably wisest to put a temporary screen up around them on the side of the prevailing wind, and leave it there until you’re sure that the roots have taken.

That helps with the wind, but sun damage is still an issue, so spray the leaves of your new friend in the late afternoon or evening. Moisture lost through the soil can be replaced with a decent mulching around the plants, but don’t forget to keep watering the soil underneath when you need to.