Trees for small gardens - expert tips and new ideas

Award-winning garden designer and tree grower, Jamie Butterworth of tree, shrub and topiary nursery Form Plants explains how to grow trees in small gardens. As well as some interesting tree recommendations, he also shows how you can restrict the height of larger trees by pleaching, pollarding, coppicing and growing them in pots. The results are beautiful!

00:00 Welcome
00:45 What are the main factors to consider when choosing a tree for a small garden
01:15 Think about how the tree will look in 5/10/15 years time
01:40 Check what it will add to your garden in all 4 seasons
04:41 Narrow town garden with tall trees
04:46 How tall should a 'small garden tree' be?
05:04 Ways of restricting the height of larger trees to make them suitable for small gardens
05:32 Pleached beech - growing on a frame and clipped yearly
05:42 Other shapes that restrict the size of large trees
06:20 If you already have a large tree in your garden, don't cut it down before checking whether you can prune or trim it down to size
07:40 Which trees are suitable for pollarding?
08:36 The best garden tree for privacy
09:25 Reduce the height of trees by creating multi-stemmed or coppiced trees
09:45 Topiarise larger trees to make them suitable for smaller gardens
11:35 Grow trees in pots to restrict the size
09:55 A good tree for wildlife

Whether you love English garden style, cottage gardens or contemporary urban gardening, The Middlesized Garden has gardening advice and garden ideas for you.

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[Istebrak]

I love how all the guests that wait for Alexandra to finish the intro look at her like she's the most adorable person ever.

[LoriSavingWild]

Hi Alexandra. As a YouTuber myself I just want to tell you how appreciative I am of all the work you put into your wonderful videos. I live in the US but find good general ideas from your channel. Thanks so much. Lori

[pamd]

You always have the BEST guests! So informative. Thank you!!

[uprightfossil]

‘50 Plants you can’t kill’ sounds like a book I need right away.

[ericjorgensen]

Late to this party.... I didn't check all the comments but if its been said I'm happy to repeat it...
The go-to small tree is Stewartia. Lovely foliage and flowers, great fall colors, and interesting bark and habit. !!

[paulinewqi]

This video tutorial about trees is a gem for gardeners....can listen to J.Butterworth talk about trees forever....so much important information...
Choice of trees in any garden is of paramount found out the hard way when my trees
Thanks so much for sharing..💝💐
Thanks to J.Butterworth too..🌻

[seanjamescameron]

Nice to see Jamie, he's come a long way since his first interview with me 9 years ago. I can see him presenting Gardeners' World at some point in his future.

[mamalovesthebeach]

I would actually add that people need to consider what the tree will be like well beyond 10 years. We have a small tree service business and I can’t tell you how many homes have trees far too large for their property. We took down a redwood that was 10 feet in diameter, and 140
The homeowner told us their father planted the tree 50 years prior. It was heartbreaking to remove this beautiful, healthy redwood. People actually sobbed in the street. I was given a black Acacia in a 1 gallon pot three years ago. It’s not a tree I would’ve chosen for my postage stamp size lot. It’s probably not a tree would’ve chosen, regardless of the size of my lot. But I planted it in an area that is, about 15’ x 20’. This is a tree that is a very rapid grower and will grow to 60 feet or more. Because I am aware of this I have kept this tree below my front porch level. Essentially I bonsai this tree. Anyone can do this with a little bit of understanding in how to properly trim a tree. We do educate our customers about proper tree maintenance. Most of the trees we care for in Northern California are very large. When people ask us about what trees to plant we recommend a reasonable size tree their space but also tell them trees need ongoing maintenance regardless of their size. You can keep a tree alive almost indefinitely with proper trimming. We get plenty of calls from people who have allowed their trees to overgrow. Their unmaintained limbs become too long and heavy and they begin to ‘shed’ limbs which often leads to damage that will begin to rot back into the trunk. If you plant trees, larger small, you must keep them maintained for long-term health and beauty. Thank you again for another invaluable video!❤

[sylvianblue]

This is as good as a gardening tv programme! Great content.

[cornishviewnorth]

Wonderful opportunity to hear such an expert; what a treat. Thanks for all the explanatory notes and photos that accompanied it.

[Tibetan]

Loved this show. As always, your content is timely, relevant, and informative! Thanks so much for being such a great resource for gardeners. 🙏👏

[debiulrey-crosby]

I loved this video but would love to have had the photos stay on screen longer. It seemed that when you showed shots of the gardens/trees the photo was so brief that I had to keep rewinding so that I could take a screenshot. I love seeing you and your speakers, but would really love more time to view the garden photos. I live in South Dakota, USA and am zone 4b so many of the trees and plants you show will either not grow here or would be annuals. In spite of this, I still learn so much general information that I can easily adapt to my planting area. Thanks for great videos and guest speakers.

[TheWholesomeGardener]

I like Mountain Ash, Lilac, Bay, Elderberry and Olive trees for small gardens. I love multi stemmed trees for added interest. I have a big bay tree that I pruned heavily at the bottom only and it has revealed beautiful entwinned multi stems - more a tree than a bush now! This was another great episode - thank you!

[dannac_]

I know I'm going to studying this video by repeat views because there was so much valuable information.
I would love to see the both of you do a series and a wonderful tour of the grounds if you are both receptive to the idea.
This is was brilliant.
Thank you both! 🙏

[irairod]

My small trees of choice are Cercis (redbud), Amelanchier (serviceberry), Magnolia virginiana (sweet bay magnolia) Cornus (dogwood), and Morella/Myrica (bayberry, the southern species), all which are native to my area.

[janettempest]

I enjoy your videos I have very small garden and have 16 trees and love every one I have strawberrie tree and pineapple tree and witches tree the birds love the berries I love my Damson tree merry weather ❤️🌳❤️🥰

[TheSwissGardenVlog]

You always come up with the best videos ideas and I love the timing of your postings🤗 Following your last video on fall interest in the garden, I went to the garden center and bought every fall shrub and small tree I could find after realizing that my garden was mostly green all round😬. Now, I am sweating over where exactly to plant which shrub/tree😅 Space is not the issue but given my past mistakes on positioning trees in my garden, I will probably have to move some of the existing trees in the garden first before planting the new ones.
I have two medium size prunus eminens umbraculifera in lollipop shape a small chestnut tree and a cherry blossom that is now growing in a very good size: The only problem is that the cherry blossom now find itself at the back of the wall of the extension we made to the house last year…I am working on moving it to a better position😏 I will soon be adding two medium size maple trees to the garden and if I can succeed with the right positions of all those shrubs I have in store for next season, I will only be looking at fruit trees next🙂
Another very informative video, thanks for sharing👍🏾

[lesliekendall]

I have some super old lilac bushes (the home is 112 y.o. so ??) that I trimmed the lower branches off of to make them look like multi-trunked trees. Just gorgeous.

[adrabruzzese]

Thank you Alexandra! I had a Japanese snowbell planted 3 year ago in the front of my house, it's a pollinator magnet and beautiful all year round. In the winter the structure and the color of the bark is stunning. In the back yard i inherited the most beautiful huge japanese maple tree, I live on a small city lot and both trees work very well.

[DownButNotOutYet]

Hello Alexandra, what a lovely discussion re my favourite subject: "Trees"! I recall an earlier chat where you mentioned also cutting back instead of removing, that is brilliant advice. The Airpot container I just loved. It seems perfect for allowing the tree to settle in as natural as possible. I enjoyed the cloche style shaped trees standing like soldiers with perfect rounded tops. As always there is much information to think about after your videos. Cheerio for now, till next time. Kind regards always :)