- Autumn is one of the best time for planting trees - the soil is still moist and warm so the trees settle in comfortably and the growth rate of the trees has slowed down, so they’re not busy growing and find it easy to settle in to their new location and establish a good root system before they get busy growing in Spring.
- When it comes to selecting a tree that packs a punch it’s hard to beat a flowering Cherry Blossom and there are lots of shapes, sizes and colours and there’ll be a variety to suit almost any garden. They’re famous for their beautiful blossoms but will also have great Autumn leaf colour and some varieties that have an attractive bark colouring.
- Amongst some of my own favourite varieties include Prunus Shirotae - this tree produces masses of fragrant white flowers on dark branches and as it matures it develops more of a spreading/horizontal habit on top - it has a mature height of around 25 feet and a similar spread so suited for most gardens. It also has fantastic Autumn colour and has the RHS award of garden merit. An excellent specimen that flowers early, around mid April. It grows in most soil conditions, can tolerate exposure and is fully hardy. Probably my own favourite.
- Another spectacular choice is Prunus Kanzan - flowering a little later - late April to early May has an amazing display of double pink blossoms - it has a vase-like shape - spreading outwards and upright and has beautiful foliage with a slight copper tinge. It’s best planted away from walls or footpaths as it can be shallow rooting.
- Prunus Nigra - the Black Cherry Plum is another fabulous choice - one of the earliest trees to flower in Spring. It has dark purple leaves and gets masses of pink blossoms that fade to white as they mature - a fantastic contrast against the dark foliage. It reaches around 30 feet when mature, quite tolerant of pollution, so is popular in urban areas, but you’ll see plenty in rural areas - a very eye-catching tree that also gets great Autumn colour - the leaves turning a spectacular fiery shade.
- A few others to mention in brief include Amanogawa the flagpole cherry with upright columnar habit - excellent for small gardens or Tai-haku the great white cherry has large flowers and bronze foliage turning green in Summer - it’s a large tree so allow it plenty of space or Shirofugen a perfect flowering cherry specimen for the medium-sized garden, graceful, spreading habit with white flowers that turn pink as they mature.
- To really enhance the beautiful blossom of your trees, you could underplant with beautiful spring bulbs, such as white daffodils or tulips.
A few jobs for the week ahead;
- Sow Sweet Pea Seeds in deep pots for early flowers next summer
- Sow green manure seeds, an Autumn and Winter mix or Winter rye, rather than leaving soil bare over Winter
- Set your lawn up for the Winter with some Autumn Lawn Feed and consider scarifying and aerating the lawn
- Plant up your Spring flowering bulbs - Snowdrops, Daffodils, Tulips, Bluebells, Alliums a lots more varieties - great for pots and beds - consider doing layer planting for maximum effect