Small gardens can feel limiting, but the right trees add magic without overwhelming your space. The average Scottish garden is around 255 square metres (or roughly the size of a tennis court). However many new build homes offer even less space – a minimum of 70 square metres. So it is really important to choose the right tree for your garden with all year round interest.
5 Reasons Why Trees Outperform Other Options in Small Gardens
- Vertical Interest – Trees will help to draw the eye upward, creating a vertical accent in the garden and make your outdoor space feel larger.
- All Year Round Interest – If chosen well a tree can offer flowers, fruit, autumn colour and winter structure creating interest in your garden throughout the year.
- Space Efficiency – Trees come in all shapes, sizes and forms. Columnar shape trees will have narrow canopies which will provide shade without excessive spread. Ideally before you choose your tree, you should be looking at the height and spread of your chosen tree to see how tall and wide it is likely to grow and what its growth rate is.
- Wildlife Boost – To attract birds into your garden choose trees with berries for them to feed on or that provide perches and nesting sites.
- Design Flexibility – Trees can work well in borders, pots or as focal points in your small garden making them multipurpose.
Top 5 Tree Choices for Small Gardens in North East Scotland
- Malus ‘Jelly King’ (Height 5m x Spread 3m)
Crab apple or Malus are great all-rounders in the garden, with plenty of food for wildlife, colourful fruit and spring blossom. Try growing a variety like ‘Jelly King,’ a small, compact, deciduous crab apple tree with pure white flowers in spring. The relatively large fruit are attractive being orange in colour, flushed with pink and red. The fruit is great for jelly making.
- Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Ballerina’ (Height 5m x Spread 6m)
Amelanchier offer year round interest in the garden. ‘Ballerina’ is a vigorous small tree or large shrub with bronze-tinged young leaves in spring with white, relatively large flowers appearing in nodding groups. In autumn, the leaves are orange to purple with the flowers turning to red berries which darken to purple. This tree does best in a sunny or part-shady spot in moist soil.
- Japanese Maple
With Japanese maple you are spoilt for choice with the small, slow growing varieties called Acer palmatum being the best variety for not overcrowding your garden. Their foliage provides dazzling autumn colour and they grow in an attractive shape. It is best to grow them in a sheltered spot, out of direct sun in your borders. Or you could try them in a large pot. There are some lovely varieties to choose from, but Acer palmatum ‘Orange Dream’ (Height 4m x Spread 3m) is a particular favourite. Its leaves are yellow in spring, greenish in summer and orange yellow in autumn.
- Salix caprea ‘Kilmarnock’ (Height 2m x Spread 2m)
A Scottish native as it was discovered on a Scottish riverbank bank in the 19th century, the Kilmarnock willow grows well in wet ground, making it the perfect choice for garden borders prone to waterlogging. It has downy catkins, graceful pendulous branches and lovely green foliage. Fully hardy and easy to maintain, it can also be grown in a pot on a patio. To top it all off, it’s certified as one of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Plants for Pollinators, so great for pollinating insects too!
- Prunus ‘Snow Showers’ (Height 3m x Spread 3m)
This cherry is an elegant weeping tree which is ideal for small spaces. In spring it has flurries of scented white single flowers. Its bright, mid-green summer foliage takes on warm shades of red, yellow and orange in the autumn. This is a great choice of specimen tree for a front garden.
Design Tips for Trees in Limited Spaces
- ‘Right Plant, Right Place’ – It is important to select the right tree for the right place in your front garden. This will be determined by the conditions in your garden including light levels, soil conditions and locality. For trees especially, you need to consider the mature height and spread of your chosen tree and what its growth rate is. If you’re not sure where to place your tree, growing it in a pot could be the solution – position your tree in different locations and then decide where it can be planted in the ground.
- Multi-stem vs single trunk – You also need to consider the shape of your tree for your small garden. ‘Multi-stem’ trees are simply those with multiple trunks coming from ground level and give a more natural feel than single trunk trees which have one main clear stem.
- Pairing your chosen tree with underplanting for maximum impact. In order to soften a tree in a small garden it’s important to underplant it with shrubs, perennials and bulbs to create a multi layered effect in your borders.
- If you’re looking for something really small, consider shrubs. Many can be crown lifted to give the look of a small tree while being shorter in stature. Shrubs to try this with include Elaeagnus, lilac and viburnum.
How Gerbera Designs Maximises Small Gardens with Trees
Space Analysis – At the survey and site analysis stage we take precise measurements to prevent future overcrowding with our planting plans. We check the height and spread of all proposed plants at the planting design stage to ensure that they will fit into your garden borders.
Year-Round Planning – We ensure all round seasonal interest in our planting designs to get the maximum impact for your small garden.
Installation Care – Expert knowledge on what trees will thrive in a small garden in North East Scotland.
Common Small Tree Mistakes to Avoid
- Underestimating mature height and spread.
- Planting too close to structures.
- Neglecting root barrier installation near paving and houses.
- Choosing fast growing trees which will quickly outgrow the space.
Ready to Add a Small Tree to Your Garden?
Want to know more? If you are looking for a redesign, tweak or refresh of your small garden then get in contact!
One of our projects in Inverurie – a gravel garden design project – features trees in a small garden – so take a look to see how we incorporate trees into a reduced space.
