Suggestions please

Hi, I've just joined up today and I'm looking for some advice/suggestions. Until recently I had a nice wee tree in my garden (just coming into blossom). Unfortunately one of my son's friends decided to use it as a swing and it snapped off at the trunk (looked like it was decaying anyway) so I've dug it out and now have a bare patch to fill in.

I'd like to put a small fruit tree in its place but would probably wait until the autumn so I was thinking I might just add a splash of colour with some beddign plants.

I have little knowledge of what's best. I'm looking for something low maintenance, hardy (based in Fife they'll need to be) which will blossom year after year. Plenty of colour and ideally something that will allow flowering throughout the year. Oh and preferably something not too expensive.

I know, I dont want much do I? I'm not sure how close together I can plant things so again any suggestions on flowers and quantity would be appreciated. The area I have is a large circle (approx 1.5 - 2m wide).

You can see layout from pics below. I've removed the gravel and roots as bes as possible so am ready to add compost and plants. So anyone got any ideas?

 

Personally I would get another Cherry. You can get much better quality ones than the one you had - I agree it must have been diseased / weak - given the size of the trunk, and the lack of top "crown".

It might also be that the soil is not good - if the house was built in the last 50 years maybe the ground is full of builders rubbish, or a hard-pan about 12" below the surface, so I would make sure to dig a substantial hole - go down 18" - 24" (but don't mix the sub-soil with the top-soil), and incorporate plenty of organic matter. A bag of two from the garden centre would do the trick.

Planting in the Autumn will mean you can get a bare rooted tree, which I think will be larger, better quality, and cheaper.

For a single tree in your garden, which will look spectacular without you having to wait a lifetime!, you are going to have to fork out :( The tree will be £X, but you need a couple of bags of compost, a decent stake, tree ties, and a tree-guard if there is any chance of anything nibbling the stem, mulch / mulch-mat, fertilizer, and some Mycorrhizal Fungi to help it establish quickly.

if you can find a few feet of perforated-draining-pipe (on a building site / skip) I would put that under / around the root ball with one end bent up to the surface, as its a much better way to water a tree in Summer than pouring water onto the soil surface.

My favourite tree nursery is Ashridge Trees.

Just to pick a Cherry Tree at random:

Buy Prunus Shirofugen - Shirofugen Cherry Trees

they are £32.87 for the small size, and £62.70 for the larger ones. Personally I would have the larger one for a single specimen tree in the garden. The smaller one will probably establish more quickly, but take a few years before its really "showy". The larger one will be more showy from day one, but will take longer to establish.

In terms of other things you might consider (or even "which Cherry " keep an eye out for varieties marked with Royal Horticultural "Award of Garden Merit" - AGM - as they have been selected as being the more outstanding cultivars.

When would you like the tree to give its best? Cherry trees flower for just a week or so in the Spring, but it comes at a time when being cheered up is rather nice!

You could choose something with Autumn colour, such as an Acer (probably too small) or a Liquidamber (probably too talll, and not hardy enough).

or you could choose something with interesting foliage - like Maidenhair, Tulip tree (probably too big), or Judas tree - which flowers about the same time as the Cherry, but not as prolific, but has interesting shaped leaves) - or the Indian Bean - huge leaves

Or you could go for something flowering but different, such as Laburnum vossii (don't choose any-old-cultivar, that one is spectacular!) which has lovely long racemes of Yellow flowers - later than the Cherry, May - June I would guess. Or a Magnolia - they flower about the same time as Cherry, one of the big ones (Magonlia soulangeana) would be spectacular in 5 - 10 years time in your "specimen tree" location.

Or you could have something with really snazzy bark - like a snake-bark maple, Birch Bark Cherry Tree

or, lastly, something with Autumn / Winter berries. Mountain Ash for example.

 

OK, we talking about a replacement tree, or summer plants?

Ah, read it more carefully now ... a "small fruit tree" ... OK !!

I still think a specimen tree would look best there

 

Only reason I suggested a fruit tree was because I thought it would be nice to have our own apples/plums off the tree, as well as the blossom. I was contemplating a feature tree too though so will take a look through some of your suggestions thanks.

Am I ok sticking bedding plants around the base of a tree too? Or will they compete too much with the tree's root system?

I quite like the idea of having snowdrops/daffodils/crocus or wildfowers around the base of the trunk eventually?

I already have a beautiful magnolia around the side of the house (just coming into blossom now) so probably wouldn't go with another here.