narrow yard

[Robertabutter]

I'm determined to plan a deciduous tree in a spot of my narrow yard where my 2 story house is located 10-12 feet from my neighbor's deck. (That's the widest point on this side of our house.), in a spot that gets about 4 hours of sunlight a day.

I was originally told to put a sourwood there, and have now fallen in love with the idea, but have since received many recommendations against it. Too large or too slow growing, they tell me. I'm hoping maybe I could tame it to grow to the right dimensions, but the slow growing worries me.

I have also been told that a columnars European Hornbeam would do well in that spot, but it looks so boring next to the sourwood. Any other possibilities?3rd or 4th opinions on those choices?

Location in Massachusetts.

 

[treeseer]

We know nothing about your site. You can either post details about soil etc and pictures, or get an arborist on site.

 

[Robertabutter]

Hmm - I can try to get a picture up later. The site is located toward the end of the narrow length between our two houses. I got a landscaping plan for the whole strip last summer, and began a process of augmenting the soil last fall to prepare for planting this spring. We generally have poor, compacted urban soils - a little sandy. Would be well drained except for the compaction. I added about 6 inches of compost over a layer of newspaper to kill the grass over the winter. Most of the area between the houses is on our side of the property (about 7-8 feet out of the 10-12.) On our side there is is a heavily used walkway that goes to about 2.5 feet from the house, then the planting strip about 4-5 feet wide, then a 2 foot wide compost heap on the neighbor's side.

I have looked a lot at various fastigiate trees, but I'm afriad of using one because they are just a little wider than what we want there, and I'm not sure how it would well it would prune to fit the space. I wonder if something like a fruit tree or small maple would be more adaptable.

 

[Elmore]

If you are patient enough for a slow growing but extremely long lived and trouble free tree, I recommend a fastigiate Ginkgo. I produce a few different cultivars and another male tree that fit this description. 'Mayfield' is described as 30'x8'. 'Elmwood' even narrower, although the description of the original 'Elmwood' that I once received, 19'x9", sounds a bit implausible. A few years back I found a narrow male tree that is about 30'x8' and have been grafting from it. I call it Fastijoe as the tree is fatigiate and is owned by a friend named Joe. As the propagules mature I label them "Ginkgo biloba f.fastigiata. That is not to be confused with a cultivar named 'Fastigiata', which I am also producing. If you are diligent enough you may be able to located a reliable source for such a magnificent tree.

Ginkgo biloba 'Fastigiata'

<img src="http://woodyplants.nres.uiuc.edu/images/plants/gin/ginbifa00.jpg">