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Making the Most of Small Spaces

Small gardens can be tricky. How can you create a tranquil green retreat in a hemmed-in area? Thankfully here are 10 trees that fit into the small urban garden and wall off the outside world.

Beech Firespire (Carpinus caroliniana)

H 20’ W 10’

Brilliant fall color is presented on a dense canopy atop a slender form. Adaptable to a wide range of soils and light conditions.

Korean Sun Pear (Pyrus fauriei)

H 15’ W 15’

Good for the full sun garden with droughty soil conditions. While it does produce fruit, it is neither edible or messy. Glossy green foliage, white spring flowers and red fall color makes for a delightful specimen any time of year.

Korean Maple; Ice Dragon or Northwind

(Acer pseudosieboldianum)

H 20’ W 15’

Looking for a substitute for Japanese maple that is cold hardy in Minnesota? Korean maple is your answer. Feathery green foliage in the summer and bright orange, scarlet and crimson in the fall. Best of all it is happy in dense shade. Ice Dragon is the smaller of the two.

Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum)

H 15’ W 15’

Katsura has blue-green heart-shaped leaves and bright autumn color; a mix of yellow, pink and orange-red. Katsura needs full sun and consistently moist soil.

Royal Raindrops Crabapple

H 20’ W 15’

Considering the tremendous number of crabapples available, only a handful meet the stringent requirements of excellent flower, fruit, habit and disease resistance. One of the best is Royal Raindrops crabapple. Flowers are red-pink, fruit is red and persists into winter. Leaves are purple-green in summer and brilliant purple in the fall. Full sun is a must.

Ginkgo Jade Butterfly

H 15’ W 10’

A dwarf ginkgo with sturdy dense branching. The leaves are the darkest green of all the Ginkgo, borne in clumps of unusually tufted foliage which looks like butterfly wings. Yellow fall color. Full sun.

Viburnums; Blackhaw (V. prunifolium)

and Nannyberry (V. lentago) H 15’ W 12’

Trees for the native garden, these viburnums produce black fall berries that are relished by birds and wildlife. Leaf color is dark green in the summer changing to reddish purple in the fall. Spring flowers are creamy white. Blackhaw is stiffly branched while Nannyberry has slender, arching branches. Not picky about soil conditions or sun/shade requirements.

Serviceberry (Amerlanchier)

H 20’ W 15’

Serviceberry is one of the earliest bloomers in Minnesota. A flurry of pure white blooms is a sure sign of spring. The edible purplish-black fruit in late summer is attractive to many birds. Trees can be multi-stemmed or single trunk. I have seen serviceberry in parking lots doing exceedingly well but I prefer them in naturalistic setting such as woodlands, near ponds and streambanks. Sun or part shade.

Juniper Pencil Point (Juniperus)

H 8’ W 2’

Pencil point makes the perfect narrow accent or screen for the smaller garden. This evergreen grows in poor soil and tolerates urban pollution. It remains tight and neat with no trimming at all. Full sun.

Yew Nova (Taxus)

H 6’ W 3’

Needles are a beautiful deep green that emerge soft yellow. Naturally shaggy, it takes pruning extremely well. Decorative red berries appear from early to late fall, are attractive to birds. Requires minimal care and is tolerant to poor soils and pollution. Sun or shade.

For more information on making the most of small space gardening

Shrub Pruning Guidelines

The shrubs to prune now are the ones that bloom on new stems (current year’s growth). Those are the plants that will bloom in the summer and fall. Prune in March; its best to prune before the plants’ leaves emerge. It is important that you do this, as you only get abundant flowers and fruit on the new wood. If you don’t prune, the plant will get leggy and unproductive. Hydrangea, dogwood, ninebark, spiraea are examples.

Hold off on pruning lilacs, rhododendron, forsythia serviceberry, and other shrubs that bloom in the spring or early summer. If a plant blooms in the spring (February through June), it blooms on old stems (last year’s growth). If you prune now, you’ll sacrifice this year’s flowers because they set up its buds the previous year. Prune right after blooming; you have a window of 4-6 weeks to prune before the new buds are set. A good rule of thumb is to have pruning done by the 4th of July.

Wait to prune evergreen shrubbery such as junipers, yews, boxwood and arborvitae, until you see new growth. Then you can cut them back as long as you don’t remove all the new growth. These plants will keep growing all summer, and you can prune them again in early to mid-July if you want to limit their size. Wait to shorten the new growth of spruce and pines as well.

For more information on pruning deciduous trees

Spiraes: Rejuvenate overgrown spiraeas by cutting to the ground in late winter.

Hydrangea tree: Hard pruning should be carried out each spring before the new growth starts. Make the cuts just above the lowest pair or two of buds, allowing only two to four buds to grow from each position.

Roasted Cod and Potatoes

Ingredients

3 lb Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced

3 Tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 lbs cod fillets

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup sliced kalamata olives

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400. Toss potatoes with 2 T oil and 2 T butter. Spread in 8 x 12 baking pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook potatoes for about 35 minutes. Meanwhile, mix fish with tomatoes, olives and parsley. Top the potatoes with the fish mixture, drizzle with remaining oil, butter, salt and pepper. Return to oven and cook for 12 minutes more.

Thanks for Reading

and Happy Planting!

Faith

Faith Appelquist

President & Founder