Can you suggest a tree for a small yard?
Yes, but first I'll suggest which trees not to plant on a small residential lot. Those shade trees that look so magnificent in parks and rural landscapes make poor choices for most urban properties due to their massive sizes. Oaks, ashes, walnuts, beeches, plane trees and most maples are just too big to put on the small lots and although they may initially look cute, they will inevitably cause problems down the road.
The biggest problem overgrown shade trees cause is aesthetic, especially once they start interfering with hydro lines. Hydro crews are pruning for utility and safety, not for looks. When the hydro crews move in, your trees get hacked back and spend the rest of their days looking tragically lopsided. The best way to avoid this is to plant trees more suited to urban lot sizes.
If you are looking primarily for a leafy tree that doesn't take up too much space, the Japanese maples are excellent choices. There is remarkable variety in this plant species, allowing you to make choices in plant height, branching characteristics, leaf color and shape. Best of all, they are significantly smaller than the shade maples and can be safely put into most yards without fear they will eventually dominate. Although most Japanese maples you see are of the red-leaved varieties, they do in fact come in green-leaved varieties, which are more subtle and seamlessly blend into most landscapes. With a little shopping around, you should be able to find one of these maples with characteristics that best suit your property.
Also in the maples, consider the tragically underrated (and under-planted) multi-stemmed Amur maple and the Paperbark maple, both of which are compact and cut unique figures in the landscape. The Harlequin maple with its white-rimmed green leaves is a little larger and showier, but still only grows to about half the height of its parent, the massive Norway maple, which very few residential lots have the space to support.
Other small trees grown primarily for their foliage include chokecherries (both purple and green varieties), elders, and Staghorn sumacs.
Many smaller trees are grown as much for their spectacular flowers as for their size. Flowering dogwoods, redbuds, Paul's Scarlet hawthorns, magnolias, crabapples, Ivory Silk lilac trees, smoke trees, flowering cherries, flowering plums, and Goldenrain trees all put on quite a show. (Though a lovely and spectacularly drought tolerant tree, it should be noted that all parts of the Goldenrain tree are poisonous and shouldn't be planted anywhere where children or animals are known to roam.)
In addition, European mountain ashes are often grown for the bright orange clusters of berries they sport in the fall and Saskatoonberries are often grown for their edible berries.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
