Tree and climbers suggestion

cork gardener

Hi
I'm working on a complete renovation of my garden at the moment and looking for some suggestions on a few issues. For context, the play area (artifical grass) will be enclosed by a low hedge (I'm thinking of Ilex Crenata), this will also run between the raised beds and the lawn, infront of the sleeper. The rear fence faces east and there will be a 0.8m bed this side of the fence. I will be rolling out grass turf in a couple of weeks in the lawn area. 
1. Tree - between the edge of the patio and the artificial grass i have 1.2m * 2.5m. There is a bay hedge at botton left of shot which i will continue up to the edge of the play area (to provide privacy from the neighbour and to hide the ugly wall. I am thinking of planting a tree here. One option I'm considering is Acer Sango Kaku. Is it risky to plant this close to a patio and the play area (which has 75mm of compacted stone under it). Any other suggestions as to a suitable tree are welcome. Max size would be 3m wide and 5/6m tall. 

2. Climbers on rear fence. I am going to run wires across the fence to support climbers. I would hope to completely cloak the fence in foliage so I am looking for suggestions as to what to plant. Have considered Star Jasmine. 

any other design ideas more than welcome. 

thanks

Steve

cork gardener

anyone?

lovemygarden2

I love star jasmine, i have one and taking cuttings is easy, for your tree why not a miniature fruit tree, some nice ones out there .. Apples, Plums, Cherry what ever you fancy, good luck 

cork gardener

Thanks lovemygarden.
hadn’t thought of a fruit tree for some reason - good suggestion.

robairdmacraignil

Star jasmine is very nice but when I tried growing one here in north county Cork it failed to get established and passed away after its second year in the garden after not growing very much. I am on the north facing side of a hill so your garden might be a better environment for it but they are not the hardiest of climbers. I've honeysuckle, clematis, potato vine and wisteria growing without problems and out of those I would think honeysuckle could be the best option.

WillowBark

I would agree with @lovemygarden2 that if you are going to have a tree in that position it would have to be a miniature/small tree (I don't know if the acer that you suggested is or not?) - and you can get a lot of fruit trees on dwarfing rootstock or as "patio" miniature trees, some of them with pretty blossom in the Spring and obviously with fruit in the autumn! Otherwise anything bigger will struggle for food and water in an area that is concreted / compacted stone and therefore impermeable. Even with a miniature tree you may have to pay it quite a high level of care and attention for it to thrive in that space, as there won't be much room for the roots to spread out, so you will have to water it frequently and make sure that you feed it and mulch. The roots of most trees generally don't go more than a metre under ground, but they spread out quite a long way, as all the goodness is in that shallow top layer. With constricted roots, any tree will need a helping hand.

For climbers, I know it's not quite what you're looking for in terms of foliage, but some of the clematis are stunning, and there's a huge range to choose from, so you're bound to find something you like, although a lot of them are deciduous so it depends on whether you want something evergreen or not. Star jasmine is lovely, and evergreen, and may give you more of the coverage that you want, plus it smells amazing. Not sure how heavy it gets as it gets bigger, though, so you may want to check with your local garden centre as to whether a fence would be strong enough to support it.

Out of curiosity, what is the climber that covers the wall behind the slide? It's hard to tell from the picture, but looks like it might be quite impressive when in full leaf/bloom.

Looks like you've made a fab start on the garden and have a clear plan, so I wish you all the very best with your garden development

cork gardener

Thanks all for the suggestions
 - useful to have that local experience of the jasmine. I’d read conflicting information online as to whether it would do well in my setting. Honeysuckle is definitely one I’ll try, maybe with a clematis as well
- I hadn’t quite realised how much a tree would struggle for water and nutrients in the space. 
- i was planning to have an amelanchier in the front garden but saw a variety (Rainbow Pillar) in the garden centre this week that is is narrower than others , that might be worth a go. Looking at pictures of it, it appears to be quite small.

cork gardener

- I think the climber on the wall is Boston Ivy. 

- a Rowan is another nice suggestion, I’ll look for smaller varieties 

cork gardener

On the honeysuckle - if I were to plant evergreen honeysuckle to cover the 5 fence panels (1.8m wide each) on wires or trellis fin front of the the fence, what kind of spacing would I need? A lady in the garden centre last week said I’d need 2 plants per metre - that seems excessive to me. 

I’ve been looking for info on spacing of climbers online and can’t find much 

thanks 

robairdmacraignil

It depends on how fast you want the space covered by the climber and garden centre staff are most likely to be advising based on instructions to sell more plants. The honeysuckle I have here forms roots again when it has stems touching the ground so they are easy to propagate by layering if you have patience and are willing to wait to have more plants for less money.

cork gardener

Thanks Robaird