Help me choose two trees

Jac19

Your local nursery has the most reliable advice.  These breeders are experts and will get you the exactly right rootstock for your garden.

https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/planting-and-growing/fruit-tree-spacing-guide

Marlorena

I wonder if the gentleman has decided which trees, it's a nice decision to have as they are all so beautiful..
Personally, I wouldn't worry about ultimate heights and widths, it's too far into the future and anything beyond 5 years, and even that's a stretch, isn't worth considering in gardening... you'll deal with any eventuality as it arises..  so go with your heart and choose whichever  you really want the most, or as I have done, pop the names into a hat and pick 2 out.. decision made and stick with it... it's a fun thing to do actually..

Happy choosing..

cork gardener

Thanks for all the comments and advice, very valuable. 

Still haven't decided but will be ordering in the next 2 weeks or so  and I'll update the thread 

Lyn

I agree about the Rowan @Fairygirl. When they’ve got the type of soil they like which is acid they’ll romp away,  I expect yours are like ours, all leaning one way 😀

Fairygirl

Some are fine @Lyn, and some are not so fine  
Enjoy choosing @cork gardener. It's an expensive investment, unless you have deep pockets, which most of us don't.
It's a lovely thing to have too, and I hope you get good specimens, that they take well for you, and you get lots of pleasure from them   

cork gardener

Thanks Fairygirl

Jac19

It is best to also remember to ask the tree nurseries for disease resistant varieties that have been most recently bred - like resistance to rust varieties.  Or you lovingly grow a tree, only to have to cut it down if it gets really really sick.

I would speak to about 3 nurseries and buy from the one that gives the best tree.

robairdmacraignil

Hi,

I read that you were considering planting an Amelanchier and I thought I'd mention there is a shrub variety of Amelanchier I got from future forests in west Cork a few years back called Amelanchier spicata. It naturally stays at about 2metres in height and still has the nice spring flowers and berries later in the year. I checked their website and it is currently out of stock but it might be worth ringing them and see when they will be getting it in.

I also got a crab apple variety that seems to be a nice one called golden hornet that has good colour to the fruit in the autumn and nice flowers in spring.

Might also be worth considering cotoneaster varieties as these might also fit what you say you are looking for.

Not much for autumn colour but with a nice long lasting distinctive colour of the leaves, and flowers and berries for wildlife then the purple leaf form of elderberry might also be an option and this seems to cope well with pruning if you need to keep it to a particular size.

For more mature trees and shrubs it might be worth taking a look at those available from Hillside nurseries in Glaunthaune. They are not cheap but it can sometimes be worth looking at plants just to get a better picture of what they look like rather than just seeing a photo, and the autumn colours should be showing on some of them now. The future forests trees seem to be generally sold smaller but I have had more success with planting smaller trees and think they don't take long to overtake the bigger specimens that seem to take longer to settle.

Happy gardening!

Fairygirl

Yes - no point in looking at nurseries which can't supply you over in Ireland. It's a big problem for many people just now unfortunately.

That's very helpful info for the OP  @robairdmacraignil. 

Lyn

I don’t think Orange Pippin trees will supply to Cork,  this is what I got when I clicked on it.