trees in sunken pots
owenmike50
Posts: 7
in Plants
Hi
I have just moved into a small new build house which has no front garden only a tarmac space for cars. At the front is an area below the kitchen window that measures 10 feet x 3 feet ........it is covered with decorative stone chippings. To soften up the front would like to have some birch trees planted in large sunken pots so the roots wont do any damage as they grow.........has anyone got any advice, do's or dont's, other varieties........the soil is poor badly drained clay.......hope I make sense
0
Posts
I'm puzzled as to why you'd want to plant trees " below the kitchen window "
You could soften up the front by having a large pot ( in a corner of the tarmac area) with a small tree eg an Acer or Amelanchier.
The area near a kitchen window is likely to contain pipes and drains. Not the place to plant trees like birches, whether in sunken pots or not.
Tell us more about the effect you're trying to achieve and include a photo or two, and well try to come up with some useful suggestions.
Last edited: 04 October 2016 08:18:36
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'll post a photo so you can see where I would like to plant something to soften it up.....I don't want to plant under the window at all...I will do a photo..but thankyou for your ideas and thankyou in advance.......tree roots will break through sunken pots?
If it was me, I would have a large pot to the right of the window (sitting on the chips) with an evergreen shrub .Bulbs round it for the spring and some trailing bedding plants for summer/autumn.
I would put two smaller pots or troughs at either side of the door with seasonal planting.
I would do just as Joyce has said. There are some ideas here. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=evergreens+in+pots&biw=1188&bih=539&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjUgujr_sDPAhVF8RQKHWAKCagQ_AUIBigB#
Joyce21.............thankyou for your response.........what would be the best option for a low maintenance space
thankyou Busy Lizzie for the link.........yes you are both right...............can you tell me what low evergreen bushes to plant...........a monthly tidy I can manage!
Go to a garden centre, see if they have anything you like the look of and a pot to put it in and ask their advice about which to choose, how big it would grow etc. Have fun!
I think you need a shrub rather than a tree in that space, and something that you can 'look through' which will screen the window from passers by but not shade the window and darken your kitchen.
What about something like a Magnolia stellata - it would be happy in a large container if it had John Innes loam-based ericaceous compost. Gorgeous white starry blooms to cheer you up in the spring, then it would leaf up and give you the screening effect for the summer. Although it would lose it's leaves in the autumn, the branches would still give you that softening screening effect in the winter.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.