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Garden trends for 2021: clever ways to fit trees and shrubs into small gardens

Show gardens at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival are living proof that there are many ways to fit beautiful trees and shrubs into even the tiniest plot

RHS Flower Shows are always packed with brilliant ideas for gardening in small spaces. By their very nature, they force the best designers to come up with ways of adding height and structure into spaces that are often just a few metres wide. 

Trees and shrubs are a vital part of garden design. But how do you fit them in without them overwhelming everything else? Luckily there are two techniques you can use to bring in height without losing all your space and light, as shown by these award-winning designs from the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2021. 

Prune your way to new views

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Tall amelanchiers (left) are grown as multi-stemmed plants, and crown lifted to allow more light through
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Crown-lifted osmanthus; by cutting away lower branches, you allow views through the plant
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Tall amelanchiers (left) are grown as multi-stemmed plants, and crown lifted to allow more light through
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Crown-lifted osmanthus; by cutting away lower branches, you allow views through the plant
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Tall amelanchiers (left) are grown as multi-stemmed plants, and crown lifted to allow more light through
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In the Viking Friluftsliv Garden, carefully grown and pruned plants allow views through them, while still giving height. Osmanthus (Osmanthus × burkwoodii) is a useful evergreen shrub with scented white flowers in spring. By removing all the side shoots and just keeping the vertical stems, you prevent the plant looking blobby, while still retaining its impact. 

Amelanchiers (Amelanchier alnifolia, A. lamarckii and others) are superb small garden trees, with white spring blossom and vibrant autumn colour. Here they provide useful height without overshadowing the planting below. 

Top tip!

'Crown lifting' is a pruning technique where you remove lower branches of a tree or shrub. This provides more space and light, while still keeping the height of the plant. It's especially useful in mature gardens.

Use multi-stemmed plants for visual impact

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By growing trees as multi-stemmed specimens you get to appreciate their bark all the more
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This multi-stemmed river birch (Betula nigra) makes a delightful focal point 
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By growing trees as multi-stemmed specimens you get to appreciate their bark all the more
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This multi-stemmed river birch (Betula nigra) makes a delightful focal point 
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By growing trees as multi-stemmed specimens you get to appreciate their bark all the more
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The Cancer Research Legacy Garden shows brilliantly just how effective multi-stemmed trees can be. In the central gravel circle, there's only room for one tree - a river birch, Betula nigra. By growing it as a multi-stemmed specimen you get much more impact, bringing lots of its gorgeous shaggy bark up close to delight the eye.

See old plants in a new light

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This beautiful Himalayan birch ably demonstrates the value of multi-stemmed trees in bringing colourful bark to eye level
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Swedish whitebeam is often used as a street tree. Here it's grown multi-stemmed and kept much smaller by careful pruning
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This beautiful Himalayan birch ably demonstrates the value of multi-stemmed trees in bringing colourful bark to eye level
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Swedish whitebeam is often used as a street tree. Here it's grown multi-stemmed and kept much smaller by careful pruning
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This beautiful Himalayan birch ably demonstrates the value of multi-stemmed trees in bringing colourful bark to eye level
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Pruning and training can bring new life to old favourites. In A Place to Meet Again, a very traditional street tree, Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus × intermedia) is made almost into a shrub by growing it as a multi-stemmed plant. This brings its delightful silvery leaves down to eye level, contrasting beautifully with the darker hedge behind. 

Top tip!

'Multi-stem' trees are simply those with multiple trunks coming from ground level. They are widely available from tree nurseries, or you can grow your own by cutting out the main stem of a young tree and allowing it to re-grow from the base.

Use shrubs as trees, and trees as shrubs

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Woodland planting thrives under a light canopy of crown-lifted shrubs and small trees
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There are many ways to keep trees small, as this pollarded willow (top right) demonstrates
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Woodland planting thrives under a light canopy of crown-lifted shrubs and small trees
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There are many ways to keep trees small, as this pollarded willow (top right) demonstrates
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Woodland planting thrives under a light canopy of crown-lifted shrubs and small trees
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The RHS Garden For A Greener Future shows the value of being inventive with plants, and thinking outside the box. Plants that are traditionally grown as trees, including beech (Fagus sylvatica) and field maple (Acer campestre) are grown as topiary mounds, while shrubby amelanchiers and flowering dogwoods have been crown-lifted to make small trees. 

New ways with natives

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Scented and tough, Viburnum carlesii (left) is a useful garden plant; its pruning echoes that of the native hazel
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Although we're more used to seeing them growing wild in the woods, this multi-stemmed hazel tree (left) would make a smart feature in any garden
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Scented and tough, Viburnum carlesii (left) is a useful garden plant; its pruning echoes that of the native hazel
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Although we're more used to seeing them growing wild in the woods, this multi-stemmed hazel tree (left) would make a smart feature in any garden
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Scented and tough, Viburnum carlesii (left) is a useful garden plant; its pruning echoes that of the native hazel
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Hazel (Corylus avellana) is a familiar woodland plant, seen here in The Communication Garden. Many of our native trees and shrubs have evolved to cope with being trampled and browsed by animals. They can regenerate from ground level, forming multiple new stems or trunks. Humans have exploited this tendency for thousands of years in the form of coppicing, which creates a renewable source of wood and other plant products. Gardeners use coppicing for various ornamental reasons, and to stop plants becoming too large. 

Coppicing

Coppicing

Pollarding

Pollarding

Trees: reducing their size safely

Trees: reducing their size safely

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Recommended plants

Betula utilis subsp. jacquemontii 'Grayswood Ghost'
Himalayan birch 'Grayswood Ghost'
  • Higher than 12 metres
  • 4–8 metres
<em>Betula</em> <em>utilis</em> subsp. <em>jacquemontii</em> 'Grayswood Ghost'
Acer campestre
field maple
  • Higher than 12 metres
  • 4–8 metres
<em>Acer</em> <em>campestre</em>
Osmanthus × burkwoodii
Burkwood osmanthus
  • 2.5–4 metres
  • 2.5–4 metres
<em>Osmanthus</em> × <em>burkwoodii</em>
Betula utilis subsp. jacquemontii 'Grayswood Ghost'
Himalayan birch 'Grayswood Ghost'
  • Higher than 12 metres
  • 4–8 metres
<em>Betula</em> <em>utilis</em> subsp. <em>jacquemontii</em> 'Grayswood Ghost'
Acer campestre
field maple
  • Higher than 12 metres
  • 4–8 metres
<em>Acer</em> <em>campestre</em>
Osmanthus × burkwoodii
Burkwood osmanthus
  • 2.5–4 metres
  • 2.5–4 metres
<em>Osmanthus</em> × <em>burkwoodii</em>
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