trees for pots...trees for these selections work well when planted in containers in the yard pots...

Trees forThese selections work well when planted in containers in the yard

pots

This small side patio at the home of Barbara Jennings and Dick Teutsch is able to accommodate a potted purple smoke tree (center) along with the potted shrubs and flowers. The garden in a nice, older part of Portland, Ore. was designed by Rick Hansen of Pacific Garden and Waterworks.

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towering and spreading canopies. Trees are not the first thing that comes to a gardener’s mind when filling an orna-mental pot.

But given the right choice, the right container, and the right placement, a potted ornamental garden that includes trees is not only entirely within reason, but also advantageous. It’s not every tree that can be moved from that corner of the garden to another so easily.

Karen Schwartz, owner of Calendula Garden Design, calls them “trees in transition.” Plants that may grow into park-sized specimens can be grown in a pot for several years with accommodation and planning.

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pots

By Marty WingateNew gardeners fall in love with

flowers, but after only a few seasons, the realization dawns that something more — something lasting — is needed. It isn’t long before they go in search of those longer-lived pieces of the garden.

But when it comes to trees, they hesitate. There doesn’t seem to be enough room.

The very word, “tree,” conjures up grandeur — savannahs, forests, parks, arboretums, and estates dotted with

MARCH 2012 ▲ DIGGER 25

It isn’t hard to get growers to talk about plants. The tough part is getting them to narrow down their list of favorites to just a handful. Here are some of the varieties our sources recommended:

Picks

ProsProsfrom the

Neil BuleyTreephoriaBoring, Ore.

Japanese clethra (Clethra barbinervis) — usually grown as a large multi-stemmed shrub, we train it as a small, single-trunk tree. cascading clusters of creamy-white, mid to late-

summer blooms grow above the green, strongly veined, serrated leaves. they have a subtle, spicy-sweet fragrance, and last late into the fall. these long (4-6 inches) chains of small, bell-shaped flowers look like sourwood flowers and are quite showy, especially when the leaves turn to red and bronze-orange in autumn. it responds well to pruning, but will grow to 10-12 feet with a rounded canopy if left alone. Hardy through Zone 5, they do well in partial shade to full sun if given adequate moisture.

Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus) — this small tree has shiny green leaves that are fragrant and aromatic when crushed. the flowers are very unusual and kind of manly — they

are brown and have a sweet and spicy scent. they last most of the summer. As yellow fall color begins to develop, the flowers mature into large, unusual-looking, dark brown seed capsules that persist through the winter. Grows to 9-12 feet. at maturity and adapts well to being grown in a container. it can also be easily kept to smaller size by careful pruning. training these to branch at two or three feet raises up the flowers and foliage. Zone 4.

Arnold Promise witch hazel (Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’) — Witch hazels are proven container plants, and this is our favorite for training into a small tree.

its upright habit, dominant central leader and compact branch habit makes it pretty easy to train up. its symmetrical growth isn’t leggy like some of the cultivars we’ve tried. it’s a great tree for year-round interest. corrugated, deep green leaves turn to bright golden yellow with orange highlights in the fall. Flowering begins in late January. Matures to 10-15 feet in a large container. it’s large enough to cast some shade, but well mannered enough to live on a patio or in a courtyard. Zone 5.

Joel JohnsonEshraghi NurseryHillsboro, Ore.

Blue Spanish fir (Abies pinsapo 'Glauca') — this slow-growing evergreen has stiff blue-green, succulent needles. it’s excellent for large or small containers. it grows 15 feet tall in 10 years,

maturing to 60 feet tall by 30 feet wide.

Acer palmatum 'Oregon Sunset' — Large leaves round out the overall shape of this compact grower. purple-red leaves begin as a soft red. in fall, the leaves turn an outstanding orange-red.

this is a favorite for year round interest. reaches 7–8 feet tall in 10 years.

Picea pungens 'Glauca Slenderina Pendula'™ — this spruce is exclusive to Eshraghi Nursery. it is a weeping form of colorado blue spruce, which is more narrow and blue that other cultivars.

reaches 7–8 feet tall in 10 years.

Carl MunnMunn’s NurserySalem, Ore.

Acer palmatum ‘Mikawa Yatsubusa’ — this compact, multi-branched small plant comes out with light, yellow-green, overlapping spring foliage bunched up at the tip shoots. it turns

medium green in later spring with brilliant red samaras. Fall colors of yellow to deep red. this is a very suitable tree for bonsai culture. Zone 5.

‘Moonrise’® full moon maple (Acer shirasawanum ‘Munn 001’ PP16718) — this upright, multi-branched tree, with a moderate to vigorous growth habit, forms a rounded toped

tree of 12–18 feet. it has leaves of carmine red new growth in the spring with lime green midveins turning to gold in summer. the color is lime green if you grow it in the shade. in later summer, new growth appears as carmine red spikes over gold and lime green foliage. ‘Moonrise’ can be grown in full sun, with only light amounts of burning on top leaves. this plant has survived winters at –26 F.

A.p. ‘Twombly’s Red Sentinel’ — this upright, vase-shaped tree reaches 12 feet tall, with small red leaves that are somewhat glossy in appearance. the leaves are a lighter red in the spring, turning dark

red later in the season. it holds its color very well in summer and is a great plant for foundations and screening effects on patios. Zone 5b.

Karen SchwartzCalendula Garden DesignPortland, Ore.

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica 'Jindai') — this evergreen has interesting foliage. its slow growing, dense compact form contrasts well with lighter textured plants. it reaches 6 feet tall in 10 yars with a wide, slow-growing habit and light green color. Zone 6.

Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata 'Joe Kozey') — this evergreen has an unusual look, with amazing needles that are very thick and dark green. With its upright narrow form, it tolerates the small

growing space of a container environment very well. reaches 8 feet tall in 10 years. Dark green color. Zone 5.

Boxleaf azara (Azara microphylla) — this evergreen has foliage with a light, airy texture. its graceful upright shape and slow growth won’t overwhelm a container. its flowers are very fragrant.

reaches 8 feet tall in 10 years. Dark green, glossy foliage. Zone 8.


▲ TREEs foR poTs

As in the garden, the size and shape of a potted tree matters — no one wants to be slapped in the face with a wet juniper branch on a win-ter’s morning. Schwartz prefers selec-tions that are not branched too low: “One tree in a pot is boring to me,” she says, “unless it’s a specimen cho-sen for its form.”

At the base of her trees, she includes perennials and evergreen ground covers, and, in summer, annuals are a possibility.

Unless you garden at Versailles and in those stone pots big enough to sleep in, it’s unlikely you will be choosing a straight species of a tree and let it grow to its natural size. Gardeners desire the atmosphere of a tree — its stature and permanence — but need to find those same fine char-acteristics in a plant that fits.

Deciduous choicesThe hallmarks of deciduous trees

may include spring bloom and fall 28

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Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Viridis’ is an ideal Japanese maple for containers. It dazzles with its lacy leaf shape and stunning colors.

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Call us.color, but their winter presence adds structure and form to the garden, and the shadows thrown by the low winter sun on their branches is a decoration in themselves. When grown in containers, trees can be sited to make the most of all their best characteristics.

Ginkgos (Ginkgo biloba) take top marks for a city tree — they are tolerant of pollution and a variety of soil types. But ginkgos, up to 70 feet high and 40 feet wide, do not easily fit into con-tainer culture.

Enter the dwarf ginkgos. Their size suits a pot — most grow to about 5 feet — and their mounding form looks good on display. Their fanlike foliage — cupped leaves on ‘Chase Manhattan’ and clusters of foliage on ‘Jade Butterflies’ — attracts Schwartz.

The many and varied Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) take the cake in containers. The smaller cultivars — often with rounded or spreading forms

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▲ TREEs foR poTs

— make quite a spectacle in a pot, where they can be admired closer to eye level.

David Eshraghi of Eshraghi Nursery in Hillsboro, prefers the compact dwarf selections for pots, such as ‘Coonara Pygmy’, which creates a softly-textured mound with its deeply lobed leaves.

Carl Munn, owner of Munn’s Nursery in Brooks, agrees that Japanese maples seem to be made for contain-ers. He likes the fullmoon maple (Acer shirasawanum), both the chartreuse-leaved ‘Aureum’ and ‘Munn 001’ (Moonrise), which comes from his own nursery and flushes out with red foliage before turning lime-green.

Munn also mentions the float-ing clouds maple (A. palmatum ‘Ukigumo’) with white and pink variegation; ‘Viridis’, one of the dis-sectum group; and the more upright ‘Twombly Red Sentinel’.

Shrubs as treesAt Treephoria in Boring, manager

Neil Buley turns shrubs into trees, a technique he learned from a worker at

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The bay tree (Laurus nobiilis) makes a nice selection for potting, with its compact form and attractive growth habit.

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▲ TREEs foR poTs

Kinen’s Big & Phat Special Plants. “It’s the Norbert Kinen model,” Buley says. Some shrubs lend themselves to the style, while for others, such as the pop-ular beautyberry, Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’, it’s an “ongoing experiment.” (Norbert Kinen passsed away in 2011; Kinen’s is now being run by Norbert’s son, Anthony.)

The Japanese clethra (Clethra bar-binervis) makes a fine treelike speci-men, and works well when it’s “lifted.” It can grow from 10 to 20 feet high, and so when the height of the pot is added in, this shrub does indeed become a small tree, showing off with fragrant, pendant racemes of white flowers in summer.

Witch hazels (Hamamelis) grow into a successful tree form, too, Buley says. Their wide-spreading form creates This Profusion beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri 'Profusion') fits well in a container and offers stunning

winter interest with its tiny, shiny neon purple berries.

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a sense of size, and the (often) scented winter flowers make them a good choice for small gardens where plants cannot look good only in summer, but must do double or triple duty.

It is classified as a shrub, but at an ultimate size of 15 feet high and wide, many gardeners with small spaces would say that Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’ is most certainly treelike. It’s one of Schwartz’s favorites in a container, because of its evergreen foli-age, cinnamon bark, and autumn flow-ers and fruit.

EvergreensSmaller cultivars of conifers top the

list for Schwartz, who appreciates the plants’ year-round interest; the broad selection means that there’s a conifer for almost any potted garden situation

and style. She uses the upright Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringto-nia ‘Fastigiata’) in a shady entry and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Wissel’s Saguaro’ for its unusual shapes — com-plete with saguaro cactus “arms.” The thick needles on the Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) add visual texture to a garden, and when the nar-row cultivar ‘Joe Kozey’ is used, that effect can be used on a deck as well as at the front door.

Broadleaf evergreens, too, can be found for containers, including the diminutive ‘Little Gem’, a 15-foot ver-sion of the huge and stately Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) — Schwartz notes that they take abuse well. For the edible ornamental garden in pots, the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis)

Trees in pots — selections by shape

Trees can be selected for where they will fit — just how narrow is the entryway? — as well as chosen for the effect they will have when potted.

Spreading, rounded — Acer griseum; Acer palmatum ‘Coonara Pygmy’, ‘Mikawa Yat-subusa’; Hamamelis; Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’

Upright — Fagus sylvatica ‘Red Obelisk’; Taxus × media ‘Hick-sii’; Cephalotaxus harringto-nia ‘Fastigiata’; Cryptomeria japonica ‘Jinfsi’

Narrow — Juniperus communis ‘Gold Cone’ and ‘Brynhyfryd Gold’; Taxus × media ‘Bean-pole’; Taxus baccata ‘Standishii’


▲ TREEs foR poTs

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and early-bearing olive (Olea europaea ‘Arbequina’) (the latter especially for protected areas) get top marks from her.

Maintaining the showThe welfare of the container gar-

den is almost totally dependent on the gardener, and so some caution and advice should be passed along to the customer.

Don’t use garden soil in a pot. It seems a given to those in the know, but it’s worth pointing out that bagged “potting medium” is better in a container, although it contains no soil. Schwartz adds a mulch.

Without benefit of soil with all its natural nutrients, trees in pots need regular fertilizer — just not too much. Over-fertilizing causes excessive growth, which in turn causes repot-ting, root pruning and starting over.

Containers dry out quicker than the ground, and gardeners can be forgetful in summer, when too many other things vie for their attention. Eshraghi suggests a drip irrigation system, which can carry pots through dry seasons and vacations.

On the other hand, contain-ers can be overwatered. “They are trapped!” Schwartz says of the root systems, and during the wet months adequate drainage should be pro-vided. A flat pot sitting on a flat con-crete patio may turn the soil mix into a quagmire.

Root pruning can help slow a tree’s growth and therefore extend its potted life.

Potting up — choosing a pot of a larger size works, too, but it’s only a matter of time before even a larger pot won’t work. Some gardeners like to donate oversized plants to local public gardens.

Marty Wingate, based in Seattle, writes and speaks about plants, gardens, and travel. Her latest book, Landscaping for Privacy, recently was published by Timber Press. She can be reached at [email protected].


trees for pots...trees for these selections work well when planted in containers in the yard pots...

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