I looked specifically for a single trunk Autumn Brilliance serviceberry, and got this nice one from Sooner Plant Farm in 2022.
As a thin, skinny thing, it makes a delicate vertical accent next to the rain barrel. There are emitters right there, so it gets water.
It will be a lovely tree.
But as soon as I planted it I knew it was not in the right place. It is going to be far too big to be sited between the barrel, the fence, the house and the juniper.
It is just a couple feet from the house wall and the fence. It is smack under the canale.
Right now the rainwater from the canale pours into the rain barrel next to it, but once the canopy fills in, the branches will overhang the rain barrel, and water will pour down on the tree.
I want to take it out. I need to take it out.
I should dig it up and transplant it -- it should still be small enough for me to do that myself. And put it where?
Any other spot in my garden will present the same issue: no space for a tree with a 15 to 20 foot spread.
Yes, it's a small patio tree. Yes, it will be even smaller in my challenging conditions.
Ideally it could go next to the deck and shade the patio alcove. But it would dominate that bit of open space, crowd the umbrella which we really need for specific shade in certain spots, and it would be hard to walk under to get around the deck, even limbed up.
It wants good moisture so it would have to be transplanted somewhere that the irrigation reaches.
My original goal had been to get some shade on the big window. The hot eastern sun in the summer is a lot.
And we look straight out the wall of glass to the driveway and the rise beyond, with no privacy when the blinds are up.
The road comes down that rise at an angle and allows cars and sidewalk traffic a view into the house. I wanted something tall to partially shade and partly block the window.
My gardening answer to landscape problems has always been:
🌳 plant a tree.
But a tree in that tight spot under the canale isn't going to work, For shading and blocking to be effective, a tree would have to be sited a little further away, and the juniper and driveway are there.
So, despite my plans and the need for screening at the window . . I'll move it somewhere.
It would still be big for the space, almost as close to the house and fence, but with open room on the walkway side, and it could be limbed up enough to walk by under it.
It offers more of an anchor there, and shade on the hot kitchen door.
I've long thought about something more substantial and singular in this busy flower patch between the gate and the kitchen door.
I'd like to simplify the look. The tree would hide the Kintzley's Ghost vine somewhat , but the honeysuckle will eventually scramble over and along the fence top more.
The key will be to keep the serviceberry narrow and limbed up. So, some ideas to look at:
The butterfly bush in the corner needs a good hacking to give it a fuller, shorter shape.
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| A.I.'s idea of what a tree in the spot would look like |
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| Another A.I. rendering if I can keep it pruned narrow |







