Best deciduous tree varieties
Your landscaping is the best it’s looked all season. Sure, you’re having to mow it every 10 days, but your lawn is lush, your plants are thriving and you love entertaining in your beautifully green space. So, what happens come Autumn and Winter? Have you chosen plants so that you’ll be treated to vibrant autumnal oranges at the turn of the season, or does your garden go dark and scary in the cooler months?
As a Sydney pool builder and landscaper familiar with our climate and soil types, when we’re planning landscaped areas, from design concept through to planting, we take delight in making sure your yard is a space to be enjoyed all year round so you can enjoy our distinct four seasons. This can include choosing deciduous or evergreen trees depending on your space.
Decidous trees shed leaves once a year – they’re the kind that let us know the seasons are turning by their changed leaf colour to browns, reds and oranges. They’re also the kind that keep us busy in the front yard once their leaves drop ahead of Spring. Deciduous trees can provide colour, let in winter light when bare (especially good for small spaces like courtyards) and provide shade during summer when full. Evergreen trees on the other hand are full and flush throughout the year. We’ll take you through some of our favourite deciduous plant species.
Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum
Delicate leaves and glowing autumn colour make the Japanese Maple worldwide favourites There are hundreds of varieties, but we love coral bark maple (Acer 'Sango Kaku') for its bright red bark in winter and upswept branches. It grows to 5m tall.
Black Tupelo
Nyssa sylvatica
A horticultural treasure, Black Tupelo is always a feature in any garden. Stunning autumn colour spans the autumnal spectrum from deep-orange through to vibrant scarlet. These are best established while young and grow to 8m.
Elvins Plum
Prunus elvins
Elvins Plums are a small flowering plum grown for an amazing display of white, changing to pink, flowers covering bare willowy branches from mid-spring. Good for small gardens. These trees are adaptable to varied site conditions, but prefer moist soils and a position receiving full sun to part-shade.
Wisteria
Wisteria sinensis
Draped over a pergola, running along a house wall or even grown as a short-trunked, free-standing ‘tree’, the lovely wisteria never fails to attract gasps of admiration and desire in spring.
Hardly any native Australian trees are deciduous (our ancient soils and climate favour evergreen plant varieties), so we’ll take you through some of our favourite natives in a later post. For now, happy planting in time for the cooler months!
We’ve been helping backyard visions come to life in Sydney and beyond for 25 years. As well as concrete pool builders, we’re also licensed landscapers and can plan and execute your landscaping from concept, to install and maintenance. Contact our team to begin your pool or landscape project this year.
Sources: https://www.homestolove.com.au/fast-growing-shade-trees-australia-6690
https://www.diggers.com.au/shop/trees-and-shrubs/shade-trees/black-tupelo/wnysy/