gardening teaser.....

[captainbovine]

can you suggest a tree low growing only to about 5 or 6ft? my friend wants something that the birds will sit in to get to and from the feeder she has, but she doesn't want it to grow too high. I don't think a shrub would do as birds don't usually sit in shrubs do they?

I fankyou x

[ilove2patch]

I have several little apple trees in my garden that the birds seem happy to perch on. They are dwarf ones so stay small.:-)

This second one is in front of the cherry tree.

They are M27 root stock so grow to 4/5 ft.

[merc1_clocks]

Maggie's got a lifebelt...thank gord...cause I can't swim 😄

[**towery**]

does she want it to grow in a tub or has she ground room?

birds go where they feel safest, so the thicker the cover the safer they feel

if the  tree needs to be decorative too maybe a  cherry

have a look see if there are any grown on dwarf root stock

how exposed a site has she?  and  what sort of wind?

[stan3502]

Well I must have confused birds here then cos they quite happily sit in and on the shrubs...................................must be the lack of oxygen this high up :^O

[**towery**]

maybe they can just see the  things that will attack them and know where their safty zones are Stan

[captainbovine]

It is a bit windy, she probably would grow it in the ground.  I think a dwarf apple would be a really good idea. or a cherry.

[stan3502]

Matbe your right towey as the shrubs suit most except the chaffinch's who just sit in the laburnum most of the day

[ilove2patch]

Mine give loads of apples too. If she only gets one make sure it will self pollinate otherwise she will need two that will pollinate one another.:-)

[captainbovine]

thanks Maggie. xx

[*chez*]

I'd go with an apple. rather than a cherry.. problem with cherry is the birds eat the fruit and then do cherry red poo everywhere..which in turn spreads the seeds around so the trees come up everywhere!

[chips-and-brown-gravy]

I'd go for apple as well and grow a autumn flowering clematis through it.

[duck_a_lorange]

Beauty Bush - Kolkwitzia amabilis.

Arching branches - the buds, flowers and seedheads all look gorgeous.

It's twiggy, and it seems to be "just right" somehow for robins, dunnocks and wrens to sit in on their way to somewhere else.

[stampingpat]

Our sparrows love our shurbs here. 🙂 And all the birds have dove into them when the sparrow hawk comes around. I even have a rambling rose that I am growing as a bush(Long story), and they use that too for perching in. Though I don't think the rose bush would hold a feeder, but you could put one of the metal hanging feeders next to it. 🙂

[fishpieface]

Birds sit in our conifer trees, though be sure to get a slow-growing one if going for a conifer as ours are too tall now and need to be chopped down.

I do like a tree though, in the garden, so when the conifers are gone, I'd like a little cherry blossom tree and maybe a budlea as the butterflies love that.

Trouble is, under our conifers is a kind of unintentional cats' loo and in them are where the birdies sit, so I don't want to upset all those things and feel I'll have to provide an alternative.  We have a crafty little horse chestnut tree in the corner of the garden, sneakily growing thinking we can't see it, but I don't think it can stay as it will be too big and weedle its roots under the shed and foundations of the garage of the house at the back.

[guardpig]

We have a large bushy Photinia that is home to colonies of Sparrows some summers(though they don't nest there).  Bit too big for a small space mind.  All the tits seems quite happy in the roses.  Think whatever you plant that will support the landing weight will be occupied.

[captainbovine]

I bought her one of those feeding stations for her birthday last year, and she's gone bird mad:^O but her garden is all at the front and quite open.