Top Shade-Giving Trees For Devon Gardens
As the summer approaches and the days get longer, creating comfortable outdoor spaces becomes important. With a comfortable and safe garden, you can enjoy the beautiful Devon summer and spend more time outdoors.
Shade is one of the most beneficial things for your summer garden, and trees can help with this. Instead of cluttering your landscape with parasols and cumbersome sails, trees can offer both natural beauty and shade to keep you safe and cool this season.
As well as being beneficial for humans, shade can also play a role in supporting healthy ecosystems. Shade provides a cooling effect on other plants and outdoor areas, which can support biodiversity. It can help plants thrive and support wildlife as the temperatures rise.
If you are looking to create a cool, safe landscape this summer, Kneebone Trees is here to help. Using our arboricultural knowledge, we are recommending the best shade-giving trees for your Devon garden and how they can be planted ahead of the warmest season.
Finding The Best Shade-Giving Trees For Your Garden
There are many shade-giving trees that you can add to your garden this summer, but not everyone will be suitable for your needs.
There are several factors to consider when choosing shade-giving trees for your landscape, to ensure you make the best decision and can truly enjoy a safe, cool summer. These include:
- Garden Size And Shape: How big your garden is determines what kind of trees you plant, how many are suitable, and the best layout for tree planting, as you want to avoid overcrowding and root issues.
- Sunlight Patterns: Shade-giving trees need to be placed in primarily sunny spots to deliver the best protection. Understanding the sun exposure patterns of your garden will make this easier.
- Soil Conditions: Local trees will organically thrive in your landscape because they are used to the existing soil conditions. Additional work may be needed if you want different kind of shade-giving trees, as well as ongoing maintenance, which may influence your decision.
- Tree Type and Growing Patterns: Whether you want shade for certain seasons or all year-round will influence what kind of trees to plant, such as evergreen or deciduous.
- Maintenance Needs: How much care the tree will need throughout the year can also influence your decision, as this may not be something you can afford. Whether the tree will need regular pruning, cabling support or have leaves that fall are all important factors that determine how much upkeep your garden will need.
Best Medium To Large Shade-Giving Trees
Once you have assessed your landscape and determined what kind of trees you can support, it is time to consider your options. For larger landscapes and those who want a lot of shade, the following are great options:
- Norway Maple: Acer platanoides produces a broad canopy, which can offer a lot of shade to your garden during the summer. This is a particularly great solution for the upcoming seasons, as it is a fast-growing tree.
- Small-Leaved Lime: Tilia cordata is renowned for its fragrant flowers, creating a sensory experience across your landscape, while also providing shade on the hottest days. With these fruits and flowers, lime trees are also great for local wildlife.
- English Oak: The Quercus robur is an iconic shade-giving tree and staple across many UK landscapes. This is a long-living tree that can also provide excellent habitats for local wildlife and is certain to become a focal point in your garden.
- Sweet Gum: Liquidambar styraciflua provides seasonal beauty and is a great solution for a changing landscape. In the summer, this is one of the best shade-giving trees, before it explodes in vibrant autumn colour as the seasons change.
- Silver Birch: While Betula pendula is primarily known for its attractive bark, it is also one of the best shade-giving trees that produces an airy shelter.
Best Small Shade-Giving Trees For Devon Gardens
If you are limited on space or want to provide shade to specific areas of your garden, these shade-giving trees are smaller both in their height and canopies, making them an ideal alternative:
- Juneberry: The Amelanchier lamarckii offers dappled shade in the summer with its lighter canopy, which is ideal for small spaces. It is a deciduous tree that provides beautiful seasonal interest with rich autumn colours and bare branches in winter.
- Judas Tree: With its heart-shaped leaves and beautiful spring flowers, the Cercis siliquastrum is a stunning addition to any outdoor space and can provide shade to smaller areas.
- Flowering Cherry: After blossoming in the spring, the Prunus Kanzan spreading crown offers plenty of shade to small gardens or in specific areas of the landscape.
- Wedding Cake Tree: As its more popular name suggests, the unique tiered form of the Cornus controversa creates beautiful displays in even the smallest gardens, while also offering shade with its tall structure.
- Japanese Maple: The Acer palmatum prefers partial shade, making it a great shade-giving tree for overlooked, crowded or small gardens. The elegant shape and vibrant colour varieties of these shade-giving trees can complement any kind of landscape and are certain to remain an attractive focal point for years to come.
How To Plant Shade-Giving Trees
To ensure that your garden is going to be cool and safe during the summer, it is best to plant shade-giving trees in either early spring or autumn, so they will be ready for the next year.
Based on how fast the trees grow and the age they are when planted, this should provide them with enough time to grow and develop a canopy. For example, fast-growing trees such as Norway Maple can be planted in early spring and are likely to develop enough of a canopy to provide shade as the weather gets warmer. However, others like English Oak need longer to establish, especially if planted young.
Working with professional arborists, like Kneebone Trees, is the best way to ensure the successful planting of shade-giving trees. No matter your landscape or soil condition, we can provide recommendations on the best trees for you and will plant them to ensure a thriving future.
If you are looking to create a cooler environment this summer, the placement of shade-giving trees is also important. You want to ensure that the canopy will deliver shade to the necessary areas of your garden, such as seating spaces. It is a good idea to plant these trees over lawn or patio areas, to provide shade to the main areas of your garden.
Alternatively, you can create seated areas underneath your established tree to encourage people to enjoy the shade and stay safe.
With our expertise, we can recommend the best placement for your shade-giving trees to ensure they not only provide the coverage you need but will also be free from obstructions when growing. Trees mustn’t be planted close to properties or structures, as this can cause tree root damage.
Conclusion
Creating a safe environment this summer is easy to do with shade-giving trees. These trees produce canopies that can block out the sun and provide areas of cool shade that are ideal for not only humans, but local wildlife too.
Based on the size of your landscape and the layout you desire, there are various shade-giving trees you can consider. Working with professional tree surgeons, like our team, is the best way to ensure all trees are planted securely and will grow healthily.
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