9 pointers for choosing the right tree for your garden

Trees give any landscape a sense of permanence, and even small trees can be a great investment — not only in your landscape but also in the future. Here are nine pointers for choosing and planting the right tree in your yard.

Most trees live for decades, and some feature ornamental bark, flowers and dazzling fall colour.

• Take your time when choosing the perfect tree to plant, and meanwhile, do everything you can to make sure the trees you already have enjoy long, healthy lives.

What do you want from a tree?

• Shade in summer or colour in fall?
• A hardworking windbreak or an easy-care foundation planting?

Choose a species that meets your needs instead of forcing one into a role that doesn't suit it.

Shade trees are invaluable for shielding houses from heat.

• Locate open-branched deciduous trees on the southern or western exposure so their limbs block high-angled summer sun.
• Don't use densely branched deciduous or evergreen trees, which won't allow low-angled winter sun to penetrate.

Consider a tree's ultimate height and spread, but don't forget its root mass, which can reach three times the size of the canopy.

• Before bringing that sweet little sapling home from the nursery, select a spot where it can develop without encroaching on power lines, buildings, driveways or walkways, underground pipes or neighbouring plants.

Don't select the tallest, biggest tree you can find unless you need to fill in a spot immediately.

• Look for a small, young one with a sturdy trunk, well-formed branches and no signs of pests or diseases.
• It will cost less, be easier to move and plant, and adjust more readily to its new home than an older tree would.

The female trees of some species have unattractive habits and are best avoided.

• Flowers of the female poplar, for example, can cause allergies.
• The female ginkgo produces foul-smelling fruits.

• If so, buy one of many excellent trees that stay small, such as redbud, crabapple, dogwood or Japanese maple.

It's impossible to prune a large tree into a smaller one.

While most trees need full sun, some tolerate or even prefer shade.

• If your best site for a new tree provides a half day of shade, look for dogwood, serviceberry, stewartia, redbud, sourwood, Carolina silverbell, Japanese snowbell or threadleaf maple.

Follow the old adage — never plant a $5 tree in a 5¢ hole!

• Dig the hole large enough to allow you to spread out the roots of a bare-rooted tree or to fill in around the soil ball of others — usually three times wider than the root spread but no deeper.
• If you disturb the base of the hole, the soil may settle and cause the tree to sink. To help tree roots penetrate the soil beyond the planting hole, score the sides of the hole with a spading fork or spade before setting the tree in place.

• To position your tree, place a stick or tool handle across the hole to mark the ground level.

Never plant the trunk-root juncture deeper than it was at the nursery. Turn the tree in the hole until the trunk is straight and the most attractive side is on view.