Think big

The old advice always used to be to plant small and wait, but recent innovations mean that gardeners can plant outsize trees with confidence, says Charles Quest-Ritson

- Charles Quest-Ritson

IF you are super-rich and impatient— or old and anxious for results—you may wish to plant outsized trees to give your garden an air of instant maturity. You won’t be the first to do so: in about 1470BC, the Pharaoh Hatshepsut sent her ships to bring large trees of frankincense from the horn of Africa to her temple at Deir el-Bahari, across the Nile from Luxor. They survived because they were transported with their rootballs intact and were well-watered until firmly established and growing again.

Those two requirements—minimum root disturbance and attentive aftercare—are still the key to success today. Gardeners are usually told to be patient and plant small trees, because they have a better chance of taking root and getting away happily. Trees grow much faster than most people think, after all. But there is no doubt that mature ones give structure to a garden immediately, so the urge to acquire them for a new garden is understandable. Many are the nurseries offering a service that includes moving, planting and establishing them. Losses have always been inevitable—English oaks, for example, are notoriously difficult to transplant —but the task of a good specialist is to minimise failure.

Tree-planting techniques have improved over the centuries. The roots of trees awaiting transportation were being undercut as early as the 16th century. This enables smaller new roots to develop that will help the tree settle into its new life. When Capability Brown was laying out landscapes in the 18th century, the cost of planting his clumps and shelterbelts with semi-mature trees was generally accepted, at least by his wealthier patrons.