Happy Red....the habitat expands :)

[British Red]

I'll try that....should the pot be empty when buried?

Here is what we have at the moment...although I may have forgotten a few. I've added the four species on the way from Ashridge! I have numerous varieties of fruit trees, but didn't want to list four different cherries etc. Some are tiny - my Holm Oak is only a foot tall, others are huge like the weeping willow. Some I have bought, others were here when we arrived, some are gifts from kindly neighbours (e.g. the walnut from squirrels nicking their nuts!)

Alder

Alder Buckthorn

Apple

Apricot

Ash

Beech

Berberis

Black Mulberry

Blackthorn

Blue Spruce

Box

Buddleia

Bullace

Crab Apple

Damson

Elder

English Oak

Fiddle leaf fig

Field Maple

Fig

Golden Gage

GreenGage

Guelder Rose

Hawthorn

Hazel

Holly

Holm Oak

Hornbeam

June berry

Juniper

Lilac

Pear

Plum

Rowan

Sea Buckthorn

Silver Birch

Small leafed lime

Sour Cherry

Spindle Tree

Sweet Cherry

Sweet Chestnut

Sycamore

Twisted Hazel

Walnut

Weeping Willow

Whitebeam

Yew

 

[British Red]

Heres a few piccs to show what we are up to. Most importantly my towering massive spindle tree


Spindle Tree by British Red, on Flickr

one of our little stretches of shelter belts that we are trying to grow interesting specimen trees in


Woodland area by British Red, on Flickr

if you look beyond to the white tags, that is one of the orchard areas


Woodland area, orchard behind by British Red, on Flickr

This one needs some explanation - the black triangle at the top of picture is a newly manured gooseberry bed, the tree trunk is a felled dead pear and home to fungi, beetle larvae, woodworm etc. I use it as a bench to drink coffee on, The raw wood you can see on the right is an elder I have pruned back hugely to let light into this little corner. It will spring back fine from those stumps. To the left and behind that are some awkward cross grained lumps of wood pile that didn't want to split. I let them rot back there to encourage beetles.


Tree trunk bench.gooseberry bed behind by British Red, on Flickr

This area is where the spindles and alder are going. It has already been undersown with woodland bulbs. I'll put a 3" layer of woodchip over it later in the season

This is the outcome of thinning the weed trees


Elder trimming bonfire by British Red, on Flickr

...and the home made compost the trees go in with


Home made compost by British Red, on Flickr

All very modest stuff compared to what many here achieve - but we like it

 

[Harvestman]

Impressive list.

So you are missing Purging buckthorn, elm, wych elm, sessile oak, juniper, and most of the willows, just for a start as far as native/naturalised species go. Of course, not all of those may be suitable for your soil, climate or site. Looks like you are avoiding most of the conifers too. Also poplars and aspen.

No criticism, just trying to clarify what isn't there.

Is there anything in this list that you are after, particularly?

 

[British Red]

Yep sounds right. I am avoiding the conifers in the main.

I would love an elm and a wych elm and a goat willow.

Junipers I have (though small).

A sessile oak might be fun too. I could fit a few more buckthorns into the hedge line and do like berries on the purging buckthorn (to look at)

Of them all - probably elm and wych elm would be my top wants

 

[Harvestman]

Right, well I know where there are both sort of elm near me, and wych elm is very common locally. However, I know nothing whatsoever about propagating them, whether they need seed, shoots, or cuttings etc. Likewise on the sessile oak, though I imagine that acorns are the thing there.

I've never seen a purging buckthorn, sadly.

Goat willow seems to propagate itself almost anywhere. I'm surprised you haven't found one self-seeding on your plot.

 

[British Red]

Theres no goat willow around here weirdly - its all weeping round here. Purging buckthorn was common enough down south - pretty purple berries.


Buckthorn by British Red, on Flickr

I like the orange of the sea buckthorn more, but I may add a purging if I see one some time

 

[Elen Sentier]

I have sessile oak - will see what I can do with some acorns and even if it will do from a cutting though never tried that. And yes, I put the pot in empty, just a small one, they burrowed down quite a way we discovered the following year! and it was full of "stuff". They would guard it like mad over the summer and not let the mower come within 3 feet of it without attacking! Great fun and it altered the shape of the garden quite successfully as it turned out . They use mouseholes in the lawn too, we have an interestingly designed garden that works for the wildlife ... and us !!!

 

[Harvestman]

It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but this link looks useful.

And this one.

Here's a third version.

The one I remembered was similar to these, but involved the pot being pushed into the side of a bank, so the the pot was on its side rather than upside-down. Same idea though.

 

[British Red]

Cool - I can do that....I'm lacking the mosquito netting - I'm sure I can fake something though

 

[Elen Sentier]

Nay, none of those were how I did it, as you said Mike, I just pushed it sideways into a bank.