Need Tree Advice For Landscaping

[Snowman]

Ok so I just finished landscaping my front yard and now I need to figure out what trees to plant in the front flower bed. I wanted to plant a paper birch in each corner but I was told they are a bad choice being so close to my driveway and sidewalk... I really prefer the mountainous / natural look but I'm open for opinions and ideas.

The flower bed is about 4 feet from the concrete and the rock wall is 3 feet high. I'm in zone 5-6.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[rainbowgardener]

I would not put a full sized tree there. You already have one very large tree. With another the view of the house would be blocked, making it look unwelcoming and fortress like. Not to mention potential for damage tothe rock wall, driveway etc.

I would look for a small tree or a shrub. Smallish trees include redbud, dogwood (both with beautiful spring flowers), hazelnut (nuts), crab apple (pretty red berries/ mini-apples that remain on the tree all winter). If you do get a tree, keep it pruned to be kind of thinned out and airy. For similar choices, but with colored foliage, you could think about Japanese maple or purple sand cherry.

For shrubs good choices would be serviceberry (berries that many different kinds of birds love), viburnum (exceptionally fragrant spring flowers and then berries that birds like), ceanothus.

[GardeningCook]

OP - Where are you located?

[rainbowgardener]

Snowman didn't give us a specific location, but he did say zone 5-6. That's the basis on which I made my suggestions - shrubs and trees that do well in the zone 5-6 climate.

[Snowman]

Thank you for the advice rainbowgardener! I ended up not planting any trees but instead some dwarf shrubs and different flowering perennials. I just let my wife do what she wanted haha. We went with a dwarf lilac bush and blue spruce shrub in the corners.