Even the smallest garden has room for skinny trees

Time and time again I find myself drawn to skinny trees. This might be because I know that I can almost certainly shoehorn one more tree in a crowded landscape as long as it is skinny, but I suspect there’s a part of me that has always appreciated the stateliness of an Italian cypress punctuating a garden.

We can’t grow Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) in Wisconsin — it’s not hardy here, but more than that, it prefers hot and dry conditions, which makes sense given its Mediterranean heritage. We should consider ourselves fortunate, as the trees are often riddled with problems, includes a propensity to splitting open and requiring that they be lashed together.

But there are an increasing number of skinny trees that will thrive in our area and  serve several purposes in a landscape.

The skinniest of the trees that have caught my eye recently is a sugar maple (Acer saccarum) called ‘Monumentale’ that grows to 20 to 30 feet tall and just a foot or two wide. I spotted it — immediately, as these trees are the ultimate exclamation point in a garden — in a Philadelphia garden where a crowd of visitors gathered around it.

Not quite as slim but equally beautiful is sweet gum (Liquidamber styraciflua) ‘Slender Silhouette.’ Growing to 35 to 50 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide, it has attractive pointed-lobe leaves, excellent fall color and interesting — or obnoxious, depending on your preferences — spiky ball fruits. It’s a fast grower but prefers that often elusive moist but well-draining soil.

If an oak is on your wish list for its beauty, longevity and environmental benefit as a host plant for many important insects but there’s no room for an enormous tree, a skinny hybrid of English oak and our native swamp oak (Quercus x warei) called Kindred Spirit might fit the bill. The original tree, now over 40 years old, is in Illinois and doing well. Kindred Spirit grows at a fast rate — 12 to 18 inches a year — to 30 to 40 feet tall and 6 to 7 feet wide.

Some evergreens start very narrow, but fatten up wider than expected in a decade or so. A new variety of arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) called Sting seems far more likely to keep its slender profile. Growing somewhat slowly to 20 feet tall and just 18 inches wide, you could hardly ask for something skinnier. For those who crave the Italian cypress look, this tree should deliver it.

Skinny trees are often best grown in groups rather than as a single pillar, which can look out of place. And they should be sited carefully — they will become a focal point so don’t plant them in front of something you’re trying to hide like an electrical pole or corner of a house. Instead, place them to draw the eye away from the ugly bits.

Perhaps the best thing about skinny trees is that they eliminate any excuses about not having room for a tree even in the smallest gardens.