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Even if you only have a small garden, you don't have to do without a small garden tree. We introduce you to 24 attractive trees that only grow between five and ten meters high.
In a nutshell
- large selection of small deciduous trees
- Columnar forms often remain rather small
- also trees with spherical or umbrella shape rather small
- for sun, shade and different soils
deciduous trees
Types from A - F
American Yellowwood (Cladrastis lutea)
In its North American homeland, the attractive yellowwood grows to a height of between 15 and 25 meters, but remains significantly smaller in Germany.
Source: Stanzilla, Palace Garden Orangery, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Location: sunny to semi-shady, warm
- Soil: deep
- Growth height: up to ten meters
- Growth width: up to eight meters
- Growth rate: 30 to 60 centimeters per year
- Special features: attractive flowers, beautiful autumn colours
Bubble tree (Koelreuteria paniculata)
The easy-care bladder tree shows lavish yellow flowers between July and August, develops a conspicuous fruit decoration and attractive autumn colors.
- Location: sunny
- Soil: permeable, rather dry
- Growth height: six to eight meters
- Growth width: three to five meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 25 centimeters per year
- Special features: robust, undemanding, very hardy
Ash maple 'Flamingo' (Acer negundo 'Flamingo')
This multi-stemmed large shrub or small garden tree is particularly attractive thanks to its feathery, pink-green to white-green colored leaves.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: rich in nutrients, humic
- Growth height: five to seven meters
- Growth width: four to six meters
- Growth rate: 15 to 25 centimeters per year
- Special features: slightly overhanging branches
Tiered Dogwood 'Pagoda' (Cornus controversa 'Pagoda')
The tiered dogwood, also known as the pagoda dogwood, has tiered branches and a spreading growth habit.
Source: Sailko, Orto botanico, fi, cornus controversa variegata, edited by Gartenlexikon.de (MKr), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: rich in nutrients, deep, fresh
- Growth height: five to eight meters
- Growth width: four to six meters
- Growth rate: 15 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: beautiful flowers, decorative fruit, attractive autumn colours
Tip: In addition to the 'Pagoda' variety, there are other varieties of the garden tree that are just as attractive and stay small. The 'Variegata' variety, for example, has variegated white leaves.
Types of G - O
Common Judas Tree (Cercis siliquastrum)
Between April and May, the shrub or small garden tree displays numerous purple, delicately scented flower clusters on older twigs and branches, which are irresistibly attractive to bees and other insects.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal garden soil, dry
- Growth height: up to six meters
- Growth width: up to four meters
- Growth rate: 25 to 50 centimeters per year
- Special features: decorative fruits
Gold Trumpet Tree 'Aurea' (Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea')
While the classic trumpet tree grows up to 15 meters tall, this variety stays significantly smaller with its attractive golden-yellow, heart-shaped leaves.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: moist, nutritious
- Growth height: six to seven meters
- Growth width: three to five meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 30 centimeters per year
- Special features: hardy, very easy to care for
Tip: The trumpet tree develops beautiful panicles of flowers and seed pods up to 40 centimeters long, but only from the age of about ten years.
Golden elm 'Wredei' (Ulmus carpinifolia 'Wredei')
The golden elm 'Wredei' fascinates with its unique, radiant golden yellow foliage colour.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: rich in nutrients
- Growth height: five to ten meters
- Growth width: up to five meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: wavy, golden yellow leaves
Cake tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum)
This ornamental tree, also known as the gingerbread tree or katsura tree, originally comes from Japan and has leaves that smell intensely of gingerbread and cinnamon.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: nutrient-rich, clayey
- Growth height: eight to ten meters
- Growth width: up to seven meters
- Growth rate: 30 to 50 centimeters per year
- Special features: intensive autumn colours
Tip: The beautiful autumn colors develop particularly intensively on acidic soil.
Globe maple 'Globosum' (Acer platanoides 'Globosum')
The small garden tree has a naturally spherical crown, which is also densely branched and covered with numerous fresh green leaves.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal, but not too heavy
- Growth height: five to six meters
- Growth width: as well
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: intense golden yellow autumn colour
Types of P - S
Persian ironwood tree (Parrotia persica)
This often multi-stemmed garden tree, also known as iron tree or parrotie, shows a unique blaze of color in autumn. Initially, the ornamental tree grows as a shrub, but develops a picturesque crown with age.
Source: A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace), Botanical Garden Berlin-Dahlem 10-2014 photo13 Parrotia persica, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal garden soil
- Height of growth: up to nine meters
- Growth width: up to seven meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: colorful autumn colours
Tip: The columnar growing variety 'Persian Spire' remains much lower than the species with a maximum width of 75 centimeters and a height of up to 250 centimeters.
Scarlet Thorn (Crataegus coccinea)
The robust, hardy tree grows as a large shrub or small garden tree and has intensely red colored leaves in autumn.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: undemanding
- Growth height: five to seven meters
- Growth width: three to five meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 30 centimeters a year
- Special features: beautiful flowers, fruit decoration
Service Tree (Sorbus domestica)
The service tree is a native wild fruit tree that produces edible apple- to pear-shaped fruits.
Source: Haeferl, Forchtenstein - Natural Monument MA-026 - Service Tree - Leaves and (unripe) fruits, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: rich in nutrients, fresh
- Growth height: up to ten meters
- Growth width: six to eight meters
- Growth rate: 10 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: valuable wood for feeding birds
Tip: The species is also very popular because of its insect-friendly flowers and the magnificent autumn colors.
Types of T - Z
Dove tree (Davidia involucrata var. vilmoriniana)
The species is also known as the handkerchief tree because of the white bracts that appear between May and June.
Handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata vilmoriniana
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal garden soil
- Growth height: six to eight meters
- Growth width: up to 450 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: inconspicuous, brown flowers with white bracts (bracts)
Notice: The ornamental tree, which is still rarely found here, originally comes from China.
Weeping birch 'Youngii' (Betula pendula 'Youngii')
With its distinctly hanging branches, this birch is a picturesque sight.
Source: I, Mat86, Brzoza zwisla, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: undemanding
- Growth height: four to seven meters
- Growth width: up to four meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 30 centimeters per year
- Special features: umbrella-like crown
Trumpet tree 'Purpurea' (Catalpa erubescens 'Purpurea')
This is also a slightly smaller variety of the trumpet tree, which also comes up with attractive dark red foliage.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: permeable, slightly acidic to alkaline
- Growth height: five to ten meters
- Growth width: six to eight meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: rounded crown
Cinnamon maple (Acer griseum)
This slow-growing garden tree impresses with its cinnamon-colored bark and striking orange-red foliage in autumn.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: well drained
- Growth height: six to eight meters
- Growth width: three to six meters
- Growth rate: 10 to 20 centimeters per year
- Special features: less susceptible to diseases
conifers
Occidental tree of life (Thuja occidentalis)
Although the tree of life, usually also referred to as thuja, is particularly popular as a hedge plant, it also cuts a fine figure as a solitary tree.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal, moist garden soil
- Growth height: up to ten meters
- Growth width: up to three meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Special features: grows very densely, tolerates pruning
Yew (Taxus baccata)
The native yew is also known primarily as a hedge plant, but actually grows as an uncomplicated and undemanding garden tree.
- Location: sunny to shady
- Soil: undemanding, also tolerates moisture
- Growth height: up to ten meters
- Growth width: up to eight meters
- Growth rate: 20 to 30 centimeters per year
- Special features: beautiful red fruit decoration
Notice: Be careful with pets and small children: all parts of the yew plant are highly toxic!
Korean fir (Abies koreana)
This slow-growing conifer is extremely undemanding and comes up with a beautiful cone decoration.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal garden soil
- Growth height: up to eight meters
- Growth width: up to four meters
- Growth rate: 5 to 25 centimeters per year
- Special features: violet, large cones, broad, cone-like growth
Weeping hanging spruce 'Inversa' (Picea abies 'Inversa')
With its columnar growth and the vertically hanging, ground-touching branches, the weeping weeping spruce is an eye-catcher in the garden.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: fresh, sandy to loamy
- Growth height: six to eight meters
- Growth width: up to 250 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 15 centimeters per year
- Special features: very compatible with pruning
Fast growing trees
Vinegar (Rhus typhina)
The vinegar tree or deer butt sumac originally comes from North America, but was naturalized with us in the 17th century. Its flowers, which are rich in nectar and pollen, are a valuable food source for bees and other insects.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: permeable, loose, little chalk
- Growth height: four to six meters
- Growth width: as well
- Growth rate: 30 to 50 centimeters per year
- Special features: forms a large number of root shoots, slightly poisonous
Japanese carnation (Prunus serrulata)
In May, the popular ornamental cherry shows itself with lush pink flowers.
Source: Björn S… , Japanese Cherry - Prunus serrulata (41663811531), edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Location: full sun
- Soil: loose, calcareous
- Growth height: seven to ten meters
- Growth width: up to eight meters
- Growth rate: 40 to 70 centimeters per year
- Special features: bee nutriment
Tip: It is best to plant the carnation cherry in the fall. Then make sure that the soil does not dry out: In the first few years, the garden tree needs a lot of water.
Curly willow (Salix erythroflexuosa)
What is special about this fast-growing species are the twisted twigs, which even turn a striking reddish color in winter.
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: undemanding, just not acidic or boggy
- Height of growth six to eight meters
- Growth width: up to six meters
- Growth rate: 40 to 100 centimeters per year
- Special features: hard-wearing, cut compatible
Tip: Equally fast-growing, but somewhat smaller, is the willow (Salix caprea) with a final height of between three and five metres.
Bird cherry (Prunus padus)
The native, extremely undemanding wild tree grows as a large shrub or small, mostly multi-stemmed tree.
Source: Anneli Salo, Prunus padus - Tuomi - Marjoja H9256 C, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: undemanding, also for moist soil
- Growth height: up to ten meters
- Growth width: up to seven meters
- Growth rate: 40 to 70 centimeters per year
- Features: edible fruit for processing
frequently asked Questions
Which small tree grows the fastest?The fastest growing tree is the bluebell tree (Paulownia tomentosa), which can grow up to 15 meters high and is therefore not suitable for smaller gardens. However, some of the smaller tree species also grow quite quickly, which is why we present them in a separate section.
How much space do I have to keep to the property line when planting trees?How much space you have to keep to the property line when planting is regulated very differently from federal state to federal state and also from municipality to municipality. The best thing to do is to look at the statutes of your local municipality or ask the authorities. It is also important that you take into account the expected final growth height and width when planting the young tree.
Are there also small fruit trees?Of course you can also plant fruit trees, as many apple, pear, plum or peach trees do not grow higher than ten meters anyway or can be kept small with regular pruning. Note, however, that these trees grow very wide instead. However, we do not recommend planting a sweet cherry, as these trees can reach a height of up to 20 meters - just like the walnut, by the way, which also grows very large.