Deciduous shrub topiaries: boxes, spheres etc.

Broad-leaved trees from Lap­pen such as Tilia (lime), acer (maple), Fagus (beech), Quer­cus (oak) or Nys­sa (Tupe­lo tree) offer the observ­er sen­sa­tion­al autumn colours, while oth­ers are in attrac­tive bloom in spring, includ­ing Prunus ‘Acco­lade’ Prunus yedoen­sis or Prunus ‘Tai­haku’ (Japan­ese cher­ry) and a vari­ety of oth­er orna­men­tal trees.  In sum­mer they pro­vide shade in streets, car parks and gar­dens or parks.  In par­tic­u­lar these species with strong­ly devel­oped crown and high growth, among them Liri­o­den­dron (tulip tree), are suit­able as free-stand­ing soli­taires for parks and avenues.

Acer pla­tanoides’ Columnare Dila’ (Nar­row-crowne Maple), on the oth­er hand, is often plant­ed in nar­row streets or small parks. The frost-hard and wind-resis­tant but some­what heat-sen­si­tive Acer free­manii’ Arm­strong’ (red maple), one of the 150 sub­species of the genus Acer (maple), is also suit­able for plant­i­ng in con­fined spaces and nar­row streets.  Its bark is sil­ver-grey and it flow­ers with beau­ti­ful, orange-red flower pan­i­cles before the leaves are released in March.

But it is not only the growth and the colours that are impor­tant when choos­ing the right tree.  The cli­mate and soil con­di­tions of the future loca­tion play an impor­tant role. The uncom­pli­cat­ed Alnus (alder) has no spe­cial soil requirements.

It thrives on nutri­ent-poor, dry soils, but can also tol­er­ate a lot of soil mois­ture.  Quer­cus (oak), on the oth­er hand, likes strong, deep soils.

Under opti­mal soil and cli­mate con­di­tions, the trees from Lap­pen devel­op into true giants: In addi­tion to Quer­cus (oak), Fagus (beech) and Ulmus (elm), the Acer (maple) can also grow up to 30 metres high and devel­op a mag­nif­i­cent crown in free standing.

Among the decid­u­ous trees in the nurs­ery are also trees of the future, which are char­ac­terised by their vigour, life expectan­cy, heat tol­er­ance, resis­tance or break­age resis­tance, among oth­er things. These include Acer campestre (field maple) in var­i­ous vari­eties, Celtis aus­tralis (South­ern Marigold), Acer buerg­e­ri­anum (French maple), Quer­cus cer­ris (Turk­ish oak), Ostrya carpini­fo­lia (hop frac­tures), Zelko­va ser­ra­ta (Zelkove), Gled­it­sia tri­a­can­thos (Hon­ey Locust) in dif­fer­ent vari­eties, Koel­reuteria pan­ic­u­la­ta (bub­ble ash) or Frax­i­nus ornus (Man­na ash).

Anoth­er plant in the exten­sive port­fo­lio of the nurs­ery is Tilia hen­ryana (Hen­rys lime).  This pro­duces par­tic­u­lar­ly rich nec­tar and pollen and is there­fore often approached by hon­ey­bees.  Fur­ther­more, these ‘bee pas­tures’ are reli­ably suit­able for fix­ing slopes and inland dunes.