Tree for shade – 20 fast-growing shrubs

A few fast-growing shade providers in the right places and a hedge of sufficiently fast-growing shrubs in the immediate field of vision quickly create a garden in which you feel really comfortable. This garden is not finished yet, but will be further structured by (perhaps much more slowly) growing favorite shrubs, perennials of different heights, possibly annual/short-lived flowering and harvest plants. In terms of costs, however, this is not a problem, because the fast-growing trees and shrubs make less work in the tree nursery and are therefore cheaper to purchase. Since “fast-growing” means that the tree (when young) grows about a meter each year, fast-growing trees also quickly fill in gaps left by age or plant diseases. So don’t be afraid of fast-growing shrubs. You just have to put the right trees and shrubs in the right locations. Information on the special features of the individual trees can be found in the list.

Shade providers from A to H

Birch, Betu
Above-average fast-growing giant with a final height of 30 meters, attractive white bark and a pretty, filigree treetop.

• Particular advantages: Provides rapid drainage and sufficient soil compaction on (rural) properties with damp ground
• Particular dangers: pollen is known to trigger allergies, birch trees spread organic plant residues in large quantities

Blue bell tree, Paulownia tomentosa (synonym: Japanese emperor tree, Paulownia imperialis)

The Asian guest is probably the king among the fast-growing trees, but only reaches a maximum height of 15 meters.

• Special advantages: Wind-resistant, deep-rooting, which ensures rapid drainage and soil compaction on moist soil; develops beautiful purple-blue flowers in June in mild regions
• Particular dangers: Flowers are slightly poisonous

Ash, Fraxinus excelsior With a height of up to 40 meters ,
the ash is one of Europe’s giants and can reach a trunk diameter of up to two meters.

• Special advantages: Provides quick fixation and drainage on soft, damp ground
• Specific Hazards: Final size and extent should not be underestimated

Aspen, Populus tremula
The fast-growing shade provider is also known as the aspens and like them can grow a good 35 meters high (though much wider).

• Special advantages: important forage plant for native butterflies, medicinal plant, also cultivated as a shrub
• Specific hazards: None except for size

Vinegar tree, Rhus typhina
Deciduous shrub with growth heights of 5 meters or slightly taller, small tree with several trunks, comes from North America

• Special advantages: Broad, umbrella-like crown + autumn colors from yellow to orange to bright crimson = eye-catcher in the garden
• Particular dangers: Tends to form runners so strongly that it should only be planted with a root barrier

Spruce, Picea abies
The Tree of the Year 2017, also known as Red Fir, usually does not exceed 20 meters in height in the home garden.

• Special advantages: Despite the initially rapid growth, long-lived coniferous tree, insect forage plant, edible and medicinal plant for humans
• Particular dangers: Except for “too unusual” cultivated forms, none

Golden elm, Ulmus × hollandica ‘Wredei’
With a final height of 10 meters, a small cultivar that remains presumably the result of crossing the native mountain elm Ulmus glabra with the field elm Ulmus minor.

• Special Benefits: Decorative golden yellow leaves that remain golden yellow throughout the growing season and into old age; taut, upright habit in the form of a column also enables cultivation as a large shrub.
• Particular dangers: none, but the non-flowering and fruitless golden elm is not considered particularly valuable from an ecological point of view

Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus
Not a beech, but a birch family with limited height growth up to a maximum of 20 m.

• Special advantages: the deciduous tree can be grown to form opaque hedges almost all year round. Litter is the favorite food of earthworms
• Specific hazards: none

Red Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea
Native dogwood with partly red wood, red leaves in autumn and a final height of around 5 metres.

• Special advantages: The dogwood, which usually grows as a shrub, can be grown into a tree that grows almost 6 m tall in mild regions. The fruit feeds wild animals (bee pasture) and, as a jam, also people
• Specific hazards: none

Hazel , Corylus avellana
The hazelnut grows as a multi-stemmed tree or shrub up to a height of 5 m and constantly renews itself through budding.

• Special advantages: Feeds countless species of insects with leaves, fruits, juice; supplies hazelnuts that provide healthy wildlife and people
• Specific hazards: none

Provide shade from K to Z

Pine, Pinus
Our native Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, is one of the loveliest evergreen tree species when it can develop freely, but it can also reach impressive heights (up to 40 m). There are numerous dwarf forms available for the home garden, although their “ecological talents” would have to be inquired about separately in the tree nursery. Among the forms conceivable for small gardens, the mountain pine P. mugo (‘pug’, ‘gnome’), the Macedonian pine P. peuce and the black pine P. nigra are considered to be fast-growing.

• Special advantages: With a few pine trees, the city garden can appear like a piece of forest; durable; ecologically valuable species/cultivars are an important habitat for a large number of birds, insects and soil fungi
• Specific hazards: none

Fruit
trees Fruit trees usually grow very quickly and do not live indefinitely. However, they are also in a class of their own because the speed of growth also depends on the rootstock, which is selected according to site conditions, desired tree height and the fruit type/variety.

• Special advantages: Beautiful trees, great flowers, delicious unsprayed fruit
• Specific hazards: none

Poplar, Populus
Poplars are willow plants and grow as quickly as all members of this family. Among the native poplars, the unspoilt black poplar is suitable (if at all) as a tree for the (larger) house garden and as a shade provider.

• Special advantages: The planting of the host of eight native night owls (which is classified as “endangered” on the Red List) is active nature conservation, suitable for phytoremediation of soil contaminated with heavy metals
• Specific Dangers: Develops saplings up to a distance of 40 meters in case of root disturbances/felling of the tree

Plane trees, Platanus
Plane trees grow quickly, but in their natural form they are not really compatible with the home garden. Only the rare ‘Suttneri’ variety of the urban plane tree P. x hispanica grows less vigorously than the species and reaches a maximum height of 15 m when old.

• Particular advantages: Decorative white variegated leaves
• Particular disadvantages: Leaves spread hair that irritates the respiratory tract when sprouting and decomposes poorly, the prickly fruits are uncomfortable for dogs to step on and can lead to irritation of the mucous membranes (also in humans), young branches are prone to breakage, constantly peeling scaly bark annoys regular garden owners

Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica
The Japanese cedar is not a fir, but an Asian cypress plant that grows only about 15 meters high in Central Europe.

• Special Benefits: Available in many imaginative cultivation forms
• Particular dangers: The natural species is known for numerous offshoots, cultivated forms should be checked accordingly

Fir, Abies
Fir trees all grow faster than average. The shade providers are used in a wide variety of ways as young trees in garden design, but usually reach impressive sizes, which can eventually cause problems in ordinary home gardens.

• Special advantages: A single fir tree can replace the Christmas tree, which is usually contaminated with pesticides
• Particular dangers: If planted in large numbers, ecological impoverishment of the garden, because firs, like all conifers, are less attractive to insects and wild animals than deciduous trees and because the ecological value of garden-compatible dwarf varieties such as the Korean fir Abies koreana ‘Molli’ is quite controversial

Trumpet tree, Catalpa bignonioides
The trumpet tree is a neophyte that is in the process of being naturalized. It is mainly available in the ‘Aurea’ variety (golden-yellow shoots) and the cultivar ‘Nana’, which is usually grafted onto a high stem.

• Special advantages: Extremely attractive leaves, flowers and fruits, the natural species and the ‘Aurea’ variety have already proven themselves as bee pasture in Germany
• Special dangers: The cultivar ‘Nana’ is not approached by bees, skin contact with the wood can lead to allergic reactions due to the quinine compounds it contains

Primeval redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides
In contrast to the American redwoods, the Asian bald cypress with the narrow crown takes up very little space for its final height of around 30 m. As a single specimen, the deciduous conifer is therefore an interesting house tree and provides shade for large gardens.

• Special Benefits: Planting helps one of the oldest living trees on earth to survive
• Special dangers: Wrong choice of location, grows big and old

Rowan or mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia
Medium-sized deciduous tree to a final height of around 15 m, fragrant white flowers in spring and berries edible when cooked.

• Special advantages: Ecological hit that provides food and habitat for 63 species of birds and around 70 species of insects; falling leaves quickly turn into nutrient-rich humus; Urban climate-resistant stalk ejector, tolerates any pruning and can also be grown as a shrub
• Specific hazards: none

Willows, Salix
The approximately 65 native willows offer a huge, fast-growing selection from the 2 cm high herb willow to the 30 m high white willow, of which the usual sources only sell a very small part.

• Special advantages: Willows can be used in the garden for a wide variety of purposes and ideas, which creative gardeners should definitely seek information from specialists
• Particular dangers: selection of a later too large species

With a combination of just a few of these shrubs and shade providers, you can transform your garden into a green jungle in no time at all, so keep this in mind when making your selection: start with a few “rocket bushes”, a “fast house tree” or a piece that grows quickly to a noticeable size Hedges are ok. In the mixed, largely free-growing bird protection hedge, fast-growing trees and shrubs should be used just as carefully as in the rest of the garden; if the property is to be surrounded by a “box hedge”, it should certainly not need constant trimming. Slow-growing shrubs are therefore later planted alongside the fast-growing shrubs, selected exactly according to personal wishes, which in the best case also make a very specific animal species happy.

Fast growth – Not only advantages

However, fast-growing trees and shrubs are also useful for the garden itself. They lure the first insects and wild animals into the garden with blossoms and fruits and bring in the first organic material through leaf fall and broken branches, which can be processed into humus. Fast-growing trees and shrubs can do all of this in a much shorter time than their more sluggish contemporaries. Therefore, there is no reason to do without these vigorous trees in the early days of a garden.

When choosing and purchasing, you will come across some prejudices against the fast-growing trees: They would inevitably be too big for normal new-build gardens and would outgrow hobby gardeners very quickly anyway, if they did not go in every morning with the pruning shears/pruning saw in their hands storm the garden.

Everything is correct, but concerns incorrectly selected species in the wrong location, which may also be incorrectly cared for. These are not arguments against the fast-growing trees and shrubs themselves. The warning against the rapid developers is actually a warning against a form of gardening that is quite common today. Without really dealing with the layout of the garden and the plants in it, the next garden center buys what the seller advises. He then usually advises slow-growing dwarf shrubs. First of all, because such shrubs make up the largest part of the range available in the garden centre. Then the seller is right in the given case with his recommendation. Everything else would be too uncertain if the customer does not really think about the planting in his garden.

The dwarf shrubs just don’t lend themselves well to structuring the garden, take a long time to grow into noticeable focal points, and very often aren’t an asset to either insects or wildlife. This is different for most of the fast-growing shrubs. Not only do they quickly grow into powerful shade providers, they also introduce the “third dimension” in the course of this growth. This is what makes the garden a real garden.

Conclusion
Fast-growing trees and shrubs are valuable aids in the garden and wonderful fillers that you should avoid using, not just because of prejudice. However, the “hurried sky-stormers” have to be chosen very carefully so that they don’t cause trouble later (in the wrong location or at all).