Purely hypothetically, obviously, if you were going to plant a 100m long double avenue of trees in a field leading to a lake, what would you choose?

[mintydixcharrington]

The idea being that the rest of the field would be planted with parkland specimens (oak, atlas cedar, etc)
I have thoughts (Tilia Cordata, Juglans Nigra but would the nuts be a pain) but would be interested in seeing what the gardeners/landscapers in here suggest

[ib]

I would make it a flowering cherry, preferably a whitish one.

Seen a number of landscapes like that in Japan and they are spectacular

[WizzWotzzapPop]

this is a lovely avenue of trees in Farnham park in Surrey

picture here these are lime and beech trees.

[Slubberdegullion]

Limes are a traditional choice I believe.

Duke of Westminster obviously has same opinion as ib with flowering cherries. New avenue at Eaton Hall. Click on Eaton gardens and then 1st photo in the 'spring walk' photos.

[GunpowderDragonsAndSoup]

"hypothetically"

Something that turns a fantastic colour in autumn.

[GunpowderDragonsAndSoup]

I wouldn't go for a flowering cherry.They look glorious and I used to walk through an avenue of them on the way to work. Glorious. BUT they made an appalling mess shedding the blossom and then looked average for the rest of the year!

[coby]

copper beech....but I think I'd get some one to help with the digging as I still haven't recovered from moving my mature pampas months ago

[SueW]

Limes - that's your tilia wotsit isn't it but diff variety in the pic?

We have a beautiful copper beech in our garden but yes nuts are a pain

Definitely native to whichever country it's planted in.

[OverRated]

Limes are beautiful trees.

Maybe something with pretty autumnal foliage too.

[zippitippitoes]

cypress

well lol

[mintydixcharrington]

Hmmmm
The Cherries at Eaton Hall look lovely (and hasn't he got nice fencing lol) but that is more gardeny - in fact looks like a walled garden - whereas the hypothetical place I am hypotetically considering is def. parkland/field-being-turned-into-parkland. Concerned it might look a bit suburban there.
I'm heading towards limes, Tilia Cordata is native and not susceptible to aphids and sticky crap coming off them like Tilia Platyphyllos is...
Copper beech too dark, beech might be nice

No views on walnuts?

Or maybe oaks?

Hmmm

[Slubberdegullion]

Can you alternate trees, is that allowed in tree design? I'm no arborist (although I do know a good tree when I see one), but can you do a flowering variety of tree that looks fabulous in spring, and alternate it with one that does superb things in autumn?

They'd have to be the same size/height....
You should put your 'hypothetical' question forward on the Gardeners World forum (or such like), that would send them spinning into throws of tree design ecstasy. Believe me, I asked about shrubs to hide my bins a few years back and there was a kick off to match any mn P&T parking spaces row.

I wouldn't do oaks. Too House of Windsor.

[NappiesShnappiesPANTSgalore]

i have a couple of walnut trees. theyre v nice and the nuts are great

most interesting tree at our place is the indian bead tree which has gloriously bright green big leaves. quite rare i believe. lady who farmed the place for 40yrs of last century was really into her trees - took me round the garden and told me all their names and when she planted them bless her!

gardeners world had a thing about trees last week and showed some glorious reds in autumn varieties. most notably, imo, the Japanese Maple and Northern Pin Oak. also talked about planting differently to the standard 'big hole and straight in' method to make sure they are really sturdy to survive any future big storms. you can look it up online i believe.
i noted it all coz i am planting a bunch of trees too.

the walnut tree canopy is v wide btw, so youll need to set well apart.

[Katymac]

Walnut is great - but not if you have cars passing down the avenue - nuts would dent the roof

Chestnuts?
I like beech (can you get 2 colours of beech? copper & something else?)
Do Acers grow big enough?

Would fruit trees be bad?

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

What about tulip trees ?

The avenue at Westonbirt is magnificent.

[PestoPyromaniacMonster]

I like poplars.

[Blu]

oak

[WizzWotzzapPop]

Are oaks good for creating avenues, they are very large?
I could be wrong of course

[mumofdrac]

Not as formal but what about Himalayan Birch? www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/trees/unusual-plants/deciduous/betula-utilis-var.-jacquemontii-grayswood-g host/classid.78429/

It has a really white stem - it would be a bit more random but the white would almost glow in the dark.

[mintydixcharrington]

wouldn't be for cars. could be as wide as needed - 10m?
tulip trees lovely but quite slow growing. really nice though. oaks. hmmmm

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

My tulip tree puts on over a metre per year, a bit startling actually.

We thought, 'yeah yeah, 100 feet tall in 20 years'. Erm

[GunpowderDragonsAndSoup]

If a tulip tree is the same as a magnolia, they also look stunning for about a fortnight and then spend a good few months making a mess and looking average.

Def. alternate different sorts. That would stop it looking too formal if that's not what you're after. Walnuts are nice. Never had a single walnut from ours mind you as the squirrels scoff the lot. The leaves, when crushed, smell fantastic.

[ib]

eaton hall not really the sort of thing I had in mind....

more like this

or like this

for autumn colour liquidambar is nice.

[jennifersofia]

Depends on soil and what would grow really well. Copper beech, poplar, oak, liquidamber maybe, maybe a coppery barked birch.

[Blu]

Lots of the Royal Parks have oak avenues, and i love them - and the chestnust ones.

I have just spent an interesting few monutes Googling Tree Avenues (uk pages only), and as someone who knows nothing about trees, I found it really fascinating - the different purposes and effects of avenues, the planning of a canopy - or not, the ecology and iomplications of planting an avenue all of the same age, type and sustainablity.

Did you see the arial photography of the National Trusts' Woodlands 20 years after the big gales? That was quite interesting on the effects of having woodland where all the trees are of the same age, too. Might be best to plan something with a variety of diferent trees reslient to various weather and climate conditions - drought years, high winds etc.