It’s a lucky gardener who gets to plant a tree. It’s also a biggish life decision – most trees live for decades – so no-one wants to make a mess of it. Here’s 3 steps to choose the right tree for your garden…

1: How big? A Great Dane puppy will outgrow a studio apartment and a forest giant will overwhelm a compact courtyard. If you’re new to this, it’s probably a good idea to look at smaller trees: that way you can’t go far wrong. Crepe myrtles, Japanese maples, Jury magnolias, crab apples, boutique eucalypts. Go out and take down a few measurements. Look up and make sure there’s nothing in the sky above which would be in the way of your future tree: other tree branches, power lines or the eaves of a building. Do a little research online and refer to your measurements to come up with your list of potential candidates. Now for step two…

2: Think about the sun. Trees have the power to change how a garden feels and functions. Evergreen trees – the ones that always have foliage and are never bare-branched – will provide permanent shade. Deciduous trees – the ones that lose their foliage in autumn – will provide summer shade and winter sun. Knowing this helps you decide what type of tree would work best for you. Do you want to permanently block an ugly view or gain some year round privacy? Then plant an evergreen like a citrus tree or an elegant eucalypt. Or do you want shade in summer and as much winter sunshine as possible? Plant a deciduous tree: a dogwood or a magnolia. Now to the third step…

3: A special bonus. Why not enjoy having a really special tree? One that’s more than just the perfect size and gives you the amount of sunshine that you’re after? If you do a little more research you can have one with flowers, fruit, even beautiful bark. If you’re keen on evergreen trees, a lemon is a great choice for fragrant flowers and all the lemons you and your friends could ever need. Crepe myrtles have lovely soft clouds of flowers but their bark is probably their greatest asset. And for glorious flowering trees, magnolias reign supreme, and the best of the best are the Jury Magnolias. When you’ve narrowed down to just a few options, make sure you pick the one that’s the easiest to grow with no fuss.