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Message: <blockquote data-quote="deborah4" data-source="post: 857318" data-attributes="member: 29880">Hi JonathanWe speaking from the same hymn sheet here! All my garden trees are from Woolworths about 3 and half years ago.  I bought a Silver Birch, two Cherry Trees and two Apple Trees also a laburnum.The Silver Birch was an 3' twig with 2 shoots when I bought it.  It is now doing beautifully and over 13' feet tall so I guess it's grown roughly 3 foot per year.  The most important thing to remember for the first two years of planting is to keep them well watered - I used bucket loads the first year all through the summer!  Now birds like Tits, Robin, Wren and even Chiffchaff, use the tree for food - the birch attracts moth caterpillars which can strip the tree but I decided after the first year not to remove them, now the birds do the gardening.Ps Don't worry about the height, you can always have them pruned - one of the reasons I chose Birch, other than those Joanne mentioned, was that the leaves are very light and hence doesn't block out too much light for other peoples gardens - when you're leaving in a tightly packed residential area, that's one of the things to consider - The fruit trees also have lovely blossom so concession to the neighbours there as well as lots of Aphids and fruit flies for the tits etc.  All the apples that grow, I chop up for the Blackbirds, Thrushes (and squirrels!)</blockquote>