One of the most dependable trees for rooftops because they withstand wind. Quick growing, they require sporadic replacement, however young plants are reasonably priced. The Golden Weeping Willow features vivid yellow twigs in wintertime and chartreuse catkins in early spring.

This is just a sample listing of hardy trees for the container garden. Just about any variety may be grown if in scale and afforded the essential care. Don't leave out upright forms - upright lindens, oaks, sugar and Norway maples since these consume almost no space.

Tender Trees

Tender trees are typically grown in warmer areas, where they remain out of doors all year. In colder regions, as container subjects, they necessitate protection in wintertime. As a group, they're popular with both southern and northern gardeners.

Acacias

Many varieties of acacias are prized for their featherlike yellow blooms in wintertime and early spring. Quick growing, they call for a cool greenhouse or plant room with northerly exposure in wintertime.

Bullbay Magnolia.

A highly ornamental evergreen magnolia, often grown in the South, with broad dark green leaves and immense sweet-smelling white flowers. Though not rugged, a most worthwhile container plant.

California Pepper Tree

A semi-pendulous modest tree, with ferny, olive-green leaves and dangling bunches of durable, rose-colored berries. Indigenous to Peru, it withstands high temperature and waterlessness, as well as nutrient-deficient soil, even intense pruning. Often planted as a street tree in southern Europe.

Citrus

Glossy-leaved trees, with modest, perfumed blooms and ornamental, enduring fruits. Orange, lemon, kumquat, tangerine, lime, and others do well in tubs and boxes. The dwarf Otaheite or Tahiti orange and the Ponderosa lemon are small types.

Crape Myrtle. The "lilac of the South," a shrub or small tree, with great braids of crinkly blossoms in pink, red, purple, and white all summer long. Container-grown in the North, it must be wintered in a cool frost-free space. It holds up to severe pruning.

Eucalyptus

Rapid-growing, drought-resistant trees with leatherlike fragrant leaves and peeling bark. Substitutions of container specimens are easily made.

Fig

The edible fig of southern Europe is suitable for containers in the North. Large, coarse-grained leaves are light green; the bark is a pleasant gray.

Japanese Privet

A fine-looking tall shrub or small tree, with shiny, dark green leaves and panicles of white blossoms, followed by black berries. It's frequently mixed up with the less good-looking shiny privet (Ligustrum lucidum).

Loquat

A Japanese tree with elongated, leatherlike, strong-veined leaves and tasteful orange-yellow fruits. An excellent tub specimen for patios or terraces, as frequently seen in southern Europe.

Norfolk Island Pine

A pyramidic, horizontal evergreen with sharp-pointed leaves. Often developed as a pot or tub plant in greenhouses in the North.

Olive

Picturesque tree with contorted, gnarly trunk and branches as it ages. Leaves are small, thick and ever-green, olive-green on top and silvery underneath. Slow-growing plants turn out black fruits that fall when ripe.

Pacific Madrone {Arbutus menziesi)

An enchanting broad-leafed evergreen, with aromatic, heathlike, white flowers in six-inch panicles surmounting generous, lustrous leaves. Chocolate-brown bark drops like that of the plane tree. Challenging to displace, plants are securest transplanted as seedlings when they are below eighteen inches.

Palms.

Oftentimes found in the North in public parks and botanical gardens in tubs. Elegant with slim trunks, frequently arching, and curving leaves. A few are small, as the lady palm (Raphis excelsa) which reaches 6 to 10 feet. All grow easily and withstand neglect.

Sweet Bay or Grecian Laurel

The true laurel of the ancient Greeks, common as a clipped tubbed specimen, frequently with a single trunk and pungent, dark green leaves. Rugged and easy-to-grow, suited for stately doorways, hotels, or public buildings. Calls for a cool location in wintertime with Northerly exposure.

Rubber Plant

A common house plant in the North with big shiny leaves. Include several variegated varieties for colorful highlights.

HARDY SHRUBS

With trees, shrubs are necessary for backdrop, volume effects, and shade. Each container garden also needs a few hardy needle and broadleaf evergreens for year-round color. In summertime in the North, these may be supplemented with camellias, pittosporums, podocarpus, oleanders, sweet bays, and citrus plants. Include deciduous types for bloom and for the interest of the branches in wintertime.

Here is a suggested however far from thorough list of possibilities:

Arborvitae. Versatile evergreen for the movable garden. Affordable, sturdy, and quick-growing, it's perfect for hedges or screen background or for blocking off sections. Little Gem, a variety of American arborvitae, is low-set and close-packed, a foot high, but fanning out several feet.

Azaleas

Splendid flowering shrubs needing an acidic soil. They also constitute effective container plants in alkalescent areas because soil can be custom-mixed for them. Plants accept shade, however bloom better in sunlight. Always sustain moisture, as sinewy roots are unhappy drying out.

Brooms or Cytisus

Green curving stems, with abundant blossoms in springtime. Need full sunlight and a light, granular soil. Both the fancy Warminster broom, with yellow blossoms, and the well-known golden Scotch broom are tried and true.

Cotoneasters

Fascinating with a world of possibilities. Blossoms are unnoticeable but shiny leaves and colored berries are appealing. Rock spray cotoneaster has flat, horizontally bowed branches. The small-leaved evergreen cotoneaster can be placed around trees in planters and prominent boxes to deflect starkness.

Enkianthus

Fine-looking with miniature, bell-shaped blooms in drooping clusters, suitable to view close at hand. Glistening leaves turn flaming red in fall. An acrid soil plant, calling for the same culture as azaleas.

Fothergillas or Bottlebrushes

Small shrubs with white blossoms in springtime and heavy, coarse-grained leaves that colorize in fall. Dwarf fothergilla (Fothergilla gardeni) achieves three feet of height, but the large fothergilla (F. major) grows larger.

Hollies

Handsome plants, with lustrous foliage and shiny berries. Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) has dark green leaves; the convex-leaved Japanese holly has modest, rounded, extremely shiny leaves; Haller's Japanese holly is a modest, close-packed form; and Kingsville is a true dwarf. Inkberry, another shrub holly, has glossy evergreen leaves, an open habit, and black berries in autumn. Leaves become bronzy-purple in wintertime.

Japanese Flowering Quinces

Numerous varieties, including dwarfs with vermilion, scarlet, pink, rose, red, apricot, and white blossoms. These simple shrubs are mainly coveted for early springtime brilliant color.

Japanese Yews

Amongst the most dependable evergreens for robustness, ease of culture and tolerance of sunlight or shade. There are upright, columnlike, spreading, and low varieties; all have got dark green needles and are excellent for contrast with flowers. These are hardy in the North, but make sure to water all container plants in wintertime whenever soil isn't frozen. The upright, rounded Hatfield and the columnar Hicks yews create effective hedges.

Pieris

The upright Japanese has dangling white blossom clusters and bronzy-red fresh spring growth. The mountain pieris is lower and rounded, with upright white flower heads. Both bear beautiful foliage and are dependable the year-round.

Beverly Clarke manages a network of green living websites including GreenWindsofChange, TheGreenhousePrimer and GreenOutsideIn