Large trees aren't always appropriate for smaller gardens and spaces. You can prune the tops to help reduce their size, but they won't maintain attractive shapes and may never return to their original form. Luckily, many tall, narrow trees exist that will fit in smaller spaces. Use them to beautify your landscape and provide shade and privacy.
Italian cypress
These evergreen trees work well as accents to the landscape. Italian cypress grow best in full sun in a wide range of soil types. These tall, narrow, column-shaped trees boast dark green foliage and 2.5 cm (1 inch) cones. They grow to be about 6 to 9 m (20 to 30 feet) tall and 90 cm to 1.5 m (3 to 5 feet) wide. They are hardy throughout the UK. Leyland, Pond and Blue Ice Arizona are other cypress trees that are well suited for small spaces.
Rocky Mountain juniper
The Rocky Mountain juniper is a slow-growing evergreen that is hardy in colder areas of the UK. It requires full sun and a well drained soil. It has dark bluish-green needles and blue cones that are attractive to birds. This drought tolerant tree will be 9 to 12 m (30 to 40 feet) tall and 90 cm to 4.5 m (3 to 15 feet) wide. Moonglow and Skyrocket are two other tall, narrow junipers.
Boulevard falsecypress
The Boulevard falsecypress is a pyramid-shaped tree with silvery, blue-green foliage. Growing up to 7.5 m (25 feet) tall, the Boulevard falsecypress is heat tolerant and grows well in rainy climates and acidic soils. It is hardy throughout the UK. Slender Hinoki and Crippsii Hinoki falsecypress trees also grow well in small areas.
Little gem magnolia
This beauty has large, dark green leaves and is filled with white, fragrant blooms during summer. Hardy in the British Isles, little gem magnolias have a dense, upright form that grows up to 6 m (20 feet) tall and 2.4 to 3 m (8 to 10 feet) wide. They prefer full sun and a wide range of soils. Another small magnolia is the saucer magnolia.
Columnar tulip tree
The columnar tulip tree is well suited to narrow spaces due to its slender column-like form and nearly upright branches. In early summer, it blooms with tulip-like, greenish yellow flowers and in fall its leaves turn from green to clear yellow. It grows to 15 m (50 feet) tall and 4.5 m (15 feet) wide and is hardy in the British Isles.