The silver birch tree, an ideal focal point for your garden

Peter Dowdall discusses the importance of focal points in the garden and selects the silver birch as best.

EVERY garden should have a focal point — and most gardens have several features, little areas of interest with their own special flavour. Anything really, can be that statement piece, a sundial or birdbath, or even a water feature — but especially, trees.

Trees make the most commanding features of all in the garden and there is always a species for a particular area. From the intricate, delicate Japanese maples which can define the smallest of rockeries or Japanese garden, right up to a mature oak or beech in the centre of a big old estate garden.