Surfing through some interesting gardening articles, I came across this post [article no longer available] about the 2007 Lawn and Garden Show in Springfield, Missouri.

It seems that more gardeners are on the lookout for better trees that are able to survive climatic conditions. Trees that are stronger, shorter and have a better overall appearance are being pursued by gardeners keen to replant.

The most fashionable trees that top the list are; flowering cherry, Amur maple, redbud, dogwood and the crab apple. Bradford pears which have been popular for quite some time are getting a mixed reaction. Some swear by them while others feel they are a vulnerable tree.

Here in Australia many gardeners steer clear of eucalypts unless they're grown on large properties. Most gums have a eagerness to shed their branches whenever a storm hits, but are so temperamental they may only need a short gust of wind.

So which trees are the best at standing up to the storms that will often rip through our gardens? For me, I find that our agonis flexousa's, along with the willow's and birches, are by far the ones I worry about the least when I hear the wind whipping up.

Most home gardeners would be wise not to plant trees that overshadow their houses and as property sizes continue to decrease this means that the choice then becomes somewhat constricted. Yet it doesn't mean that trees have to be taken off the shopping list altogether.

When determining the strength of a tree, we can sometimes incorrectly apportion this virtue to size and width. However, many of the strongest trees for home gardens are the ones with flexible trunks, branches that aren't overladen, deep root systems and are more columnar in nature.

When the climate changes they can easily adapt and stand their ground.