The careful siting of trees with red or bronze foliage can make for eye-catching, effective specimens, but their use must not be overdone. Too many dark-leaved woody plants, be they trees or shrubs, often leads to a sombre tone.

When contrasted with shades of silver, blue grey or golden foliage, their presence can create a major highlight in the garden. In the average-sized garden one tree with red foliage will probably be enough.

The eastern redbud, botanically called Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’, makes a magnificent specimen for the smaller garden.

Although slow-growing – reaching about 6m tall after 15 years – it does need room to spread, because it will grow as wide as it is tall.

Classed as a small multi-stemmed tree or a large shrub, it is much admired for its large (up to 12cm wide) heart-shaped leaves which are deep red-purple in summer before turning vibrant shades of orange and red in autumn.

When grown in a warm sheltered site, bright pink flowers appear in clusters on the bare stems before the leaves in spring.

For year round interest Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’, or red-leaved corkscrew hazel, has many attributes to commend it.

It is a great tree for the small garden, attaining a size of 4mx6m in about 20 years. Purplish-red, deeply ribbed leaves unfurl in spring before turning slightly greener in summer and green in autumn. The twisted branches look stunning in late winter and early spring when they carry purplish-pink catkins.

Another tree with a long season of interest is the weeping purple beech (Fagus sylvatica purpurea pendula).

This is a slow-growing mushroom-shaped tree which doesn’t exceed 3mx3m. The cascading pendulous branches are covered in deep purplish-black foliage which appears in May.

As autumn approaches, the leaves turn bronze and gold. For the best leaf colour it should be given a sunny position.

Acer platanoides ‘Crimson king’ is one of the Norway maples. It’s not suitable for the small garden as ultimately this vigorous tree can reach 12m tall with a spread of more than 8m. This very widely planted tree, often see in public parks, has large, five-lobed, deep purple-crimson leaves throughout the summer. Small reddish- brown flowers appear in clusters on leafless branches before the leaves.

The purple leaved plum, Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’, is another commonly-planted tree throughout the country.

It is more suited to the larger garden. Reaching 10m high and wide, its canopy severely limits what can be grown underneath which means so much ground is wasted in a small garden.

It is very showy in spring when its branches are smothered in deep pink buds which open into single, pale pink flowers. This display is followed by blackish-purple leaves and twigs.

I have intentionally not mentioned the magnificent Japanese maples with red/purple foliage which, although often small in stature, are considered trees if they have one stem arising from the ground. They, I feel, deserve their own treatment.