What to do with this Tree... 🌳

Ropo

Hi

Looking for some advice. I've this overgrown evergreen tree in my south facing garden.

It gives us great privacy from the houses behind . However it's in a difficult spot planted right up against our shed and every time we get it cut it's really pricey.

I'm wondering if we remove it what could I do to keep privacy from being overlooked?

horse7

Which one?

magicbastarder

I would presume the one on the right.

Not much you could do without planting something else in front of the shed again, I reckon.

looksee

When worrying about being overlooked or privacy, its worth considering how important it is. From the back of your house just look at the other houses and wonder how much time you think neighbours are going to spend standing in their back bedroom window and looking at your house. It is very overrated as a passtime.

However, its hard to see from the pic, there is a bit of an optical illusion going on on the left, it looks like a door in a wall rather than a shed, with the hedge behind it. It might be an option to put a fence/fascia across the top of the roof, it would need to be a pretty sturdy almost box type structure, and grow something over it, otherwise you are looking at planting another tree.

Ropo

Thanks for the replies . The tree on the right is the one that grow quickly and right up against the shed ( brown door) On the left it's a door to the lane way.

Our garden face the front of the houses behind us & we lot windows in our kitchen .

I like the privacy and looking at greenery, I'm wondering if the current tree is long term the right tree or should I replace it. Ongoing maintenance is approx 1k each time we get cut. What could I replace I with that we could maintain ourselves.?

If retain it how much could we cut it down by, it's 2- 3 Meters higher than it needs to be to give retain privacy.

looksee

What are they doing to cut it? It overhangs the shed, certainly, but if the roots were going to be a problem it would have happened by now, and any branches actually touching the shed could be cut off without too much issue. 1k seems like a lot for that kind of cutting?

You could put in something like a silver birch a distance from the shed (they do have quite long roots so keep it a distance away) they are pretty fast growing and are not a solid mass of dark leaf to make the house dark. Let it grow for a few years - I have some that started as 3ft slips and are now, 4 years later about 12 to 15 ft high - then take out the old tree. Birch are deciduous, but I don't think you would want evergreen half way up the garden, it would be a bit overwhelming from the house, and also very slow growing. Don't put in leylandii, they grow too fast and will be a total liability.

Edit, just saw your last sentence, do you know what kind of tree it is? Looks like it could be a cyprus, is it a leylandii? If it is then the only solution is to take it out. It would look very odd with the top cut off and if you shorten the branches too much it will just be dead.

Ropo

1k is the price for tree surgeon to call and lob the trees !