Best Trees or Mix of Trees for Roadside/Driveway

If you don't want the hedge look, but want all year screening from the road, you could look at putting in a mix of holly and Scots Pine (both evergreen, yew also unless small kids or grazing animals present) with a mix of other native "interesting" deciduous (shed the leaves in winter) such as spindle, guelder rose, hazel- these three are large shrubs/small trees. You can also plant some oak, birch, whitebeam and rowan-the last two produce great berries for wildlife, the oak will outlive your great-grandkids and the birch is a relatively quick grower. By mixing these, and staggering the planting you will achieve the screening you want while it looking informal with some interest all year.

Edit- my suggestion is essentially to plant a linear native woodland.

Are you looking for something that will grow into tall trees or are you planning to keep them clipped?

Perhaps you could post a picture of the "look" you want to achieve.

Everyone need a eucalyptus... but they should sell them with a chainsaw

My suggestion is Arbutus Unedo... native Irish, evergreen with red strawberry fruits and small white flowers. It is also called the Strawberry tree. It wont grow enormous. A lot of roadside verge trees have a relatively short lifespan of c 40 yrs eg cherry, rowan. So take longevity and ultimate height into consideration. Stay clear of sycamore as it seeds itself everywhere and can be considered a weed.

Absolutely avoid sycamore, weed of a tree! I was going to mention the arbutus, lovely large shrub, lots of interest.

Looking at that image it appears you will be putting in trees to the south and south west, so don't put in anything too tall, or you will completely shade your house and lawn. I would suggest some large shrubs (I would consider arbutus to fit in here), maybe hazel, holly, vibernum, lilac (though it can be a bit either temperamental or over vigorous, depends on your soil), with just one or two decent sized trees - silver birch, rowen, amelanchier, crab apple, all medium sized to give a bit of height without shading you too much. Two irregular rows would be enough, I don't think you have space for more.

OP, I see what you mean about bleak! As said, assuming the google pic is right way up you need to be conscious of eventually blocking out the light onto the house and lawn. Sticking with my preference for linear native, you might plant pockets of the taller trees, with stretches of holly, guelder rose, hawthorn in between- the local hedging contractor could top these (saving you the maintenance issue and allowing you to set the "final" height on it- just noticed and Looksee expresses it better! Any livestock need to be kept at grazing length from the young plants, so plant back from the fence. People have different opinions on planting distance- personally, I plant with enough width to get puch mower between the saplings, this means suppressing the grass until the trees have become established is less of a task.

DonalB1 wrote: »

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful suggestions. I'm going to order some of all the above. genuinely the suggestions are great and please feel free to keep them coming or share any pics you have because I love seeing it and getting ideas.

Can I ask, is there any website that shows the best way to dig and plant these? And shows the formation and spacing to plant them at? Is it ok to plant the shrubs in between the trees, it won't interfere with the roots? Also do I need to buy a certain clay that'll help them take?

Also is there anywhere to buy Arbutus Unedo relatively cheap?

Get a good strong spade, you dont need to make a hole as you will be planting bareroot trees/plants (holly will be potted) you just make a slit in the ground deep and wide enough for the roots. Some trees have bushy roots and you ll have to wiggle a bigger slot/hole. Place the tree in the hole making sure the top of the roots are below ground level. Hold the tree straight and press the earth down around the roots to close the hole. Hold the top of the tree between your thumb and fingers and give it a thug, if it doesnt budge, its grand.

Throw out one species at a time, randomly or whatever way you want. If you have 100metres to plant and 20 of each species, then throw them 1 every 25metres. Do the larger ones first to give you an idea of spacing.

As another poster mentioned keep at least a metre between trees/shrubs for maintainence.(if planting a linear wood) if you are planting a straigth line hedge, then a foot apart you couod do 2 lines staggered 18 inch apart.

Dont forget to protect against rabbits either with tree protectors or fencing the area with chicken wire.

I wouldnt fertilise but depends on your soit etc. you could get a truck load of mulch/woodchip to help suppress grass/weeds.

Trees are great, plant loads

Holm Oak(big), Bay, and Yew are also worth consideration as evergreens. You could also try Hornbeam which may or may not hold it's dead leaves, but has lovely structure.

DonalB1 wrote: »

I'm a little bit lost on this, do you mean 20 in total over 100 meters or 20 of each tree? Hahaha

I plan on buying 2-3 of all the different types above, potentially going in a row along the road about 1-2 meters apart with shrubs in between. Something like - Evergreen oak - Hawthorn - Birch - Barberry - Arbutus - Hawthorn - Mountain Ash . With a meter or so between the trees and then have the shrubs in that meter space. Would that work? Or is there a better method?



Completely agree, where I've bought, it's stone walls and fields everywhere, which can be a bit bleak at times and offers no privacy.

I was giving the example of 20 trees of each species. But the principle is the same for any amount.

The method you suggest would be grand. Larger trees every metre then shrubs in between.

Sounds like Roscommon/Galway?

DonalB1 wrote: »

Are any of these a danger to grazing animals?

Also where is the best place to buy bare root online ?

Choices look good to me.


I've heard that future forests are good to order from but gone to collect myself when I have got trees and shrubs from them and the stock I got was good. Their website is closed until Sunday according to a pop up notification I just saw because they have been so busy. Maybe there's a lot of lock down gardeners about at the moment.
Happy gardening!

Some great suggestions here - thou I’m not a fan of Holm (evergreen) oak as they look very weary & wasted as they get older IMO. St Annes Park by the sea in Raheny is famous for them as they take well to the sea air/climate but there are scraggy and there are far nicer trees and much more beautiful foliage IMO.

The pic the OP first posted was grisillenia - an evergreen tall growning shrub that was a big hit in gardens in the 1980’s. We had them at home ( still have) & they give great evergreen cover but need good clipping and managing and
they can grow 15-20 foot if left to their own devices! Check the label - maybe there are different varities!

I ordered and planted pre grown ( ie 15-twenty foot high) MULTI STEMMED BETULA ( multi stemmed silver birch) which were the best things I ever bought for the house. Because they are multi stemmed you get a lot of growth from the base up and so a huge amount of coverage not just a single trunk with growth on top. I’d really recommend a few. But they are not evergreen but they are beautiful. Also the bark is silvery and beautiful and they grow very tall - now up above the 3rd floor & roof !! They provide a lovely nesting habitat for the birds and native wildlife .

I’d +1 for traditional Irish hedgerows - like whitethorn and hawthorn etc they will encourage native wildlife and butterflies etc which are really struggling - as well as great suggestions here the Irish Seed Bank and Irish Native Woodland Trust have good websites as well as a company that sells old Irish and more unusual traditional fruiting trees grown from seed - might be an interesting mix for those apple pies and cooking in the future!

Laurels and yew are I think poisonous so I wouldn’t be a big fan. But lots of people put in copper beach hedging a few years back - It was quite the thing and beautiful in Autumn. Red robbin is the trend now. Like potentilla and pointsettia in the early 90’s - hardy, flowering with different varieties growing quite tall and offering a lot of interest and flowers at different times of the year. Dogwood (vibrant red stems) and bushy flowers in summer (but dicidious) is also great as is orange blossom ( very tall grower, semi hardy, and beautiful white flowers with stunning scent)

I would say OP that many garden centers often only carry stock that look good or flower at that precise time of year - so I’d urge caution at buying everything at the same time or you will definately miss out.

I’d also urge not to plant up jammed against a boundary fence as if it grows out the council (or neighbours) will mangle the overgrowing branches and you could be left with a tangle of shattered and snapped main branches with all the nests and foliage hacked to pieces and just dense branches or ugly thick trucks & little
greenery left.

Weeping willows are beautiful too IMO - you’d have the space for a full grown one - not the tiny three foot ones you get in Lidl/Supermarkets! With a carpet of snowdrops or bluebells planted beneath them.

Also Acer can be really beautiful and add fabulous dynamic striking colour in Autumn - beat to buy them as their leaves turn as you can really judge what you will get then - you wouod have to plant them in a big hole lined with a few
foot deep of pure peat moss or ericeous soil as
they are like free plants.

Also I’d plant all new
trees and shrubs in at least a foot or farmyard manure or well rotted horse manure to give them a good start. much better than woodchips which will take years to rot into usefulness and are not a ‘proper’ enrichment for new plants.

I planted two (evergreen) pittisporum (niagrii) for blocking in my garden - some
people keep them pruned as tall hedges but I
let them grow as full grown trees -
they have that classical beautiful shape, are
evergreen and have tiny flowers in the summer. I have the varigated type with green leaves with white edges - great cover and not too dense green and lovely all year round. My
neighbour planted the black leaved version but IMO its too dark. Evergreen also thou.

So excited for you! Good luck and don’t buy all
at the same time!!! Also DO leave lots of width between trees and shrubs for growing - I really made that mistake!!

looksee wrote: »

It might be worth looking around the area - are there any trees at all growing? Are the trees that are growing any way stunted looking? Are there houses with trees in the gardens that look healthy? It may be the area is not suited to trees.

I would suggest 1 meter is too close for large trees. If you squash in trees and shrubs you get a hedge, is that what you want or do you want a more woodland looking effect? If you want to see the shape of the trees and shrubs give them a bit of space.

I am not sure that sweet chestnut or oak would be suited to the apparently challenging situation you have.

The OP has two acres and a
field!! Or am I missing something!? I’d hardly call that restrictive or a challenging space!

Funsterdelux wrote: »

I'd say they were never there in the first place, probably after the enclosure act it was whatever material was handy to divide up the lands to make stockproof boundaries for fields.

As for danger to grazing animals, I think the trees are in danger from them more than the other way round. But I dont know if any would be toxic to grazers, someone else might know.

I cant advise on supplier as Im lucky enough in North Cork to have access to a few here in Cork and South Tipp.

Most will have the whitethorn, oak, rowan, birch, pine.

Yew is the main danger to livestock- if the OP puts in barberry, the main danger is to the OP!! (just joking on their prickly nature).