Fast growing trees for new large garden

Squiggle · 04-10-2019 3:13pm

macraignil wrote: »

I agree with you that planting very large trees right next to a house is not a great idea particularly when we are seeing the impact of tropical storms and hurricanes that were not a feature of our weather previously. Many trees let their leaves fall off in winter which makes them much less prone to wind damage but these recent ex tropical storms are giving us strong winds before most trees have had a chance to drop their leaves. If we had no trees in the country however there would be much more damage from other material picked up by the wind and blown for longer distances. Trees provide shelter and also have a positive effect in absorbing the force of storms. Here is a video I took from the living room window of some trees absorbing some of the Hurricane Ophelia wind.

I have heard of incidences of depression in places where dense evergreen trees like Leylandii have been planted and then not kept trimmed to a practical size for where they are planted but the examples I have seen were all in urban areas where people would often spend a lot of time in doors. If the opening

The opening poster specifically asked about larger trees to plant away form the house so I do not know why you have a problem with most of the suggestions being larger trees.

Larger trees ,well away from the house , can still deprive you of sunlight for several months of the year. I have a bigger site than the Op and I see it first hand.

Squiggle · 04-10-2019 3:15pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

the OP mentioned an acre and a quarter site with lawn around the house. i suspect he or she is sensible enough not to plant large trees right up against the window.

I'm constantly amazed at the amount of small gardens that have big trees in them.

Squiggle · 04-10-2019 3:22pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

quick back of the envelope calculation - you're going to have areas in your garden 40m or more away from the house (that's a theoretical minimum, based on a half hectare circular plot with the house dead centre, so in reality you will probably have garden available which is noticeably further away.
anyway, assuming you're not going to plant leylandii, it'd take 50 years for a tree to reach 40m, and they'd be on steroids at that rate anyway.

the main calculation as mentioned above, is to figure out where your sunlight comes from and plan accordingly.

Agree with the second bit. However as I said before a tree 100 metres from your house can still deprive you of sunlight for a few months, if not several months of the year.

Squiggle · 04-10-2019 3:34pm

macraignil wrote: »

If you are talking about planting a hedge then the hedge plants will sort of support each other to some extent. There are also lots of plants so supporting all of them with individual stakes and tree ties would be a ridiculous amount of work. Some exposed sites may benefit from netting posted next to the hedge to give the young plants some wind protection. I have found that usually the smaller sized hedge plants are less prone to wind damage and they are cheaper so would go with those. Either way you will have to keep them some way clear of weeds while they get established so from that perspective very small hedge plants might be prone to get over grown by weeds if you are not giving them enough attention. I'd reckon you should look at the plants on offer before deciding which size is the best to go with. Posted a video of my own white thorn and hornbeam hedge here. Not bothered weeding under them after they are planted a year and they seem to be doing fine now as the tops of the hedge plants are above the height the weeds can grow to.

I have different species of hedging including grisilinia , photinia, laurel, berberis and hornbeam. I kept them all weed free for the first couple of years, which I think is recommended practice. They 've all done well.

But to the OP I would say keep them manageable because the less ladders, platforms etc you need to use to cut them the better. Unless you have Dev Toner living beside you anything over about 2 metres, for privacy, is unnecessary.

As an aside did I mention issues with roots? I have a stunning 10 metre cooper beech tree whose roots are lifting the paving on my driveway? How do I stop this situation getting worse other than chain saw, stump grinder, jcb and reset paving?

magicbastarder · 04-10-2019 3:52pm

i had the same problem with a eucalytpus planted less than 1m from the driveway, by the previous owner of our house. had it taken down last year.

GreeBo · 04-10-2019 3:55pm

macraignil wrote: »

There are lots of plants that will grow well in the shade of trees (particularly if they are deciduous trees that lose their leaves in winter) and many of these are more interesting than a grass lawn anyway. Snowdrops, crocus, vinca, etc. Here is a RHS list of possible plants for shade.

Oh for sure, but I was more referring to the "I will have some nice a lawn areas around the house" part of the OP.

You just need to know what you want, if you are expecting a nice wimbledon section but happen to plant something that will shade and/or starve it then you will be disappointed.

macraignil · 04-10-2019 4:11pm

Squiggle wrote: »

I have different species of hedging including grisilinia , photinia, laurel, berberis and hornbeam. I kept them all weed free for the first couple of years, which I think is recommended practice. They 've all done well.

But to the OP I would say keep them manageable because the less ladders, platforms etc you need to use to cut them the better. Unless you have Dev Toner living beside you anything over about 2 metres, for privacy, is unnecessary.

As an aside did I mention issues with roots? I have a stunning 10 metre cooper beech tree whose roots are lifting the paving on my driveway? How do I stop this situation getting worse other than chain saw, stump grinder, jcb and reset paving?

We were told by the county council when our house was built that grisilinia was not allowed to be planted. I read somewhere that it has been found to be of very little good to our native wildlife and that is the reason growing it is not advised. Leylandii was the other plant we were told not to grow.

I think you are right to keep a new hedge weed free for longer if possible but the one I planted is nearly 200metres long so I'm going to chance it that just clearing under it for a year will be enough. Might clip the undergrowth and remove the worst weeds in the Spring if I have time but digging out all of the undergrowth would do too much damage to the hedge plant roots at this stage in my opinion.

There is a local farmer here with a hedge trimming machine he can bring around on his tractor so going to leave it to him to set the final height of our hedge. It is no where near the house so height is not a problem.

Not sure what is the best course of action with your Beech tree. There is a possibility you could dig down in between the tree and the drive way and prune out the roots near the surface that are causing the problem but then there would be a chance it might destabilize the tree.

uck51js9zml2yt · 05-10-2019 12:19am

Lumen wrote: »

I was thinking more of the productive trees (fruit and nut) which really need full sun.

What you can do is put tall trees on the north side of the site, and then plant fruit/nut trees in a few metres from those. That way they'll get full sun across the site from the south, even if you plant more smallish trees or high hedging on the southern boundary.

Windbreak on the west is also a good idea cos that's where the prevailing wind is from.

Good advice on location. I was planning on an orchard/ fruit forest on the southern side of my field but the northern side might be better to avail of full sun.

GreeBo · 05-10-2019 3:09pm

I have a mature beech hedge that I had just cut back to about 1.5M high (from 3) and 0.5M wide (probably also from 3M!)
Its starting to bud which is nice to see, but I also had to take out 4-5 blackthorn which were a total curse and have left lots of big gaps in the hedge.
While cutting back the sides I had a good few runners that had started to put out roots so I have replanted these in the gaps and we will see what happens.

My biggest issue is feckin ivy which is everywhere with hundreds of fragile runners and only 1 or 2 main plants....The hedge is so open now that Im expecting the ivy to take off

....any advice on how to keep it back? There was a layer of 6-8 inches of old leaves which meant the ivy wasn't in contact with the ground, but I've cleared that all out now so expecting the worst!

macraignil · 05-10-2019 3:34pm

GreeBo wrote: »

I have a mature beech hedge that I had just cut back to about 1.5M high (from 3) and 0.5M wide (probably also from 3M!)
Its starting to bud which is nice to see, but I also had to take out 4-5 blackthorn which were a total curse and have left lots of big gaps in the hedge.
While cutting back the sides I had a good few runners that had started to put out roots so I have replanted these in the gaps and we will see what happens.

My biggest issue is feckin ivy which is everywhere with hundreds of fragile runners and only 1 or 2 main plants....The hedge is so open now that Im expecting the ivy to take off ....any advice on how to keep it back? There was a layer of 6-8 inches of old leaves which meant the ivy wasn't in contact with the ground, but I've cleared that all out now so expecting the worst!

Ivy is great for wildlife with flowers late in the year that are great for pollinators and also food for birds in winter when other sources are in short supply. I agree it could be a problem in a flower bed or where you are growing some fruit or vegetables but I'd never view it as a problem in a hedge. The hedge plants should be vigorous enough to continue growing even with some ivy so in my opinion you should just leave it be. If there are bits getting out of hand you could just rip them out of the ground or cut them back but as I said it is a natural part of a healthy hedge in my opinion.

Fast growing trees for new large garden

Comments