Cover up 30m of border with trees

[hatTT]

Hi,

how much would it cost to cover up 30m of garden?
I'm surrounded by houses and I wish to have my peace of mind in the garden.

If I use screening plants, it's gonna be cheaper, but still on a 5-6k if I use the help of someone, I also would need to put a deck on it first, that could be another 3k minimum...
But apart the starting point, I also need to consider the cleaning, it would take an entire day to a person to trim on the sides and on top, probably done once a year, plus all the flowers I'll put around, maybe twice a year but I could do it at that point.
If I let him do only the trees, it could cost 500 pounds an entire day, unless they charge 200 per hour as I've been quoted recently... The ground cleaning after will be left to me, so he would just trim the trees, I would expect him to work for an entire day at his own peace.
These trees/plants would be around 4m each, hopefully not 5 or someone would complain about the house insurance, and that would be the start of a dog fight with the neighbors, plus I don't want responsibility for it, I didn't see an insurance for it at the moment... Please correct me if I'm wrong .
What would happen if a tree falls on top of my neighbor's roof? Or on the head of someone?

If I use high trees, then it could be different, those trees become very high and very soon, it requires tools and a platform, I don't have easy access to the garden so that would be a challenge or almost impossible, unless you want to climb to cut them.

On top of it, the neighbors may become very nervous because now they have a screening side to clean, more money and it's not really the right moment to charge them (on top of their insurance plan or the charge to amend the change) because they're responsible for the cleaning on their side I'm not wrong, so I'm thinking to plant the plants/trees a bit inside my garden so they would need to trim them once in 2y or so, is it a good idea??

Below you find a few screenshots of what I mean.
These are classic screening trees, due to the boring low side, I can put other plants to distract the view (thanks YouTube), hopefully plants that don't grow much.

(they would be up to the 2nd floor, as said, around 4m)

Or with this plant (conifer):

There are also other similar plants that have different colors, I would certainly opt for more colors .

Roughly, the cost of planting would be 5-6k (they would be already grown up, like 2m), with 5k for the deck (if made out of stone or bricks, it would be much more expensive and I think I have no choice for a permanent solution, the garden will be too extensive to replace the wooden deck in 15y max...).
500 pounds for the annual cleaning, plus some side task left to me, I considered one day of work but they may require more time, and when it's time to trim them on top, it would be one day of work only for that, so by myself I could trim on the side, but I should still buy a tool that can extend around 4m to trim the sides.
I'm kind of desperate for the pricing tag here, I'm thinking to put a Pergola or better a Conservatorium instead, so I can reduce the garden screening size... Good luck to find the cash for both though...

All in all, more and more ****ed about UK chicken house positioning, the developers should be jailed together with whoever made the law.

 

[StephenStephen]

Generally best to buy bare rooted SMALL trees in the dormant season (winter).

Prepare the ground well.

Lots of water in dry spells - a good soaking every few days, NOT a little every day.

...buying full size trees is usually a waste of money.

A couple of links:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/wildlife/plant-a-bare-root-mixed-wildlife-hedge

A comprehensive guide to bare root plants

What are bare root hedging plants, the benefits of bare root plants and how they are grown - a guide provided by one of the UK's specialist growers

www.rjtreesandhedging.co.uk

Some info on plant spacing here: https://www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/knowledge-base/hedge-spacing-advice/

There should be enough info there for you to work out cost/metre

Personally I'd recommend beech, and strongly advise against leylandii.

 

[Notch7]

Avoid leylandii, it won’t regrow from old growth so the hedge slowly gets wider and if it’s let go grow too tall, cutting it back will ruin it.

If you must go for a conifer choose thuja plicata, it regrows better from old growth, but nothing like as well as traditional British hedgerow species

Beech makes a good hedge and although deciduous, it keeps its leaves all winter so is not see through

Bamboo is an option

I suppose laurel as well.


Most hedges 4metres high will be pretty broad - my in laws have a leylandii hedge and it’s 2.5m wide

 

[hatTT]

Generally best to buy bare rooted SMALL trees in the dormant season (winter).

Prepare the ground well.

Lots of water in dry spells - a good soaking every few days, NOT a little every day.

...buying full size trees is usually a waste of money.

A couple of links:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/wildlife/plant-a-bare-root-mixed-wildlife-hedge

A comprehensive guide to bare root plants

What are bare root hedging plants, the benefits of bare root plants and how they are grown - a guide provided by one of the UK's specialist growers

www.rjtreesandhedging.co.uk

Some info on plant spacing here: https://www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/knowledge-base/hedge-spacing-advice/

There should be enough info there for you to work out cost/metre

Personally I'd recommend beech, and strongly advise against leylandii.

Why don't you recommend Leylandii?

Anyway, Id' like to buy a 1-2m tree, so I don't need to wait years to bring it up to 4m, I checked the prices and I can afford around 2m height, unless the price of the tree itself is out of budget, but so far I didn't find any, at least for the ones just used for screening.
There are some expensive ones, usually with beautiful colors like sky blue, red, certainly I'd like to put those too but let's start with the screening first.

Avoid leylandii, it won’t regrow from old growth so the hedge slowly gets wider and if it’s let go grow too tall, cutting it back will ruin it.

If you must go for a conifer choose thuja plicata, it regrows better from old growth, but nothing like as well as traditional British hedgerow species

Beech makes a good hedge and although deciduous, it keeps its leaves all winter so is not see through

Bamboo is an option

I suppose laurel as well.


Most hedges 4metres high will be pretty broad - my in laws have a leylandii hedge and it’s 2.5m wide

Beech is more of a forest tree, I don't think I can have such huge tree in the garden, the garden is attached to the others...
Or do you mean to put it there but max 4m tall as I want for a general plant? How long does it take to grow in UK? Supposedly purchased as a 2m tree.

I'd like a tree that doesn't lose leafs, not only for the cleaning to do (and there my neighbors would kill me), but also for the autumn or early spring garden family time .

 

[StephenStephen]

All trees are forest trees.

Here is some more, hopefully helpful, information:

How to grow beech / RHS Gardening

Learn how to grow beech in your garden with the RHS expert guide on choosing, planting, feeding, pruning and propagating plants.

www.rhs.org.uk

Leylandii: Why are they still so popular?

More than 300,000 leylandii are sold each year but they are still the source of countless disputes between neighbours. Why are people still buying them?

www.bbc.co.uk

Hedge height and light loss

www.gov.uk

https://treecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Tree-Council-Planting-Guidance.pdf

The problems with leylandii are:

-It's so fast growing that you'll be doing a lot of pruning, and pruning more often

-If you cut back into brown wood it won't regrow green ( hence the suggestion of thuja from Notch7)

It will dry out the soil in a wide area around it.

 

[jj4091]

I was under the impression that hedges between you and your neighbour had to be kept to a maximum of 6 feet. Being in a similar position I know you are going to create a massive problem for them in the future as cutting our side of their hedge gets more difficult each year as I get older. The screen shots you show look very nice but they will require a lot more work than a yearly trim to keep them looking like that.
Edit: just noticed the link in the above post which confirms my thoughts about heights. Stephen also mentions the surrounding area drying out which causes dying lawns and subsidence and cracking of concrete paths and drives that will also apply to what ever type of hedge you plant. I would suggest if you have so much concern about privacy that you move somewhere that it is not a problem, rather than create problems for others.

 

[Odds]

You could plant out a mixture of ornamental Acers and use Larger Acers in strategic locations for screening neighbours houses. A range of colours will provide a dynamic display in fall and provide shade from summer sunlight. If you prune the branches carefully they can bring shape and pattern from different perspectives during winter and the new growth in spring is always interesting, especially if you've planted bulbs to flower alongside them.

 

[Koolpc]

This may be just right. Trump could give you advice about it too;

 

[Why Not Indeed]

You could plant out a mixture of ornamental Acers and use Larger Acers in strategic locations for screening neighbours houses.

Acers are absolutely lovely and come in a wide range of bark and leaf colours and shapes, but they're not fast growing and will be expensive to acquire if you don't have patience. For example, I bought two Katsura exactly 5y ago at "15-20 cm" [it says in the email] and they are now both about 2m tall. On the other hand, this means that the maintenance required of them will be less.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Beech is more of a forest tree, I don't think I can have such huge tree in the garden, the garden is attached to the others...

Keep it pruned small. As discussed, it won't lose its leaves over winter when kept small. Ie, it's a suitable candidate for hedging. They're a native species, they're cheap and they're abundant. They come in green and dark purple.

 

[hatTT]

I was under the impression that hedges between you and your neighbour had to be kept to a maximum of 6 feet. Being in a similar position I know you are going to create a massive problem for them in the future as cutting our side of their hedge gets more difficult each year as I get older. The screen shots you show look very nice but they will require a lot more work than a yearly trim to keep them looking like that.
Edit: just noticed the link in the above post which confirms my thoughts about heights. Stephen also mentions the surrounding area drying out which causes dying lawns and subsidence and cracking of concrete paths and drives that will also apply to what ever type of hedge you plant. I would suggest if you have so much concern about privacy that you move somewhere that it is not a problem, rather than create problems for others.

Thanks, that's another problem I need to avoid, but I think that I can keep trees higher than 6 feet, certainly not more than 5m or they'll kill me for the insurance change .
Though I still wonder who's responsabile for a fallen tree...

Probably the ones suggested are the good ones, not screeners which have a tons of leafs and they grow very quickly, plus all the problems mentioned about the conifers.

Keep it pruned small. As discussed, it won't lose its leaves over winter when kept small. Ie, it's a suitable candidate for hedging. They're a native species, they're cheap and they're abundant. They come in green and dark purple.

What do you mean by "keep it pruned small"?
If it grows, it grows , it's just up to me how toll it will become.
+1 on the easy way to trim them, I could do it entirely by myself with simple stairs and a chainsaw if the branches are thick, either way, some other simpler/safer tool.
I just bumped today into a dark purple tree, I guess it was a Katsura, it was around 4m, really nice, it may even screen perfectly but I think I need to rely on someone on doing the job, I don't have experience with that, if I touch it for the previous years it won't come up very well .
The alternative seems Beech, not bad, I'll think about the one too.

 

[hatTT]

You could plant out a mixture of ornamental Acers and use Larger Acers in strategic locations for screening neighbours houses. A range of colours will provide a dynamic display in fall and provide shade from summer sunlight. If you prune the branches carefully they can bring shape and pattern from different perspectives during winter and the new growth in spring is always interesting, especially if you've planted bulbs to flower alongside them.

This one is very nice as well, I actually took a picture recently and I wanted to find out how it was named , I've put it in the list:

Large Acer
Beech
Katsura

 

[Why Not Indeed]

What do you mean by "keep it pruned small"?
If it grows, it grows , it's just up to me how toll it will become.

A full-sized ["adult"?] beech tree sheds all its leaves in autumn, so it then would not be a hedge, right? And you specifically said you don't want to be cleaning up leaves, either.

I have a large beech in my garden [25-30m tall], the handful of branches at head height don't shed their leaves but the rest of the tree does. I also have a small purple ["copper"] beech that I keep pruned to about 2m, this keeps all its leaves.

You can also pleach a beech. As well as rhyming, this looks a bit like your example pictures:

Pleached Beech Trees

Foliage: lime green in spring, dark green in summer and bronze in autumn Ideal for: Screening, privacy and creating shade Special requirements: 2-4 people required for planting Head (the leafy hedge screen): 1.5m wide x 1.5m high Clear stem (the bare stem): 1.8-2m Overall size: approx. 1.5m wide...

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk

 

[hatTT]

A full-sized ["adult"?] beech tree sheds all its leaves in autumn, so it then would not be a hedge, right? And you specifically said you don't want to be cleaning up leaves, either.

I have a large beech in my garden [25-30m tall], the handful of branches at head height don't shed their leaves but the rest of the tree does. I also have a small purple ["copper"] beech that I keep pruned to about 2m, this keeps all its leaves.

You can also pleach a beech. As well as rhyming, this looks a bit like your example pictures:

Pleached Beech Trees

Foliage: lime green in spring, dark green in summer and bronze in autumn Ideal for: Screening, privacy and creating shade Special requirements: 2-4 people required for planting Head (the leafy hedge screen): 1.5m wide x 1.5m high Clear stem (the bare stem): 1.8-2m Overall size: approx. 1.5m wide...

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk

Is it your case due to the height or the purple one doesn’t lose the leafs in general?
I honestly forgot that about the green one, I’ll think about it.

I don’t have problems in doing the cleaning, but it will become a full time job (in weekends) and also a logistic challenge with only one green bin, unless I can request one more at least from the council…
Similarly, the neighbours may be doing that too, but much less than me as I’ll plant more on the inside of my border.

What’s your experience with the growth year over year?

 

[StephenStephen]

Beeches trimmed as hedges tend to hold onto their leaves over winter