Suggestions plse; large shrub or tree to screen/hide neighbours boiler plume

Mayflower10cat

Our (unattached) neighbour has recently had new condensing, exterior oil fired boiler installed.


The plume from the boiler hits the wooden fence (hers) between us and then pours over into our courtyard. Due to the prevailing wind, the plume always goes this direction. We checked with the EHO and yes, apparently the boiler meets all the regulations. It's just not pleasant seeing all that vapour swirling into our garden.


This neighbour has hated us ever since we had planning permission granted for a timber garage and carport. Her son is even nastier. I won't bore you with the horribleness but we don't communicate at all anymore, there's no point. If we still had a good relationship we'd ask/pay for a plume management kit.


As we can't add any height to the fence (and this is a conservation area) or erect a barrier the only thing we can do to divert some of the vapour is plant a huge shrub or small tree in a massive pot by the fence. I don't want to plant it in the ground as the roots would be very close to her property.

Can anyone think of a shrub or single trunk tree that will be around 3m high (or a little more) that won't mind being in a very big pot and will stand up to the outfall? If it had flowers or berries (for the birds) that would be even better.

Many thanks

Silvertabby

Hollies - one male and one female. Evergreen, berries for the birds (on the female tree) fast growing - but happy to be kept neatly trimmed. You'll need big pots though!

Misslayed

Twisted willow grows really quickly so would benefit from being constrained by a pot, it has a very interesting shape, even the bare branches in winter. Ours was always full of caterpillars and bugs, interest in their own right and food for the birds.

Mayflower10cat

Thank you Silvertabby (great name!) Holly is a very good suggestion. I have one at the bottom of my garden that's sadly, never borne berries but very attractive anyway.

Thank you Misslayed, that's another contender. I have a corkscrew hazel in a pot in my front garden which does very well. Willow would certainly grow faster.


I'm also pondering a pink Hawthorn. A friend said to me, 'oh just go to B&M and buy one of their artificial trees, tart it up a bit with some fake flowers and stick that on top of your waterbutt. Job done!'

andrewf75

Some kind of bamboo?

Mayflower10cat

Yes, andrewf75, I think bamboo would be a good fallback plan. I have a HUGE Stachys Nigra which I might, might be able to hack a chunk off. Trouble is, the original plant was in a pot which it burst out of in less than three years; it would be a temporary solution anyway. Thank you.

Silvertabby

Thank you Silvertabby (great name!) Holly is a very good suggestion. I have one at the bottom of my garden that's sadly, never borne berries but very attractive anyway.

Thank you - you can obviously tell that I'm a cat lover! You won't get berries with only 1 holly - you need a male and a female planted reasonably close together. If you do buy another holly (or 2) check the lables - for some reason the names are not gender specific (ie, Golden King is female).

Mojisola

Silvertabby wrote: »

T
You won't get berries with only 1 holly - you need a male and a female planted reasonably close together.

And if your tree is male, you'll never get berries!

We've got a lovely male tree - we don't get berries but all the neighbours' hollies berry up well every year.

Apodemus

While holly is a good suggestion, it's not hugely fast-growing until it is well-established. I would wonder about an ornamental conifer in a pot (even a Leylandii!) that you could prune to shape and keep at the right height. Dense enough for birds to nest in and could be temporarily turned into a Christmas tree for a couple of weeks each mid-winter.

dogstarheaven

I'm not sure if a tall, fast-growing miscanthus will survive in a pot, but if so, it can filter out the smoke against other tall plants too. I think you'll need a few pots of these surrounding the perimeter of the boiler.

Davesnave

The concept of 3m high *whatever* in a pot isn't a great one IMO. If it isn't forever falling over, you'll need to keep watering it.

I don't see why having roots close to the boundary is a problem, since there are probably tens of millions of plants in that position elsewhere in the country.

Anyway, something fast-growing, evergreen and with berries might be a pyracantha.