Best trees for privacy.

Sheep

Hi all,

We have recently bought a new build and love it however they have now moved on to the final stage and have now built the house behind mine and it feels like we are just looking out over each other.

I am thinking of buying some tall trees to put up just in the corner where we overlook each other. They will have to be fairly thin as the garden isnt huge.

Can anyone recommend what trees to use and where to start?

Kind regards

Sheep

Bossypants

Leylandii are the classic for this, being evergreen and fast growing, but they can get very tall if not kept in check, and may make you unpopular with neighbours if the trees take out their light.

Browntoa

And in many areas limits to the height of Leylandi

Bossypants

I think that's only when in hedge form, not individual trees?

Edit: Apparently the limit is 2, according to this: https://www.leylandii.com/leylandii-law/

tori.k

In a small space avoid Leylandii better opting for Ligustrum (privet) or for better interest Osmanthus that will give you fragrant white flowers, another option to keep space is erecting some trellis and growing a mix of climbers against it.

martindow

How tall is tall? Could you get away with plants trained up trellis? If it needs to be really tall maybe some poplars or eucalyptus would work. These are deciduous but maybe that wouldn't be problem if your issue is the garden being overlooked. You also should consider the orientation and whether these trees could seriously shade your house and garden.

Mojisola

Bamboo in big pots will give an instant effect.

Davesnave

martindow wrote: »

How tall is tall? Could you get away with plants trained up trellis? If it needs to be really tall maybe some poplars or eucalyptus would work. These are deciduous but maybe that wouldn't be problem if your issue is the garden being overlooked. You also should consider the orientation and whether these trees could seriously shade your house and garden.

Poplar shouldn't be planted anywhere near drains and eucalyptus will go faster than leylandii if you let them! I second carefully chosen bamboo from somewhere like the BIg Plant Company.

Why not tell us how high you think the trees would need to be? Bear in mind that you knowingly bought a house with a small garden and on an estate that was likely to expand, so whatever you do will probably impact on someone else.'Tall' means nothing in the context of native British trees which can reach 20-30metres, no problem. One of those in the average garden = a big problem!

shinytop

The trouble with leylandii is that they make quite a large area round them unable so support anything else, e.g. grass. And after 10-15 years they don't look great in a 6-8 ft hedge. If you can get away with 1 or 2 leylandii it might work as they look OK it given space to spread. I inherited a garden full of leylandii.



Another (and IMO better looking) hedge that grows fast is laurel. The problem with nice hedges like privet is that they take many years to grow.

comeandgo

If you have tall trees will it restrict the sun into your garden? It's possible the neighbours will not be that interest in viewing you anyway or put up something themselves?

dunstonh

We have about 40 Leylandii across part of our land. Some bright spark thought it was a good idea to create privacy around 30-40 years ago. They are now much taller than the house and has created an area that is permanently in the shade and that has encouraged moss to grow. It also has sucked significant amounts of water out of the ground which has had knock-on effects elsewhere. However, they did achieve the objective of privacy as many people don't even know the house is there.

We are now having to spend many thousands of pounds taking around 30ft off their height.

Leylandii can cause problems years down the road.