Best evergreen near railway track - Help!

Zippydooh

Hi all,

We recently bought a house and at the end of the garden we have a railway line. This is about 3-4 metres back from our fence, up a bank about 2m high.

We want to plant some evergreen trees/hedge to make the garden more private and to help block out some of the noise, although it isn't anywhere near as loud as I was expecting! The next door neighbour has what looks like a conifer or leylandii, although I haven't had chance to ask them yet!

My concern is that I want to make sure what whatever we plant, doesn't grow wide enough to touch the railway line, isn't massively tall, so no 40ft trees and is low maintenance. We were thinking of possibly planting laurel, but I'm not sure how wide they actually grow. The man at the garden centre suggested Castlewellan Gold Leylandii, saying they didn't grow too wide, however the internet suggests otherwise! We need to get something planted ASAP before we get the fencing redone in a couple of weeks.

Any other ideas? Does such a tree exist? I'm such a garden novice and am worrying, ridiculously, that I will have British Rail knocking on my door...

Thanks all!

Apodemus

Planting in the next couple of weeks may not be a good idea, unless you can commit to watering on almost a daily basis.

[Deleted User]

Laurel is a good idea, as would be a Viburnum, but do bear in mind the number of years it's going to take to reach the height necessary to muffle noise etc.


Not many plants are going to grow 30cm in a year so you'll either have to be prepared to wait 5 plus years for it to get near the height you'd like or search established/instant impact sizes (online mostly, rarely the local garden centre or nursery).


Did you mean you were going to plant the trees before fencing was erected ?

Zippydooh

Thanks both!

We're happy to wait for them to grow as we plan on living here for many years to come, so are not worried about an I stand screen. We're not overlooked by anyone other than the train.

Long story short, the previous owners only owned it a couple of years and couldn't be bothered to sort the garden out, so they cut down the lovely trees and moved the fence forward by about 2.5m! :mad: So we're reclaiming the space as it's such a waste otherwise. We're having to get the current fence panels moved back once the tree stumps are removed next week, so ideally we'd like to plant them at the bottom of the bank like other neighbours have.

We're happy to water whatever is there. Never heard of Viburnum. Off to google!

-taff

Cypresses?

Davesnave

Lots of words, but I'm still not sure which side of the fence you want the trees/shrubs, which will be much better planted around November. Small ones will catch up with large ones in a few years and establish more easily.

If it were me, I'd plant well into the garden, if possible, and leave a gap to walk through, putting the fence against the railway boundary for security and using the small area between it and the trees for unsightly stuff, like composting etc.

However, I have no way at this stage of knowing if that's viable, whether it would cast too much shade etc.

The reason I'd do that, if possible, would be to use the Castlewellan Gold, but have access to both sides to keep it trimmed and narrow. I've done it before and it works well, giving a barrier about 12' high. Leylandii will go to 40' if you let them and they do it faster if one side isn't trimmed.

OTOH, laurel will also go 12' thick too, so there isn't a no maintenance option. I used to trim my gold leylands every 18 months or so, or bribe my daughter to do it. Not too onerous.

Finally, you won't get any appreciable sound reduction I'm afraid.

andrewf75

Photinia, Cotoneaster are some other suggestions.

Davesnave

andrewf75 wrote: »

Photinia, Cotoneaster are some other suggestions.

I haven't found all cotoneasters evergreen since moving out of a warm city, but Cotoneaster lacteus certainly is.

The same caveats apply to this potential tree too. If it's planted directly by the railway company fence, it will eventually arch out over it and the OP will have no legal way of trimming it.

Farway

Davesnave wrote: »

The same caveats apply to this potential tree too. If it's planted directly by the railway company fence, it will eventually arch out over it and the OP will have no legal way of trimming it.

There may also be the possibility if too close to railway embankment of the roots potentially causing, or railway claiming they cause, shrinkage & weakening of the embankment.

There have been instance with the recent dry hot summers' weather causing old Victorian embankments to slip and costly rebuilds and line closures. Although most often it is heavy rain that triggers a slip probably best to be aware of it

Not worth a risk by planting close and giving an opportunity of a claim

Oxid8uk

A few trees won't reduce noise levels but you may perceive the level of noise to be less as you won't be able to see the source.