Recommendations for Fast Growing Plant

olgadapolga

I have a large(ish) apple tree at the far end of my garden. When we moved into the property last year, the garden was bordered with trees which had either died or had become unwieldly, so we removed all of the dead/dangerous ones which left this apple tree. Now, it does look pretty in the spring with the lovely blossoms but the tree produces thousands of apples. I mean, thousands. We spent a considerable amount of time over the late Spring and Summer picking them up. We finally had to knock all of the apples out of the tree over the weekend as the garden was buzzing with wasps (the apples were literally crawling with them). Just those amounted to a full wheelie bin of apples. The bin men are going to hate me as the bin is really heavy now!

I hate wasps. Really hate them and I don't want them in my garden. To me, wasps eating apples = dozy, stupid wasps = greater likelihood of getting stung. I have three children who don't want to get stung. The apples really smell when they start to rot as well (and some rot on the tree so the smell is unavoidable).

So, the apple tree does, unfortunately, have to go. At the moment it's about 5m high so it provides a little bit of cover from the neighbours and makes the view a little more interesting than just houses. I don't particularly want to replace it with a plant of similar height straight away, I'm happy to wait a few years for its replacement to grow. I don't want something that's going to end up 30' high either (definitely no Leylandii, horrible stuff). I just cannot decide what to replace it with. Any ideas? The garden faces East but the spot in question gets a lot of sunlight during the summer, I suppose it goes into shade at about 7pm at the moment. There is a 6' fence a couple of feet away from it as well as a greenhouse which is about 6-8' away from it. My DH likes bamboo but I am wary of it as it can spread into other gardens (and I like my neighbours). Someone suggested a holly tree but I know next to nothing about holly trees.

I'd appreciate any suggestions/advice. 

Thanks!

Sky_

It depends what you want really.  You said it's pretty, so maybe a flowering cherry, thornless Japanese quince or a philadelphus, so you still have attractive flowers?

Buddelija grow fast and smell gorgeous but does need to be cut down each year.  Holly is nice but your children might not enjoy the prickles, especially the old brown leaves which are very spikey underfoot.  Willow is a native alternative to bamboo and comes in loads of colours and varieties--clumping, spreading, different heights and so on.  It's great for making willow houses too. 

I'd browse some online garden sites, see what I like the look of and take it from there.  

Mojisola

Amelanchier - colourful foliage in the Spring, white flowers for the insects, berries for the birds and amazing Autumn foliage.

There's a range of varieties so easy to find one that fits your space.

theoretica

Birch is moderately rapid growing and doesn't get huge - may leave you dealing with birch seedlings.  There are some lovely willows - you probably wouldn't want a large variety - but they do suck up water so great for boggy parts of the garden, not so good near foundations.  Rowan - the berries aren't very attractive to wasps.  Liliac, because I love it.

If you still have the apple next year, let your neighbours know you would like them picked and taken away - free food should find a home. 

olgadapolga

theoretica said:

If you still have the apple next year, let your neighbours know you would like them picked and taken away - free food should find a home.  

We did offer the apples to friends and neighbours but the only takers were the wasps and the birds, sadly. DH did try one but they were very sour.

Some great suggestions, I will take a look at some websites and see what suits. Will update when we've decided.

Black_Cat2

I know it's not a tree or gets to 5m high but what about a couple red robins?  It looks nice with the red leaves and gives privacy. Also it is evergreen and pretty fast growing 🐈

twopenny

Have you thought of having the apple tree thined out and pruned right down. You can even cut the trunk and it will grow out from there.

This would reduce the volume of apples to useable. The rotting is probably from them all being too close together and no treatment for apple magot.

It sounds very much as though it's been left to go mad and either that makes the apples sour or they are cookers.

What about an ornamental cherry or plum? The ones that give the blossom but not the fruit. Some have purple leaves all summer.

Farway

I'd also go for ornamental cherry, although I've not experienced it seems plums can inexplicably turn their toes up

Red Robin, will romp away and nice from afar but as OP dislikes smell of rotting apples I think the pong of RR blossom may be frying pan to fire

lilac or buddlia, they can just be left to get on with it or can be managed, either would be fine if space allows