Help me identify this conifer please

orangecrush

MalMonroe said:

Hi, I'm rubbish at gardening things but I love trees. And was prompted by your post to look at this website -

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/leyland-cypress/

Where it says you can download an app to identify trees! Who knew? There are just so many apps for so many things these days it's mind boggling. 

I was worrying about the sparrows until you said you will buy them a nest box, so that's okay. We have a really weird bush in our front garden that I'd dearly like to get rid of but robins seem to love it so we just trim it every so often. It IS getting bigger though! But we daren't go too mad with the trimming in case the robins really don't want us to.     

I love watching our sparrows! They raised two broods this year. There’s a laburnum tree about 10 feet away so I’ll put the nest box on the trunk. I’ve also seen wildlife webcams for nest boxes that I’m very tempted by. 

If it wasn’t for the subsidence the tree would stay and we’d just trim it, but we need to try and do something before the ground shrinks too much 😖

orangecrush

Eldi_Dos said:

If you are going to dig it out try and keep as much of the root ball together and pot it into a large container with some good compost. If you manage to over winter it and it stays healthy you would have quite a valuable specimen if you wanted to sell on.
A 6' specimen potted would be quite desirable to some people.

You know I didn’t even think of potting it! If I can get it to survive a few years in a pot it will definitely have a home once we get round to sorting the garden out! Thanks 😁

orangecrush

Picture of the sparrows that grew up there in spring 

twopenny

Aww that's so cute. How wonderful to get a photo like that.

I had sparrows nesting in a hole by a gutter in my last house so they do like to be under the shelter of the eaves or against house walls.

You know that birds like to have a clear view from the nesting box? So don't put it amongst shrubs if possible.

A shrub like that in a pot is very trendy by a house entrance at the mo.

Good luck

Eldi_Dos

If you are thinking about relocating it now is not a bad time to start the prep work.

You dig a circular trench about 100/150mm wide and 600mm deep starting about 250mm from trunk and fill with friable soil or good compost.The tree should push some new roots into this area which helps when you do move tree and sever the tap root.

A drainage or fencing shovel is good tool for this and any other planting work.

orangecrush

I think my commitment to saving the sparrows nest is about to be sorely tested 🤪

[Deleted User]

I think it's a Chamaecyparis.

I have 2 here, one is a mature specimen that's about 20' high, and one i planted, as an established size of 8', last year.

Their ultimate height is about 30' and are relatively slow growing into a compact habit - not sprawling like it's relative the Cupressocyparis - Leylandii, which are different altogether. 

(The spellings might be a bit off !!!)

orangecrush

I think you’re right! It must be relatively slow growing as we can find it on google maps back in 2012 and it’s about 2 foot tall, now only over 6 foot (though it it very flat on top that makes me think it’s been lopped at some point).

I can’t imagine what the last owners were thinking planting it 3 feet from the front door. But then they did make some very bizarre decisions elsewhere in the house!