recommend me some trees to research

oh full sun and clay soil

We have a Bristol Whitebeam (4m wide canopy, 5m tall, lovely leaves. Also have a Chinese Privet that is your classic lollipop tree, evergreen, 5m tall and 6 metre wide canopy (has gone a bit feral).

Silver Birch. They grow like the clappers and are super resilient and actually thrive on brutal pruning to keep them in check. Lovely thick, vigorous canopy and sound magical in the wind.

Beech or copper beech grows fairly fast and keeps its leaves a bit longer than most. On of each for colour. When it starts to get too big easy to pollard.

Also snow Queen birch. Grows quite upright and has bright white bark that gives a bit of stark winter brightness.

Also for any garden get some apple trees and something with great blossom, flowering cherries look great in spring, weeping ones for a bit of interesting shape.

Twisted hazel also good for interesting shape and hedging or screening.

Mountain ash / Rowan trees also look good and provide a bit of cover without getting too huge. White flowers in spring and red berries in autumn that birds love

I would definitely do some research into trees and subsidence risk.  5m is really not that far and when combined with clay soil it could pose more of a risk.  Hopefully an expert will be along soon with better advice!

Well done, you've just dismissed three opinions from posters offering advice. Did you consider those opinions may have been based on experience? Or are you so risk averse that planting a tree constitutes potential disaster? It is possible to contain and restrict growth; the root spread will only ever be enough to support the canopy. Control that and you're fine. Lose control, then chop it down.

The house insurance only asks if a tree over 5m tall is within 5m of the house. My Rowan is 5.5m from the house and over 8m tall so no problem. That street tree up there^^ is also no problem. Wouldn't stress about it too much. Trees are great.

I asked this a year or two ago and lots of people said my house would explode if I planted a silver birch within sight of it. I did it anyway, it's lovely and the house is still standing. Trees are great.

Go scruffy!  Trees are indeed great. Have you got catkins on it yet?

After I've dug 5 tonnes of well rotted manure into my recently acquired additional garden - which I'm digging by hand before using a rotovator - I'll be in the market for trees and shrubs so...suggestions welcome!

EDIT: DT78 - 15 x 25mtr is much more than 'modest' if it's a city garden; plenty of space for fruit and/or veg - unless you have a young family!

brian2.. Eh? I don't think I did, I think I suggested thay there is some useful research/documents out there about planting trees near houses but that an expert may offer better advice than my ramblings... The RHS and the Woodland Trust for example have good advice... blimey.

Willow. Grows about 1m/year

Liquidambar styraciflua = “ This stunning tree has maple-like leaves which turn a beautiful crimson in the autumn… It is fairly fast growing tree with an even, upright, conical habit… Liquidambar Slender Silhouette’ and ‘Worplesdon’ have been awarded the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Award of Garden Merit”

How tall do you want it to be?

By when?

Budget?

Yes, trees are wonderful but they can also be a PITA. If you want privacy quickly then something like hops will grow up a trellis or pergola, as will polygonum baldschuanicum (less vigorous vines are available!)

Non-invasive bamboos might do the job or miscanthus x giganteus (the clue's in the name, but it's not too invasive)

I planted a cordyline palm in lancs 20 years ago, it became a proper tree so i chopped it right back.  I thought it was a gonner but new life is appearing.  This time i ll manage its spread, it gets sun c midday onwards till sunset.  It's survived winter storms.

Every cordyline in Rochdale seems to have died over the winter, though ours is sprouting from the base. They’re not something I’d have chosen to plant but bees went mad for it when it was in flower.

Depending on where you are you might want to consider drought resistance - read yesterday that SE England has the same amount of annual rainfall as Lebanon…

<p style="text-align: center;">As a gardener I'd definitely never recommend anyone planting any type of bamboo. If they are vigorous enough to screen a second floor then they are invasive in time unless planted in raised containers. The amount of requests I get asking to have bamboo removed is crazy and also I look after several gardens where either they or the neighbours have planted bamboo supposed to be non spreading and after years it's coming up through paving and membrane.</p>
There's loads of options but it also depends on where in the country and exposure to wind. A flowering cherry or plum could be nice if on a dwarf root stock. Laburnum is lovely.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/trees/smaller-gardens

thanks all, was reading that link last night.

as much as I like bamboo I'll only plant it in containers.  I've also heard willow is a bad idea for subsidence

height wise and spread its to cover a second story window that's no more than 2m wide, so approx 4m high and 2m spread minimum

we have a smoke tree in the garden already which is pretty nice and provides useful screening.  I only have to pollard it once a year so pretty low maintenance.

something with fruit or blossoms would be nice.

position is relatively exposed to the wind

I've looked at climbers/ trellis / pergolas.  they would only provide a small amount of privacy for the exact spot.  I would ideally want it covered for the whole garden

right to light shouldn't be an issue

and I won't be planting closer than 5m to a foundation.  though our new foundations are nearly 2m deep for a single story....overkill but what BC demanded

brian2
Free Member
Well done, you’ve just dismissed three opinions from posters offering advice. Did you consider those opinions may have been based on experience? Or are you so risk averse that planting a tree constitutes potential disaster? It is possible to contain and restrict growth; the root spread will only ever be enough to support the canopy. Control that and you’re fine. Lose control, then chop it down

Weird post.

Who cares what other posters have said? Unless they're going to pay to repair OPs house if the walls crack, with clay soil what bubs has said is simply a sensible precaution.

How about some super-dwarf fruiting trees? We've 6 - 2 apple, three plumb and a blossoming cherry. Ours were from appletreeman in Perthshire, who has all sorts of dwarf and super dwarf stock, including some interesting varieties.

They're are all easy to keep at about 4m tall with loppers. The plums and cherry are pretty vigorous. They all blossom, all but the cherry give us fruit, all lots of leaves.

My cordyline survived the storms, there's an underground water run off from surface water so it thrives, the other without the water but similar sun died.  I really thought I d killed it but there's loads of new growth.

Some people cover cordyline with netting in winter, I do see lots of dead ones though.

What matt_outandabout says. Trees are great, but imho, in a garden trees which provide fruit are best 😁

However, if it's to provide privacy, a lot of bushes grow quite high; presumably without the fear of subsidence etc

ianag

I should have added: speak to Andrew here and place an early order for delivery in the winter for fruit trees and more: https://plantsandapples.com/

Worth considering?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet-the-giant-sequoia-the-super-tree-built-to-withstand-fire/

As above, from unfortunate experience, I would be careful about planting trees near your foundations on clay soil. A (very) rough rule of thumb is you want at least as far from the house as the tree is high - but i'm not sure i'd trust my house to that. Trees that are there when the house is built are often fine as the soil has already been impacted by the tree, it's trees that are not fully grown or planted since the house is built that are a problem - they will reduce the moisture in the clay soil which can cause it to shrink.

This is extra bad if the soil shrinks below your foundations as this can cause subsidence. If your house is relatively new then this is less likely to be a problem as the building regs for clay soils has included deeper foundations for quite a number of years. If your house is old or has shallow foundations for some other reason (e.g. a bungalow) then it's more likely to be a problem.

Some trees are worse than others - willow trees for example are particularly bad. The make up of the clay is also important, you can get tests done which will tell how you how bad your particularly brand of clay is likely to be impacted by this.

As our summers become drier and hotter this problem is likely to get worse.

Here is a possibly useful diagram. I am not an expert - there is a good book "Has your house got cracks a home owners guide to subsidence" which gives vast amounts of detail on this.

Thats a useful table, thanks - what does the 'H' stand for in the final column?

And you joke about a giant sequoia - I actually have a cone from yellowstone on my desk!

It's meant to be, DT78! ;0)

@DT78 H is the maximum height of the tree (3rd column).

As above the H is the max height of the tree. I assume if you kept the height of the tree lower than that would be H. Though I guess that might not stand if it gets bushy.