To wish death upon a tree

[meddie]

I have been in my house 20 years. The bottom of my garden backs on to a hospice. They planted trees around their borders when they first opened.
My garden is south facing and was lovely in summer, now this one tree over the years has grown to taller than my house and to add insult to injury is covered in russian vine so not even dappled sunlight gets through the tree, they do nothing to control or remove this and it grows through my fence and totally covers everything in its path.
I spend summer trying to keep as much of it as I can out my garden.
My once lovely garden is now almost permanently in shade which has led to the death of a lot of my plants and a constant battle with moss.
I am sick of it, I want to take some action, but feel incredibly guilty as its in hospice grounds and i,m sure it probably looks lovely from their side, but from my side it has ruined the enjoyment of my garden
I wish the tree would just die off so they would have to remove it.

[Justforlaughs]

It's probably subject to a conservation order, of course you could always go and hammar some nails into it!

[meddie]

I have actually googled how to kill a tree, but don't think I could actually go though with it :(

[cantspel]

Large tress in residential settings are a pain.

Can you have a word with the hospice and get them to cut it back or failing that i know a few tricks to help a tress die.

[Thistledew]

What sort of tree is it?

On a completely unrelated note, did you know that some trees are very susceptible to copper poisoning and a piece of copper piping hammered into their core can do real damage.

[cantspel]

killing it is easy but a dead tree left standing can be a hazard and still block out the light

[cantspel]

copper takes ages to kill a tree. there are much quicker ways.

[OldMumsy]

Large bag of salt buried near the roots will do it.

[cantspel]

That will spoil the ground for years to come and kill any flowers/plants the op wants to grow.

[fortoday]

we have the same problem- conservation order on the oak tree at bottom of the garden but not the council responsibility to trim back as its on private land- after filling out an 18 page application someone came out cut off a few branches still crap light and grass so we have artificial grass laid, never looked back we always lush green grass, slightly smelling of flash as i disinfect it every week- lovely x

[ThatVikRinA22]

could you not just have a word with the managers of the hospice before doing anything drastic?

they probably dont have a clue its causing you any problems, i would speak to them - it may need cutting back.

[Notquite]

Talk to them about it - it might do the tree good in the long run to be cut back. As it's a hospice, would you be able to bear the cost if the work for them?

(It's not an ash is it?)

[fortoday]

depends what tree what it- oak trees are protected, but their leaves don't decompose so basically sit on the top of your grass and destroy it, and so does the sap- what tree is it x

[3littlefrogs]

You really do need to identify it.

Shade over your garden may be the least of your worries. The root system may cause your house to subside, damage your drains/foundations.

There are regulations governing the height of trees that can be planted near buildings for this reason.

[doinmummy]

I have the same problem. South facing garden and tree blocking all the sun. I have been sneaking out, hammering holes in the trunk and squirting tree trunk killer into the holes. It is slowly working.

[Scholes34]

Oh, what a pain, OP. You have my sympathies. I did wish death upon a Cypress tree in the garden next to ours and I felt very guilty when it gave up the ghost. The dead tree was covered in wisteria, which the neighbour liked and wanted to keep, but did eventually agreed to our cutting down the tree (at our expense, which we were happy to do, as it's what we wanted and he is a pensioner who would never have been able to do it himself or pay someone to come in). It was also our wisteria growing up the tree.

However, I feel your biggest battle will be with the Russian Vine. We've been battling one at the bottom of our garden for 12 years now.

[PurplePidjin]

Hospice? As in charity? As in needing volunteers to keep going?

Go round and offer your services! Bet they'd jump at the chance of someone to take on the job; a decent, accessible garden is a fantastic resource and you can have a lovely time sourcing scented, colourful plants to make their patients time more pleasant

and you can chop down all the bastard trees you like with absolute impunity

[QuickLookBusy]

Ask the Hospice if they'd accept a donation in lieu of the tree being replaced by a much smaller one.


We did similar with a landowner. We can see a beautiful lake next to our house in the winter, but during the summer the view is a bit restricted because of trees. We bribed asked the land owner if we could chop a few trees down. He didn't have a problem and now we can see the herons and swans all year round.

Ask them what their price is

[QuickLookBusy]

Oh Purples suggestion might be a bit more moral


but money talks

[minibmw2010]

I seriously doubt it's an oak if it's grown to such proportions that it blocks your light already. So you might be lucky with the preservation order thing ... Go around, speak to them nicely, ask if you could come to an arrangement. If they won't help then it's time to contact the council

[fortoday]

mini- agree with you our oak is MASSIVE so clearly hundred of years old- I've just changed my hair colour too from blonde to brown!!!!

[PurplePidjin]

Quick, money is also good for charities - it's just that time might be more fun in this instance

[cantspel]

There is an avenue of oaks that runs along the side of my garden. They are over 180 years old and all protected. The bastard things drop leaves all over my garden but they are a haven for wild life and do look lovely most of the time.

[sunflowerseeds]

fortoday - why buy a house near a hundreds of years old tree then complain about it? It will still be there and beautiful when your house has fallen down. You are so lucky, enjoy it.

[cozietoesie]

In Scotland, owners of land with trees on them have a duty to maintain their trees in a healthy and safe condition - and are also liable for any damage that that tree might do to a neighbouring property eg if it comes down. (I'm afraid I don't know for sure about England and Wales but this might be UK law and not Scottish so could be the same.)

If I recall correctly, they're required to have a tree checked by an appropriate specialist every 5 years to confirm its condition. (Of course, most people haven't a clue about this so don't ever do checks.) This also applies to trees under a TPO - which can be taken down if they're sick or dangerous.

You might want to check this out with your local council - whose website is likely to have all the details. Then it's just a question of writing to the hospice and asking them gently for a copy of their 'latest tree assessment' as required by '...........'

If they decline to provide one - which they likely will because they haven't got one - or don't answer, then write to them and tell them that you'll have no option but to contact your insurance company and advise them of the matter. Then your insurance company contacts their insurance company and so on. The mere mention of insurance companies might just be enough though.

[IAmLouisWalsh]

I have a huge ash tree in the garden with a preservation order on it.

Obviously it is beautiful etc etc. But tbh, if it caught this new fungus thing that is killing ash trees, I would get over the trauma very quickly....