AIBU Or is this just tragic? What can I do?

[TigerTooth]

I have a lovely (Ok - very child friendly) but still lovely mature garden.
We're away a lot, for months at a time sometimes, and backing on to our garden is a council estate. At the end of our garden, on the other side of the fence, so not ours, were lovely mature trees.They gave us and neighbour privacy and were beautiful.
New neighbour over the fence has cut the trees down, the whole lot, we now have a lovely view of his home - NOT.
I know I'm not BU as they were gorgeous mature trees but I'm posting really to vent and also to ask any green fingered MN's wwyd? I need something that grows super quickly and not too wide, that will look after itself whilst we're not here. He has also bought with him a menagerie of cats who shit in my garden daily.Any ideas on effective cat deterrents? We've tried a few to no avail. It stinks in the hot weather until we've been round and collected all the cat poo. I miss my green country garden.Before and after pics, it doesn't even look like the same garden but if you look at the trampoline then you can see the extent of his butchery. Any ideas on how to speedily cover the damage?

You could put in bamboo- in pots if you don't want it to go rampant! It's tall, so will give some screening, and grows quickly. You want something pleached if it's long term though- pleached hornbeam is good, as the leaves stay on through winter (brown, like a beech hedge, and sparser, but still v much present).
Or could go for pleached Apple and pear trees if you want fruit? But slower growing, and will be wood in winter.
Also expensive if you buy maturer trees.
Hornbeam grows pretty quickly- ours grew from 3 feet to 10 in five years.

If you want something smaller- standards of Holly, photinia (red robin), and laurel are all 'bushy' and dense and will give privacy. Also hawthorn, which is just lovely at this time of year, and good old cotoneaster or pyrocanthus should determine the cats, as they're all prickly, and dense foliage.

Get over yourself.
Your neighbour has a right to light and can cut anything they want in their garden ,however you'll probably find that the la will have cut them down.
Poor you having to live by a council estate and be able to see there houses

I can see why you don't like it but they must have cut a significant amount of light from the neoghbour's garden so I can also completely understand why they've done it.

Be careful with bamboo- it can go mad and is very very difficult to control.

I'd be upset as well, it's a great shame for wildlife when trees are cut down like that.

Weeing on the lawn stopped cats shitting in our garden. Obviously DP had to wee in a spray bottle and we sprayed it all over , he didn't go out and just start pissing everywhere. Not great if you have DC playing out though.

Agree with bamboo in pots, if you're strong enough to move them around. Ours has been in 6 yrs & not escaped yet, even after being moved around.

Poplars & Leylandii, of course. Leylandii will give you screening year round.

What a shame, I'd be sad too but it must have made an enormous difference to the light and space in the other garden so I can see why they have done it.

Whose fence is it? If it's yours I'd extend the top of it with trellis and train something rampant like clematis up it.

I do see your point. At the moment I have a huge tree in my garden and I love it for privacy reasons as my garden backs onto someone elses. however it blocks alot of sun and from around 2pm we have no sun in the garden at all due to the tree, so I can also see why they cut it.

One word - Leylandi

I can see why theyve done it - the trees were blocking his light/sun.

There’s nothing you can do about the cats except get a dog.

I planted a 5 foot bamboo tree five years ago. Its now 6 feet so not fast growing in my experience.

We want to plant some new coverage at the back of our garden too (spindly over-tall trees that look crap in winter and sparse even in summer), so I'm following out of interest. We're nowhere near picking anything, but maybe yew hedges / cypress / photinia red robin. If you Google "evergreen tall bushes" then that might help with ideas.

I'd also say to be very careful with bamboo, I had some run away from its concrete border at my last house, the people before put it in and it was up at the top of the second storey after 6 years so I was constantly chopping it back.

he didn't go out and just start pissing everywhere

Yew is very very slow growing!

I too am surprised at your anger,OP. They must have had hardly any light coming in to their house. Did you honestly want them to live in darkness to suit your 'countryside garden'?
However, more trees the better for me. I do understand that it looks nicer to have growth. Why not ask a proper landscaper? A hedge to cover the fence or a creeper? And then trees for height? Be careful what you pick though, they won't want to be without light again. Maybe beech trees?

Bamboo is a good call, it makes a lovely noise in the breeze. Not all bamboo is invasive/spreading so do some research to get the right kind.

Why do you have to mention council houses? They are just normal houses ffs!

So, you have a nice sunny garden, unaffected by the neighbouring large trees. Errm, his side probably was plunged into dark shade most of the day. You are quite self-absorbed.

Bring your trampoline and shed forward and plant your own trees?

OMG! A view of a council estate.
Qu'elle fromage.

Don’t plant Leylandii! It should be banned it’s horrible.

No wildlife likes leylandii, off you cutnit back the branches die and go brown. Sucks up all the water so nothing grows nearby. Makes the ground round it impossible to
grow anything. !

Pleached hornbeams are the best. You could also buy 4 or 5 different trees that you know won’t grow ‘too’ big and need cutting down. There are smaller eucalyptus (forgotten name) that don’t go mental but will reach their height quickly, what about Apple trees on medium root stock, or cherries or plums? Dog trees grow quite quick and can be lopped at and made denser - and not too tall.

Or put trellis over the height of the fence and grow a vigorous rose ?

What's the fact that it's a council estate got to do with it?

Having looked at the photos, you are massively BU! Those trees must've completely covered your neighbours' garden. Should they really have kept the trees for your convenience, when you are away for months at a time and they are presumably there full-time??!

Dog trees = fig trees!