Well that’s my privacy gone

[frostedviolets]

I know I am probably going to be told IBU but I am so so upset.

Neighbour behind has rows of mature massive trees.
Mostly planted right against my fence so they lean in and left unpruned they cover almost half of my garden.

I constantly have to prune them back to the boundary which is a real pain in the arse but I love the privacy they provide, without them i can see straight into their house and garden and they mine.

Every year they get some bodger with a chainsaw to behead them all about half way down in a straight line so they look utterly ridiculous now they appear to be chainsawing them down completely.

All my privacy gone.
I’ll no longer be able to go into my living room or bedroom or garden without being clearly seen now.

I have an espalier tree growing in front of the fence that I am very careful to keep in a single flat layer so it doesn’t fall onto neighbours to have to keep pruning it but it’s small, it’ll be fucking years before it gets anywhere big enough to provide me with some screening.

WIBU to plant bamboo or even the devils work, leylandii or something?!
What grows mega fast and mega big..?

I’ll keep the side trimmed back so it doesn’t cross their boundary.

I need privacy!

I hear you. Our neighbours did the same to us a couple of years ago. We have tried to get used to it but are going to plant some trees this year (well we were!).

Bamboo is taking over our allotment - don’t even go there. Leylandii suck all the nutrients out of your soil so you won’t be able to grow much. I’d go for trellis/clematis/honeysuckle - my clematis is a Montana - spring flowering, so looks amazing and is a really quick grower; I have to cut it back twice in the summer.

Might it be worth asking what their plans are? They may just have wanted something less enormous and have a plan to replace

We were those neighbours OP.

We had a massive row of leylandi inherited when we moved in. We never saw or heard of our neighbours at the rear, would offer a free tree surgeon to trim their side every 2/3 years - always caused issues as once we'd made the offer they started arguing with the tree surgeon about what they wanted done.

Eventually during a storm a massive branch came down into another garden and we had to have the entire row removed, too risky. I posted about it on here at the time and got lots of people telling me I had no right to remove the trees.

Bamboo looks lovely but seriously consider pots. It rapidly becomes uncontrollable with underground runners and spreads into your lawn, the pavement and anything else nearby.

Beware bamboo - it grows fast and tall, yes, but it SPREADS at an alarming rate and it is awful, spiky, sharp and dangerous when it starts growing in places you don't want it. Plant in pots if anything, but even in pots they can find ways to spread. To me bamboo (in my garden, anyway) is absolutely evil and I will need to pay someone to get rid of it all professionally. (Planted by the people who lived here before me.)

keep the bamboo in long rugs, they won't spread then.

I think most people can be seen by neighbours when in their garden. Obviously not everyone, but it's a luxury to not be overlooked by anyone at all. Could you get mirrored film for your back windows from Amazon, so you can see out but they can't see in?

Beech. It's deciduous so doesn't have the restrictions that conifers have but although the leaves die in the autumn, most of them stay on the trees/hedges so it still acts as a screen.

Sorry if this has been mentioned, I've not read the full thread, but have you thought of these OP?

www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roller-blinds/19436/oculus-bright-white.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4LPphaKf6QIVZIBQBh2zYwsdEAQYAiABEgL1g_D_BwE

Thread after thread about trees being chopped down, and this now, in the active nesting season.

It makes me so sad.

Is there something that can be done about this?

I don't think you're over reacting at all OP. I would feel just the same. My new neighbours over the back have put two tiny chairs out on a sort of balcony thing that overlooks my garden and they sit out there every time it's not actually raining. Being in my own garden is like being on a stage. I expect applause if I cut the grass.
Privacy window film may help - clear from the inside, mirror from the outside looking in.

It sounds like you have the wrong house never mind garden. Realistically no one cares what you get up to in your garden or have any interest in spying on you to see you walk past a window. But obviously you're paranoid maybe an isolated house in the middle of nowhere would suit you better

Willow might work-it’ll grow 20feet in a couple of year. Not evergreen though... beech hedge?

If you plant the bamboo in pots, then it couldn’t spread across the rest of the garden

Like the trees snaked across your garden causing you annoyance I suspect the same could be said of the trees on their side. It costs thousands to have trees removed. Perhaps they have been saving to get this done for a while.

We had leylandi in our garden on our side of the fence and our neighbours also had them on their side. I got sick of them and got mine cut down.

Unfortunately I hadn't realised that the neighbours had also had theirs cut down (well half of them) obviously presuming we would never bother. The lack of privacy was worse for them than for us because their house is lower down the hill. They put trellis on top of the fence and grew clematis up it. It looks quite pretty and didn't seem to take long to grow,

I would avoid bamboo it attracts wasps

As noted above, most fast growing trees cause problems or are invasive. For the love of god don't go with cherry laurel.

I'd maybe look into a willow fence/fedge. Beware that can also grow wildly, and consider how far from house founds it is.

Something like this could work? Would probably need to be replaced every so often.

www.amazon.co.uk/76cm-Metre-Reflective-Control-Mirrored/dp/B00JCBGBS8/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Why the hell are people cutting trees and hedges down now?

If there was any suggestion of nesting birds I'd be reporting them.

What a shame, I feel for you.

If you have money to throw at the problem there are lots of options, though. Have a look here:

www.paramountplants.co.uk/evergreenscreening.html

Oh and bamboo doesn't fuck up your garden, you just have to get the right kind (clumping, not running). We have a variety of beautiful bamboo in our garden that are perfectly well behaved and are probably around 15ft tall.

I feel for you, this happened to me. I came home from an appointment one morning and as I entered the living room, the neighbour opposite was waving at me over the small fence. She could see all the way through the house. I cried internally when she said "I can talk to you over the fence now'. We soon sorted it out though with a larger replacement fence, some trellis and clematis.

We've moved since and I don't have any neighbours now.

I think YABU. If you want privacy then live somewhere private.

Net curtains would be a good, immediate way of getting some privacy.