Help - screening ideas urgently needed for my sanity

[mintyfresh]

We recently bought a house which had horrible 30ft conifers which were the neighbours trees. They have just removed these and we can now see straight into their side windows (presumably the reason they were planted in the first place). They can also see into our garden from their upstairs windows and are not that far from our house

We will be putting in higher fencing which will help on the ground floor but we ideally want to replace the trees with some fast growing, nicer ones which will provide good coverage.

Any ideas - I'm feeling really depressed and overlooked so any positive advice really welcome..

There are lots of options for good screening trees.
If you want manageable evergreens you could put in mature ligustrum, lucidum or japonicum, these cost around £100 for a 3m tall tree, they are evergreen and fast growing but easy to clip/maintain.
Portuguese laurel is another good bet, again easy to maintain but can be quite pricey to buy good sized specimens.

Deciduous options include birch which give great cover in summer (and hold their leaves well into autumn), less useful in winter but are lovely trees.

Also orntamental Pear which is only without leaves from Dec-March, so fab for screening.
Tough as old boots, blossom in spring, good foliage and great autumn colour.

Lots of info on-line, look at Barchams
www.barcham.co.uk/trees-for-a-purpose

and here
www.pantiles-nurseries.co.uk/info-screening.htm

Sounds nice, Pannacotta! Like the idea of ornamental pear especially - I'd not heard that before.

There's not really a great deal that you can do about them being able to see into your garden from their upstairs windows, though, unless the hedge you put in is as high as their windows, which will take quite a while.

You could put up a pergola over your sitting area and cover it with climbers - this would give you shade as well as screening from above.

Its not a fancy tree GrendelsMum, was thinking of Chanticleer pear
www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/pyrus-calleryana-chanticleer/classid.4667/?affiliate=gardenersworld
but its good for screening and very easy to grow and not expensive in a large size from Barchams.
As it is quiter upright it's useful in gardens as it doesnt block much light and you can plant right up to the tree as its not very thirsty/shallow rooted IME.

Does it actually have edible pears? I wonder if it would suit the front of our house, perhaps trained as a stilt hedge?

It does but they are tiny, which I presume is why its known as ornamental pear.
I have seen it used pleached and it looks very good. It is quite upright/stiff looking, not bendy like birch, so I think it would be well suited to pleaching.
What is nice about it is that you get the blossom, then the foliage which is good and glossy then fab red autumn colour, so is more interesting than many other trees/hedges used for pleaching.
Good description here
www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Pear-Pyrus-calleryana-Chanticleer

Thanks so much for your advice. I should also say that our garden is quite small - around 30ft and I would like to plant several trees as this would be the best way to block out their windows. I think it could be done as it had been before - the conifers were a complete screen!

I don't really mind it taking a few years but am worried the house will be impossible to sell on with neighbours overlooking the garden as they currently are.

pear tree sounds/looks amazing - we are also looking for some instant cover, might invest in one of these !

thankyou pannacotta! x

It will probably be cheaper for if you order a bare root tree for November delivery (you can order now though).
These usually cost quite a bit less than container grown trees and establish quicker.
Weasdale nursery has them for a good price and they are supposed to be a good nursery
www.weasdale.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1484&category_id=3&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26