Eek I have to apply for planning permission! But what are these trees?

[claudedebussy]

If anyone would mind helping me identify these two trees in my garden I'd really appreciate it. Pics on profile.

I have to apply for planning permission and they want to know about the trees. I'm only changing the windows so doing the application myself.

Any help gratefully received!

No 2 looks like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/European_Beech.jpg/220px-European_Beech.jpg&imgrefurl=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech&h=183&w=220&sz=9&tbnid=mWsN4mmza5KXqM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=108&zoom=1&usg=__ANHjJ7ZYQqwhsF3ISmpi-GhKWhs=&docid=B78ueQyhDBsofM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KC3sUNbqPOnO0QXO0IEQ&sqi=2&ved=0CE8Q9QEwBA&dur=2406" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beech but it's hard to tell without a close up of a leaf. Does it shed little crunch nuts in autumn?
No 1 can't tell. It's a bit like a holly.Is it evergreen?

Thank you!

No. 1 isn't a holly, it is evergreen and the leaves are a mid-green rather than a dark green like holly. It also doesn't have any spikes on the leaves.

No. 2 I don't think is a beech because the leaves don't have such strong stripes on them iyswim. Also the colour of the leaves is quite grey-ish. The photo isn't great. I could be wrong.

I could take close ups but will have to wait til tomorrow because of the kids...

hmmm looking at no 2 i see it is quite stripey or rather the veins are quite pronounced as you pointed out.

don't know why i think it's not a beech. The leaves aren't dense and they're this yucky grey green colour whereas i'd expect a beech leaf to be brown at this time of year? i could be wrong on all counts!

I can't get the pictures to a big enough magnification without losing clarity so these are shots in the dark, but here goes

Are the leaves of No1 wavy at the edges rather than spiky like holly? If so, I think it could be a pittosporum (although I've never seen one that big) as the arrangement of leaves is exactly like that on mine.

I agree that No2 could be the dark-leaved beech.

Will look again if you can provide close-ups.

Defintely not this?

(I must admit that as well as being myopic I also have very poor colour reproduction on this PC)

I have several pittosporum and the leaf colour is very similar to some varieties but they are usually shrubs rather than trees.

Well, quite. That's why I'm in two minds about it - leaf colour and pattern seem right but it would (I think) have to be in a very favourable spot to grow that tall (and with some judicious pruning to shape it).

pittosporum can definitely get almost oak-sized. My parents have one.

Really? In that case, I'll put more money on it being a pittosporum. Perhaps I've been misled because mine (and the others I know) are in tubs and so constrained in their growth.

it's definitely a pittosporum! i knew that i recognised it somehow but didn't make the leap from the small bushes I see. The previous owners lived there for 30 years and it's quite possible that they just let it grow. I don't think they've done any pruning, or none that I can see at a glance.

thank you so much, everyone, for taking the time.

I'll take a couple more photos of no. 2 tomorrow in better light, and a couple of close-ups too.

::high fives ClaudeDebussy::

::wonders is this is a disrespectful way to treat a great composer::

Not look like beech. Laurel?

My dh the architect says that there may be no need to tell the planners what name of tree you have if you can't find out. He suggests speaking to them and tell them that you don't know what they are, just describe the tree (like you have here) and attach a photo (like you have here!).

Can't tell clearly, but could no. 2 be eucalyptus? It is evergreen, and had greyish leaves. The shape of the tree could be eucalyptus, If so, if you crush a leaf it would have smell or eucalyptus (not helpful if you don't know what the smell is, but I am struggling to think of a way to describe it)

Leaf shape (and tree shape) of eucalyptus can be hugely variable...

Hello Donki. How are you?

::apologies for hijack::

::Waves:: am at a conference and was bored this evening before bed...
I hope that the tea room are all well!
I am OK apart from having just walloped my nose on the corner of cupboard because I wasn't looking where I was going!
I got my second essay finished at the weekend. That and cover work for this week (as I can't leave stuff from text books) made Christmas rather less relaxing that it might have been.... but I enjoyed having DS at home, and it is so nice not to have to cook this week! (I like cooking, but a break from it is very welcome)

::waves back::

Oh and I think you might be onto something with eucalyptus. The way the leaves attach to the twigs doesn't quite look droopy enough to me, and I don't think eucalyptus leaves tend to be veiny, but crushing a leaf will be the definitive test.

I thought eucalyptus for 2. This is a Bad Thing for your foundations.

Why do planning need to know this? Building Control, yes, but planning? Can't see relevance unless trees have TPO on them maybe?

i don't know why planning need this. seems ridiculous. i only want to change the windows. on the form it asks if there are any trees within falling distance of the house and these are so they want a %($£ j site plan. i don't have architects to help me with that and there's no way i could manage to draw one up myself. i tried but i can't get the angles right and certainly not to scale.

i might phone the planners this afternoon and ask if they really need to know about these poxy trees. i mean, they're barely trees at all.

so - i've uploaded a close up of the leaves of no. 2.

i don't think it's a eucalyptus. the leaf shape doesn't look right to me... and no eucalyptus smell either.

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud - i'm his no. 1 fan - dead or alive

planning need to know in case its a really interesting tree that should have a preservation order on it. we have orders on the ones in our garden and it will affect any future planning requests we put in - ie we probably won't be able to build a convervatory because we might then complain about bits from the trees falling on it and want to chop trees down - or at least thats what planners told us.

OK,definitely not eucalyptus
I am sorry I have no more bright ideas, but I am sure someone else will nail it.

Hmm.

The leaves of No2 look like my viburnum tinus. Again, this is usually a bush rather than a tree but it can grow to tree size - although I would expect the canopy to be a bit denser than this example - and there's precedent here for supermassive shrubs!

hmmm i dunno i dunno!!

it's not a happy tree / bush thing. there's a viburnum in the front garden and this doesn't look the same unless it's practically dead.

thank you very much all. i spoke to the planner today and she said that photos would be good enough and didn't seem worried that i didn't know the names of all the trees.

so it doesn't really matter what no. 2 is, although i'm still interested for interest's sake!