how close can i plant a tree to a wall?

[eddielizzard]

i really want to plant a wedding cake tree which i think will grow to 8m x 8m. how close to a wall can i get away with planting it? and how far from the house should it be? i have a garden that's about 8m wide, but i'm hoping that the branches can overhang the road, so i could plant it closer to the wall than the house... or am i kidding myself and my garden is just too small?

I think that the biggest problem with growing this type of tree close to a wall is the shape. Even if you can get the top branches to grow over the wall, what happens with the ones at the bottom? Moisture levels could also be a problem.

From what I can tell from a quick google, this is a slow growing tree. Perhaps you could put it in a more central position? It will eventually outgrow your garden, but it sounds like it could be a long time until you get to that point!

Alternatively, if you like the idea of layers, you could grow something like Vibernum Kilimanjaro. That will grow faster, but won't get as tall.

thanks BartiDdu

the wall it'll would grow next to is about 1m high so i was imagining that the lower branches would grow above that. and if that wasn't the case i could raise the canopy as it grew larger.

i think the bottom line is that i can't really plant too close to the wall and so it's not the right tree or spot for it. will have to rethink... the viburnum does look lovely too.

our insurance says we can't plant trees closer than 5 meters from the house.
a tree like that - at least 10m away.

ok thanks. i'll have think of something else.