Trees for screening

[Yellowbutterfly1]

I only have a small garden (10 meters long and just under 10 meters wide). Houses are going to be built very close to my house and I will be extremely overlooked.

I want something to screen the houses out, ideally so they won’t be able to look into my upstairs window so about 5 meters high.

What kind of evergreen plants would fit the bill?

I know they will take time to grow but what timeframe am I looking at to reach 5 meters.

Thanks

The obvious is leylandii, but laurel look much nicer

Whe they get to 5 metres high, they will also be quite wide at the base. And the other problem is that once they reach that height, they will carry on growing, especially if you plant fast-growing varieties. They will cast a lot of shade and will need considerable maintenance.

To be honest, I'd buy net curtains.

Have a look at Barcham Trees. They sell mature specimens.

Thanks all, it’s the real invasion of privacy that I will struggle with, especially knowing that people will be able to look straight into my disabled dd bedroom.
You can guarantee the people in the houses won’t have anything on their windows. Feel like I’m the only person who values my families privacy.

I like the look of laurel, especially the ones that have the greenery from 1.8 meters.
I did look at Barcham trees website today, I’ll give them a ring.

Thanks

Yew trees

5m is pretty tall. We have grown some very tall Portuguese laurel, bought them at about 4 foot and they are now about 15 foot about 4.5 years later. Very easy to grow and prune, looks nice but nothing special.

I also bought some red Robins also 4 foot high when planted, pruned them aggressively at first and have made the lower branches quite bare so I can underplant, but let the tops grow up, they look great and must be 16 foot easily by now.

Because really I don't want laurels and red Robin's long term, i also planted in between - holly, Rowan, hawthorn, apple tree,, a flowering cherry, The hawthorn has shot up but is deciduous, ditto the cherry tree. Still, I dont use my garden so much in winter so the overlooking problem is less bothersome. The cherry tree is my absolute favourite - it is so beautiful in all seasons. I would definitely recommend.

The Rowan and hollies are going to take ages but eventually will be fantastic, I think. Again the Rowan is deciduous but will look nice and will disrupt views into my garden or house.

I would not personally plant leylandii as the maintenance is too much once they reach target height. Slower growing conifers might work, but then you will have to wait for them to get as big as you need, unless you have deep pockets and can afford a larger sapling.

If you are happy to prune every year, you could give eucalyptus a go! Grows extremely fast, and looks really nice.

Reflective film on the glass of your window?

It would be unusual for planning/buildings regs to not specify opaque glass in any directly overlooking windows. Have you written to council objecting?

LIZS
Unfortunately it’s part of the council’s ‘Local Plan’ to destroy green belt land and cover with as many houses as possible.
A beautiful field with horses grazing but the local council don’t care and think it’s acceptable to put houses 22 meters from the rear wall of my home looking directly into my garden, living room and bedrooms.

Several silver birch planted in a group?
Narrow trunks, but grow fairly tall, they look attractive but do lose their leaves in winter but still would give a bit of privacy and a better outlook

That does not mean that such regulations do not apply or that the developer should not go through the planning consultation process.

The local county council own the land which probably makes it worse.

Watching this with interest as we also are overlooked on both sides. It's a new garden and so far we have planted a pear tree in the far corner. We need trees that screen both neighbouring windows. Something that won't get too big. We thought silver birch as a pp suggested but they might grow too tall. Maybe you can get smaller varieties.

Be very careful planting a forest type tree rather than a shrub that grows tall.
Silver Birches and Eucalyptus have far reaching roots, which may undermine drains, foundations and garden walls. We had 6 mature silver birches in our last garden. Planted by the previous owner, as a screen. They were taller than a house and as part of our insurance, were inspected and kept in safe condition by tree surgeons every 2 years.

There are other ways of obtaining privacy, and one thing to consider is that the closer you put the screen, the smaller the screen you need.

this blog explains it well, and her book has more good ideas.

I have a similar sized garden to the OP, with a similar problem, and I planted a crab apple tree which grows to a tall narrow shape. My neighbour has a pear tree that does the same, and I also have solanum crispum Glasnevin which grows very tall or can be trained. The fastest growing plant I have is a ceanothus arboreus which is now about 5m tall after 4 years, and is semi evergreen. I love it. I also have a rowan tree which I bought at 2.2m, it was not too expensive and is doing well. Buddleia also grows tall and fast. I have a very tall weigela shrub but it is old.

You could also think about shutters for your DD's bedroom, or window film as pps have suggested.