Help with trees for garden - dont want to make mistakes

[Namechanger0800]

Beginner gardener here who has got the bug but am really stressing now about choosing the right kind of trees to screen the back of the garden.

Last summer we spent a silly amount of money for a tree surgeon to remove 5 or 6 humongous trees at bottom of garden including a 60ft leylandi, other large conifers, a eucalyptus and damson- all put in by previous owners and overgrown, creating a huge hemmed in feeling and nothing growing underneath. They'd also knackered neighbours fence who was so grateful we'd removed them he put new fence up straight away as had been asking previous owners for years to do something- so I really don't want to do anything that will damage the fence or cause issues

But - I am now left with a view we want to screen and soften and had thought we'd just put a hedge in but I do miss some kind of trees and want the height and shape. There is an awful corner as well where 2 different types and sizes of fences meet.

I'm now looking for advice so I can order trees for the autumn. Be really grateful for any thoughts on what I'm thinking

• the length we want to cover is about 10.5 meters
• do want a bit of shade but dappled shade rather than the complete block we had
• tree surgeons are expensive and it feels awful cutting trees down so nothing that might lead to this even in 20 years

• would a Himalayan birch be too big for corner of garden to hide horrid corner? Either that or a slightly smaller version? Or 3 trees in a triangle shape maybe but not sure how far apart to plant

• then either a crab apple or a cherry blossom - one of these in the middle at the back with a stone circle around it like a feature?

• a small rowan - like crab apple
• then a holly tree for winter interest

• how many trees is too many for this space and how far apart should they be planted? How far away from a fence?

As you can see in abit clueless - so anything you can suggest is most welcome

Sorry meant a small rowan - I like the Joseph rock one

I don’t know about the birch but the others all sound excellent choices. You could plot out their maximum width on paper and work out the space. Stagger a bit too.

You can also look at large shrubs.

I planted a amelanchier Lamarki this year in a small space and I’m very pleased with it. Cornus are great, I’ve got a Cornus contra versa variegated . Cornus Kousa also lovely. Handkerchief tree is beautiful and smallish.

Acer griseum is good.

Amelanchier every time.

I would never personally put a birch on a boundary line simply because they are ridiculously shallow rooted and when they do go they often do so suddenly. I know people like them though

Thanks - love the acer recommendation - that might be just what the corner needs as hadn't realised that about birches so has put me off.

@BarkingUpTheWrongRoseBush excuse my ignorance but by stagger do you mean don't plant in a straight line at the back but more of a wave?

Would an amelanchier be nicer than a crab apple of cherry blossom? I think I can have 3 maybe 4 trees max so need to pick 2 out of rowan, cherry blossom, crab apple and now amelanchier which is just lovely as well

Sorbus (Rowans) , crab apple and amelanchier are excellent picks.

Some hollies may be ok but left unpruned the wild type can become quite big and dark.

We've got some dogwoods which can get quite tall and give dappled shade and winter colour

Do you want anything evergreen? I’ve got some shrubs that grow up to 8m, and an evergreen oak thing. The oak will need pruning.

I would avoid birch and holly.

@wherewildflowersgrow please can I ask why avoid holly? My neighbours have a lovely holly tree in shape of an Xmas tree which looks lovely over winter with big red berries which is why I was thinking that - but I know very little hence this thread

We have some lovely mature holly trees in our garden. They grow in a beautiful natural shape without pruning, are slow growing and this Christmas day we were visited by a flock of redwings feasting on the berries! Magical.

We have a native mixed hedge. If you plant things like hawthorn etc, you could allow parts of the hedge to grow taller into larger shrubs/smaller trees as well, hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel etc could all work for that.

Hawthorn makes a lovely tree.

I think amelanchiers, crab and sorbic give more bang for your buck than a fliwering cherry if you have to make choices.

I've got a very small flowering cherry in a pot for the blossoms and a viburnum kilimanjaro in a pot too.

I think by staggered I meant they font slmhabe to be in a line along a fence. You could plant some closer to the house and it'll still provide privacy.

Then you could put a mock orange in as s tree ontbe hedge.

Something evergreen isn't a bad shout.

Like this www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/small-garden-ideas-design

Yeah. We’re planting a zig zag of trees and large bushes at the end of our garden.

Eucalyptus provide leaves without shade and are evergreen so nice in winter. I think they probably have big root systems though of that is an issue.

Eucalyptus - I'd be wary. There are some smaller species. But there's a few near me that have grown super super big and caused problems.

@BarkingUpTheWrongRoseBush

Eucalyptus - I'd be wary. There are some smaller species. But there's a few near me that have grown super super big and caused problems.

Yes... there were a lot planted the other side of a farm lane which runs behind our garden when these houses were built. They grew rapidly upwards, with the result the slender trunks didn't provide the screening effect they were presumably meant for.

And then they started falling down across the lane in high winds, so the whole lot had to be removed. I think they've put in more suitable natives eg hazel and elder now.

I got an accidental seedling growing in a pot on the patio, which I've kept out of curiosity - it's like a large standard now, much bigger than a bonsai but with its roots constrained so that should limit its growth.

I do love eucalyptus but we've just cut a monster down so I'd be really wary about having another anytime soon - was. Was sad to see it go but it had grown wonky to get light around the Leylandi

Holly trees can grow very large. We have one as tall as the house. The leaves are prickly, go brown and fall off. Messy and painful if you stand on them. Cutting them back is also a bit ouchy.

Try not to block your neighbour’s sunlight again.

@Namechanger0800 I have had them and they are lovely, especially female ones (with berries). They start slow and then take off, and can become huge. People think evergreens don't drop leaves, but they do, only slowly throughout the year. It's really prickly, even when rotted down (which takes ages) so you are sweeping them up or removing them with cast iron gloves all year. If I had another one, I'd keep
It in a pot. In the early years you can clip
It but as it really gets going that becomes a chore.

Oh I just see @Suzi888 said all that for me!

Sorry to be repetitive

No thanks so much all - I'm taking it all in and drawing up a shortlist.

Didn't know holly bushes had a sex - how interesting

Yes, you need one of each for the female to get berries. (I don't know how close they need to be, whether a male somewhere in the neighbourhood suffices).
The names can be misleading, I think there's a female Golden King and a male Silver Queen.

We put lots of trees at the end of our garden over the last few years - a Dutch resistant elm which we put in around 15 years ago and is now around 45ft. It's a beautiful shape, we love it! And we also recently put some trees into a woodland area right at the end of our garden including 5 silver birches and a willow (although if you want screening you might not want a deciduous tree?)
At the side we planted a horse chestnut a few years ago which is now about 15ft already so well worth thinking of that if you want something fast growing. Also a very large magnolia on the other side which also shot up quickly. We also took out a load of Leylandii 15 years ago and put a beech hedge instead. That's now around 10ft tall and makes excellent screening if you don't mind waiting and watering it every day for it to get established. I'd recommend any of those but then I'm biased!

There are some subspecies of holly that don't need a Male and female, but I wouldn't count on it as a tree for a long time as they grow so slowly.

I think tour choices are great but I wouldnt plant crab apple by a fence without talking to the neighbour as the little apples fall everywhere and it can really irritate negihbours.

I have a beautiful Paul's Scarlet hawthorn and a Rowan, I love them both. The Rowan has grown very quickly I must say. I've also grown a few hollies but I keep them small - they are so slow to grow they don't really count as trees.

My neighbour has a wonderful Australian bottle brush which has become the most amazing small tree, easily pruned. And I have a white lilac which has grown extremely tall, it is beautiful in spring and the foliage is loose so the shade is dappled.

I have a eucalyptus called France Bleu which grows to 2-3m though it can be hard to find in stock. I got mine from Hayloft online.

I have a holly in the corner of our garden which has a canopy that starts at the top of our fence and is about a metre high. We haven't done anything to it in the 4 years we've been here so I think that's it's maximum. Our neighbours just behind us have a laburnum which hangs over our fence and between that and the holly we have a nice bit of dappled shade for our dining table. The laburnum is covered in bumble bees when the flowers are out which I love but might not appeal to everyone.