Small evergreen tree

[tentative3]

Hello all,

Looking for one or two tree recommendations to go in a border against a fence in a suburban garden. The fence faces east. We are slowly taking back control of a clearly well loved but overgrown and out of control garden and have taken out quite a lot of stuff which needed to come out, and are now left with a gap which leaves us a bit exposed to two sets of neighbours.

The soil is good but fairly close to a conifer. I'd like a small, evergreen single stemmed tree or two, not conifers! Does anyone have any recommendations for trees and/or suppliers? Happy to spend a bit more to get one with a bit of size to it.

Thanks in advance!

Not a tree, but a mature Fatsia Japonica grows to between 6-8 ft and is structural, hardy and evergreen all year. If it gets too big for your liking, they are very easily pruned.
a decent size one would be between £50-100. They grow reasonably quickly.

How close is the conifer? It'll make a difference to what you can put in. Does the conifer cast shade over the area? They are sponges and dry out the neighbouring soil quite a lot (ask me how I know, go on <bitter>)

Pittosporum are good. They are big shrubs (3m in height roughly) rather than trees but can be trimmed to shape. They also grow quite quickly. Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Elizabeth' is pretty and well behaved.

Ceanothus is also good, neat evergreen leaves and tons of blue flowers that bees love.

Or maybe Photinia 'Pink Marble'. Not saying you should buy from this site particularly but they do offer larger sized plants which can be useful.

Thanks both. The conifer is close, I'll take some pics shortly. Will investigate the fatsia japonica and both pittosporum and ceanothus are good shouts - we inherited a pittosporum trained as a tree elsewhere in the garden and have a ceanothus in the front though it just sprawls under a magnolia. Some good things to think about, thanks.

I'd plant a weeping willow - leaved pear. It's deciduous and you did state evergreen but it is a lovely tree and small birds love to roost in it.

And when it grows, I'd trim back the conifer rather than whatever you eventually decide to plant. Conifers don't benefit wildlife much and take all the moisture out of the surrounding area, making it hard to grow other plants nearby.

Photinia Little Red Robin, Small, evergreen with red leaves in winter. Nice shape .
Lots in garden centres

Just to add, I would get the conifer gone now if I had my way, and just bite the bullet, but OH wants to keep some height until the other stuff has grown up and then get rid of the conifer.

Eleagnus is a tough as old boots shrub which would grow tall enough to give privacy. I think the different varieties might grow to different heights. But it will grow in dry soil.

Weeping cotoneaster will make a beautiful evergreen tree. About 2m or so tall, can trim the “skirt” to allii I w planting underneath.

I can see what he means but if it was taken out, neighbouring plants would establish much faster than they would competing with the conifer for resources. Conifers drain a lot of water and leave the area around very dry. Since the intention is to remove it sometime, I would do it sooner rather than later. You can improve the surrounding soil much easier with it gone too.