I'm having a load of cypress trees removed

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

They were here when we bought the house over a decade ago and I've always disliked them but haven't had the will to do anything about them until now. I thought I was going to regain about 1.5m of flowerbed, but because I have an odd shaped boundary I hadn't realised that part of my front garden had two rows of cypress, so I've gained a massive amount of space. It's triangular with about 1.5m as expected at the pointy end but about 4m (possibly 5m, I'm not great at estimating) at the wide end. My front garden looks bloody HUGE, mostly because of so much extra light coming in. I'm not sure what to put in there now.

I think the previous owners probably put them in for privacy but I'm the last house on a cul de sac so there isn't a huge need for an impenetrable hedge.

Google view for your delectation. The red lines are my boundary, the yellow is my next door neighbours boundary with the road and the blue is where I thought my boundary with the road was.

Excellent job. Have you decided what to do with the extra space? A little secluded seating area might be nice.

I have a back garden which is much better for sitting out. I was originally going to put flowering shrubs in there, but now that there's more space I'm thinking of a 'statement' tree, like a magnolia maybe.

Also, I forgot to tell the DC that it would be happening. DS (aged 18) emerged from his lair at lunchtime and said how huge the front garden looks now. DD (aged 14) is still at school, but everything we do is 'wrong' so she's not going to like it.

The previous owner of our house went mad with leylandii, which were a total nightmare. Finally getting rid of them all was without doubt the best thing we ever did.

i really wish I’d kept a screenshot of the before on Google earth.

As predicted, DD came home and instantly said "That's disgusting, why would you DO that".

It's looking a bit messy at the moment, but there's plenty of potential for something very pretty instead of the dark and oppressive trees that we had before.

Photos of the space below. I tried not to get too much of my neighbours house in, but it was hard to take a photo without catching a bit.

I think I'd have one or two flowering cherry trees...

Cherry trees are lovely, but there are already quite a few planted on the road. I was wondering about something unusual, like a handkerchief tree, or a liquid amber.

Actually, I might plant a victoria plum. We had one in the back garden and one year the dog realised that he could eat the fallen plums. Which was a terrible idea because if he had cracked open the stone while chewing it would have made him very ill. So we spent a whole month going out in the morning to pick up fallen plums before letting him out. Then the tree died. A plum tree in the front would be much easier to manage because he's not allowed out the front by himself.

Did they just cut them off at ground level, it looks like the stumps are still there. It might be worth getting them to come back with a stump grinder. Anyway, leylandii are very hungry trees, so you are going to have to use a lot of soil improver there, and you will find a heck of a lot of roots so it would be good to get rid of as many as you can.

A liquidambar would be lovely, but a friend of mine has one and his is now rather large. Too large for a suburban garden really, I think that they can get up to about 20 metres.

How about Himalayan Birch - betula utilis jacquemontii? They don't get too big, and the bark is fantastic.

They took the stumps out in places that it would be visible, but they were running out of time and are busy tomorrow so I said to leave those ones as I will be underplanting anyway.

Put down some AstroTurf. Might as well go all the way destroying animal habitats.

I'm going to replant with something a bit more varied, the animals will be fine. It's not necessarily good for an environment to just leave things the way that they are forever, especially if it's a non-native plant. What I plant will have flowers and berries so will be much more appealing to birds, squirrels and insects.

I like birches larchforest, but they don't like me. I get tree pollen hay fever, by far the worst of which is birch pollen. I have three silver birches in the opposite corner of my front garden and they get to stay because they are beautiful even though they make me sick, but I probably don't want to add any more.

Some of the crab apple trees are excellent with a very long season of visual interest, from flowering, good autumn colour and there are varieties that hold their bright red crabs until February. There's one near me; it's a good shape and not too large (about 4m), which I admire all year.

Hawthorns might be good if you wanted a thorny hedge. Blossom, then the haws, which the birds love.

Perhaps a couple of rowan trees of different varieties (so different coloured berries) and under plant it with some compact fuchsias, also different varieties. I love fuchsias, and the bees love them too.

I am trying to remember what my old NDN was planning to plant, but they moved instead. It will wake me at 3.00am, so I'll write it down to suggest tomorrow!

Make sure you have pen and paper beside your bed EffortlessDesmond

I remembered! Amerlanchier lamarckii was one, and while I checked I saw Cercis occidentalis which is also v lovely with year round interest. Hope these are helpful.

www.gardenia.net/guide/trees-with-four-seasons-of-interest

Quince. Beautiful white flowers followed by huge golden fruit. Medlar similar but smaller fruits.

winter flowering cherry

You can look back in time on Google Street view

Ooh, thank you, I'll have a go!

Previous owners ripped out a weeping willow. I could cry. It would have provided dappled shade in the garden

Rubbish! Those thick heavy conifers are pretty hopeless for wildlife. The extra light and new planting OP is planning will be far better for biodiversity.

I really like the look of this rowan, I like the vertical rather than spreading growth and the autumn colour. clarenbridgegardencentre.ie/online-garden-shop/trees-l-z/sorbus-autumn-spire/ I also quite like this one, beautiful berries. clarenbridgegardencentre.ie/online-garden-shop/trees-l-z/sorbus-pink-pagoda/