Replacing mature trees

[Blankiefan]

We have 4 cherry blossoms in our front garden. They are equally spaced across our front lawn and are quite an obvious feature. We think they must be 25 years old. One has started to die. I think they'll survive for several more years but I'd like to plan for their eventual demise.

Could I plant youngish trees in pots now to plan to transfer them into the ground when the current trees die?

There are dozens of varieties of cherry, so unless you know the exact one, it might be rather hard to match the existing trees with a new one. It is possible to air layer cherry trees though, so if you tried that and were successful, then it would be an exact clone of the parent plant.

It's not a great idea to replace plants like for like because of the risk of diseases unfortunately. You would be better off researching different trees to replace them, or identifying different spots you could grow new cherries in. (Actually you should do this anyway as making the sit of an old stump suitable for a brand new tree would be really hard)

If the one that's dying has a disease then definitely don't replace with another cherry. I replaced my diseased cherry with a beautiful crab apple and that's been very successful.

you would need a VERY big pot to do this. otherwise, the tree you have in the pot will become pot bound and not grow well when you shift it to the soil

as above, it would be better to plant a new tree of a slightly different type in a slightly different place.

Thanks all. I know nothing so all very helpful. Sounds like we need a new plan.

The house (a bungalow) is quite open to the street. We sre set back about 5m from the street (up a small slope) . The current trees create a visual distraction which gives us a bit of privacy (our bedroom is one of the front rooms). The trees are parallel to the front of the house about 2.5m down the garden. Then 2.5m away there is an empty bed then a low wall. The trees are planted in the lawn. I'll draw a picture shortly. How difficult would it be to dig up the stumps so we could grow grass over them? Based on what you're saying it sounds like we'd be better staying to grow a hedge in the empty bed so that matures before we have to cut down the trees. Any thoughts on the best type of hedge to plant. The front is about 12m wide so it'll take a lot of plants.

The green bit is the sloped lawn where the trees are currently planted

If you like cherries, you could put them on the bed. It looks like it's far enough that it could work. Or crab apples, as someone suggested.

If I was going to put a hedge, I'd make it a mixed one, part evergreen part deciduous as I think that looks best, I don't really like hedges that are very uniform. It looks like you have the space that you could grow a series of shrubs without trimming them into a hedge shape if you wanted to. That would look more natural and less rigid, and would still give you the privacy effect you are looking for.

What is your soil like and what is the aspect? Is the site exposed? That will help in advising which shrubs you could use.

The front garden is west facing. I have no knowledge that enables me to describe the soil - that's the brown stuff, isn't it? The bed used to have some random plants in it - a mix of rose bushes and small shrubs that I didn't like. They seemed to grow well if that helps. I took everything out and put down weed matting / bark.

The cherry in our back garden was apparently planted in 1982 when the house was built. A couple of years ago it started to look a bit sad so I got a local tree care company to come and have a look. They gave the tree a bit of a trim and removed a branch which had decided to droop rather than go up like all the others. This year we have had the best blossom ever (we've been here 26 years). So maybe all your trees need are a haircut!

(Stump removal requires machinery and is pricey if you do have them cut down.)

When you dug things up, was the soil sticky and heavy or light and sandy? How hard was it to dig?

I didn't do much of it and it was 10 odd years ago but general memory would be soft and sticky.

How tall would a hedge need to be to screen you from the road if your house is higher?

I would put a mix of flowering and foliage shrubs. Depending on how high you need it to be, you could choose ones which grow to 2, 3 or 4 metres high. You could have a tree or two in there too, to vary the heights and further baffle the view of the house.

Some good ones are
Cornus (dogwoods) - some are grown for their flowers, some for their bark
Choisya - evergreen, with scented white flowers
Forsythia - flowers in early spring
Lilac - the standard one can get a bit too big and messy but there are better behaved varieties
Viburnum - some are evergreen
Lagerstroemia - flowers in summer, generally pink or red
Cotinus coggyria - some have lime green leaves, some have purple leaves, all have lovely autumn colour
Hibiscus - flowers in summer
Euonymus - autumn colour

The choice is endless really!

Thanks so much @CatherinedeBourgh . I'll do some googling and see what catches my eye. I'm all about looking at people's hedges now - the school walk has taken on a new purpose!

It's a great thing to do, tells you what grows well in your area!