Help me decide on trees and placement? Pic included.

[Totreeornottotree]

Hi everyone. I'm desperately in need of some help in making a decision on our garden.

We've been here nearly two years and have made some progress with our garden but plan to get a lot more work done in the next few months. The problem we have (as you can see) is we're massively overlooked from the back. The house wasn't built when we bought and looked much further away on the plans, we also didn't realise it would be built on a slight incline.

So in the middle of our back fence there is a Bramley Apple tree planted recently by the builders. I'd like to move this across to the right hand side before it settles, and choose a different tree for the centre.

My list currently includes;
Magnolia Grandiflora
Arbutus Unedo (strawberry tree)
Pink Photinia
Lucas Horbeam

Height wise we wouldn't want anything which grows higher than the house behind, but obviously high enough to provide us with a more private garden.

I have dreams of the trees casting gorgeous dappled shade across the back of the garden while we sit on the patio with the kiddies 🥺

Super modern garden isn't my style, I'd say we're edging towards a more contemporary style cottage/traditional garden.

One of the things to do to create privacy is to have trees (smaller ones) nearer your house and also round the areas where you are likely to have a seating area - rather than a block of trees at the back.

The magnolia might grow quite large for that garden....check it's final size.

I found this helpful.

@BarrelOfOtters thank you, yes we plan to do some tall planting closer to the house where the patio is as a kind of screening, but would also just love to camouflage the view we have of the huge brick house so the garden feels more secluded and calm.

Silver birches are lovely for dappled shade. However an evergreen tree would provide privacy all year round. A holly is a nice native tree?

We've got a neighbours window overlooking our garden, it's not a much used room for them at the moment, but if they move we could end up with someone watching all day. I'm waiting for the leaves on the amelanchier I planted to bud out now to provide us with the dappled privacy we get in summer. But I do sometimes wish I'd planted something evergreen....

@BarrelOfOtters it's so tricky isn't it. We're definitely more restricted with choice with an evergreen but having had their house looming over us all winter I think it's a non-negotiable for us. I'd really love for them to plant some sort of hedge on their side and save us the bother 😂

I have a magnolia (I think it's soulangeana) and it spends a lot of the year shedding something so bear that in mind when choosing a location. It sheds flower casings, then petals, then stamen (I think - pointy things!) then leaves in autumn. A neighbour might not appreciate this if it overhangs their garden at all.

@SoupDragon thank you, the one I'd like is evergreen so I don't think it will shed too much apart from leaf cycling and some flowers? I may be wrong though

I think an evergreen magnolia is a great idea. Yes, they can grow large (I saw one in Sicily that was one of the largest and most spectacular trees I've ever seen) but I've also seen them pruned as wall trees (several in Oxford colleges) so clearly they can be kept in check.

However, they don't grow massively fast afaik, so you may want to invest in a larger specimen if you want privacy any time soon.

There are also some varieties of magnolia grandiflora which have been selected because they stay smaller than the species.

Magnolia is likely to be very slow growing (or very expensive for a mature tree)

Thanks everyone! So regarding the magnolia, our local nursery have some which are around 3/3.5m tall. They are usually £450 but they're 50% off so really affordable for such a big tree! Should I go for that or look for something different? The canopys weren't as full as I'd like but I understand that's probably because the nursery is pruning them etc

Not every green but we have japonicum cercidiphyllum, silver birch, cerasifera nigra (cherry). I found the ever green options a bit dull. Maybe a standard Camilla?

@bumbledeedum we clearly have fab taste 😊we have a cherry in our front garden and the tree on the left of the photo is a camellia japonica

Evergreen* can't bloody edit on the app

@Totreeornottotree 😂 well obviously you're ahead of the game on my suggestions then!!

Please don't plant a huge tree on the boundary. It's not the other people's fault either that they overlook you.

@PrimalLass totally appreciate your comment, but it won't affect their light etc. Their garden is east facing directly behind their building, and south facing to the left of the photo. We won't plant anything that's a monstrosity and we will keep it all maintained (hence my careful planning).

We're not trying to be selfish at all and I'd hope they will appreciate the addition too 😊

That's good that it won't impact their light and hopefully not grow over their garden 👍

Large trees can feel very oppressive when you've got no choice over them. I wouldn't now view a house that had large trees right on the boundary as there's nothing you can do about them.

I would buy that like a shot! Make sure to prepare the planting site really well and keep it very well watered the first couple of years, big trees need a lot of tlc to settle in.

Personally I would find that large brick house looming over me more oppressive than some beautiful elegant trees.
Nature really has no chance does it.😶

I’m massively non-private on two sides, and I find the illusion of privacy suffices. Absolute privacy would be difficult to achieve. I’d go for a Betula x jaquemontii, or maybe a snake bark maple. Deciduous, but in both cases in winter the house would be behind a tracery of branches, and there would be interesting trunks to look at (silver, or green and white striped). Evergreens can be a bit same-y, and even can loom a bit if they are dense. You need something which draws the eye forward, away from the house. (A bird feeder would be added interest).

I would plant the magnolia a few meters further forward, and then a cluster of Himalayan birch behind, closer to the fence. The combination of both will add more depth, draw the eye forward and distract from the house behind, which is more effective than trying to block it.

Is it a new build estate? Do check the deeds for height restrictions on trees. 3.5m is common.

Other trees I'd consider are:
a weeping birch (purpley twiggy in winter, nice shape if you're after something to sit under, not too much shade),
a flowering dogwood (only because I really love them in flower, they have good autumn colour, and nasty tasting but pretty fruit), another cornus, this time cornus controversia (wedding cake tree) because theyre so light and airy looking in leaf and catch raindrops on bare branches in the winter). It would look best where you can still see the shape /outline of it.
Those are all deciduous but have more flittery leaves than an evergreen would have, or cotoneaster lacteus (evergreen, spring flowers and autumn berries, so good for wildlife, grows reasonably fast).

But the magnolia sounds like a bargain, assuming they look healthy I'd buy one of them!

Thanks for all the input everyone. Lots of lovely ideas. We're going to visit another nursery tomorrow and take a look a look around 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Then try being in a 6m x 6m garden with large trees in everyone else's garden towering over you.

The condescending shite about nature doesn't really wash when you can plant a large tree in the middle of your garden rather than on the boundary.

I have three decent-sized trees in my small garden that don't affect anyone else. And two in the front.