could you please show me your pleached trees?

[JustPleachy]

We have a reasonably sized new build garden, and we are wanting to plant for privacy because the gardens back onto each other.

Several similar properties have planted pleached trees near the boundary to solve the same issue, but I’m finding it difficult to judge what they will like ok like because they are so new. They are quite straggly and mostly frame at the moment (and it gets on my nerves that the frames are so squint). Obviously it’s the same in the plant nurseries.

If you have pleached trees that are a bit more mature - really anything more mature than freshly planted - could you please share a picture?

Im also open to other options. I’ve read all the “trees for small gardens” threads and taken notes.

Hopeful sunny-afternoon gardening bump 🙂🌳

Have you dug down into your soil to see what it's like? Many new build gardens are full of builders rubble so trees can struggle to establish, and it can also make the soil quite alkaline, so it's worth buying a tester kit from the garden centre to check this. Trees are typically a significant investment in time and money so the soil is quite important. I mention this because if your soil is poor, the trees would remain straggly. Sorry I have no examples to share!

Thanks @sugarbyebye Fortunately the soil seems pretty good 🙂

There’s lots of pictures online. Mostly they look like hedges on sticks

Thanks @MereDintofPandiculation Yes I have spent quite a bit of time on Google image search. I found they were either nursery stock, or grand gardens. I was hoping for some more realistic / real-life examples 😊

Yeah, I respomded only because you weren't' getting a lot of answers. There's some I pass frequently, apple trees I think, and my impression is that the were still trees on frames 2 years later. Went past them yesterday but I was driving so didn't look.

Have you thought about just planting a few trees to break up sight lines? If you look at Garden Ninja’s blog, he’s planted a couple of strategically placed specimens to block sight lines from neighbouring houses. Ours isn’t new build but we’re overlooked as it’s a suburban garden. After looking at pleached trees, it would suit our garden more to have a couple of trees which will grow more naturally.

I have preached trees (DIY jobs) but they're square rather than flat which I'm guessing is what you're looking for?

Thanks @MereDintofPandiculation I suspected that was the case, and I appreciate it 😊

@HesterRoon we have planted some other trees already, but I am worried it’s going to start to look like a forest 😅I’m going to look up that blog now though, thank you!

@blue345 wow! That sounds fascinating. I haven’t heard of that before. (Although now that I think of it I’m sure I saw a lot like that in Helsingborg). What made you choose it?

This afternoon I had a walk around a slightly older new-build estate from the same builder. I thought if it’s been popular here, it might have been popular there a few years ago. They look a lot nicer once they have grown in a bit. Quite a few photinia, one beech which I thought looked lovely, but I would worry about the leaves blowing into neighbours gardens.

They need a bit of a trim but here you go...

We saw them at a swanky hotel, fancied them but were too tight fisted to pay £800 per tree so it's taken me about 10 years to get them looking vaguely passable.

@JustPleachy beech trees do something called marcescence, which means they don't really drop the dead leaves. Makes them very good for hedging.

Sorry I thought I had replied but it disappeared!

@blue345 those look amazing! You must get a great feeling of satisfaction at having done them yourself. What a beautiful garden.

@Magpiecomplex i know the leaves stay on over winter, but don’t the old leaves still come off in the spring with the new growth? I don’t mind raking them up myself, but don’t want to be a nuisance to the neighbours.

@JustPleachy judging by your user name I wonder if you already know about this site, but have you seen the Just Pleachy site? There is a page where customers have shared real-life photos and many are in new build gardens. There is a real mix of species and maturity of trees. Scroll down to the section "Other Pleachy Trees in Gardens Across the UK". There is also a Just Pleachy instagram with more real photos

I also live in a new build house and we back onto a building site. Both me and my neighbour are going for pleached trees. I'm going for pleached Japanese Privet and he is probabbly going for pleached Red Robins. Although when I see photos like these lovely gardens, I'm tempted to go for pleached Hornbeam! 🌳

Anyway here are some inspo photos, plus a couple of snaps of my garden and building site view! Doing my planting in September and can not wait! 🚜