Tree help

[PinkPomelo]

Hi, I'm looking to plant two trees in my garden for something to look at and also a bit privacy. Are eucalyptus a good idea does anyone know? I like that they grow fast and are evergreen! Open to suggestions.
I have a north facing windy back garden but it does get a good bit sun.

Eucalyptus trees do grow rather enormous.

The trouble with fast-growing trees is that they keep growing fast and don't just stop growing at the height you want, they carry on growing up and up, until they reach their eventual maximum height for the species. That is often 30 metres or more, and totally unsuitable for a domestic garden.

How far away from your house do you want to plant these trees, and how close to neighbouring buildings will they be?

Eucalyptus roots are an absolute bugger. Don’t plant one!

And also, they grow tall quickly with quite a bare lower trunk. Not great for privacy.

Our bay tree grows like crazy, is evergreen and is also a useful herb. It also dosn't mind being trimmed to shape.
Or there's leylandii...

Or there's leylandii...

Aarghh... don't go there!

Eucalyptus are lovely, I had one in my last house. It did get huge so if that's not what you want then be careful. Some of the big trees in this garden that we planted
are an elm (it's now 0ft) and and a horse chestnut which is around 30ft.

I agree not to plant leylandii. We took out a very long hedge and replaced it with beech, which we keep at around 12ft.

The elm is 40 ft or so, not 0!

Not all Eucalyptus grow huge. Two that are more like large shrubs are France Bleu & Azura. You'd get good advice on options here:

https://www.hardy-eucalyptus.com/product-category/smaller-growing-eucalyptus/

For contrast I'd choose something else as your second tree. If it has to be evergreen, consider one of the taller-growing Ceanothus such Trewithen Blue (amazing blue flowers in late spring), or Hoheria (white flowers) or a tree Cotoneaster such as Cornubia or Rothschildianus (white spring flowers, red or yellow autumn berries respectively). Or go for a great multi-stem tree such as Malus Evereste - flowers, fruit, autumn colour - you wont even notice it's leafless for a couple of months as the crab apple fruits persist & are beautiful!!

I've got a fig tree. 6 years ago it was about 3 feet high. Now its huge, almost as tall as my house. Unfortunately it is a problem for my neighbour, so some of it will have to go.

Just another 60 feet to go then!

Look for something multistem with more seasons of interest e.g. cherry blossom and autumn leaf colour or amelanchier. I chose a crab apple, pink hawthorn and sorbaria to replace trees removed under conditions for tpo permission
Buy a slightly larger specimen but think about its likely future size and how you'll deal with it if it's out of control

Or buy some pleached trees to give the framework/screening but bear in mind they will need more maintenance

This is really helpful! I looked up hoheria but it doesn't like wind apparently and my garden is very windy

I would be happy with that, it's a beautiful tree.

I dream of my neighbours getting rid of their enormous tree planted 2ft from my fence and next to their 14/16ft leylandii hedge.
They do reluctantly have it trimmed occasionally when I ask but are very surly. They also have several other trees impacting on other neighbours.
Please be careful in your choice.

It certainly helps if you have the room for it to get that big.😀

A hedge that tall is considered a nuisance 'high hedge' by some councils, and they can insist that it be reduced in height, so it might be worth finding out.

I would look at pretty shrubs rather than trees, lots to choose from, some grow quite fast but can be kept in check. Evergreen, autumn colour, flowering, fruiting, just browse and check suitability. Or a couple of fruit trees on not to vigorous roots, apple, cherry, plum, pear any number of varieties of each.

Red Robin might work better than eucalyptus.

I also like ceanothus - not a tree but the evergreen ones are fab once well established