Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Name me fast growing trees

58 replies

Cinnamonx · 05/08/2025 22:17

Can you name trees that grow fast.
Not a bush just trees tall trees.
Something that grows tall and fast.
In fact taller the better.
As you may have noticed i know nothing about gardening.

OP posts:
ConflictofInterest · 05/08/2025 22:23

Ash and Sycamore are really fast, Silver birch is fairly fast too, we're still talking about 5 years from seedling to a standard tree size and shape though but by year 2 Ash and Sycamore can be about 6 foot tall and leafy Do you need it to be evergreen?

SwanFlight · 05/08/2025 22:35

Laurel, Eucalyptus.

Slower, but tall: Sweet chestnut. Beech. Wild Pear.

Smaller, but can grow into small tree:
Buddleia. Hazel. Field Maple. Fig.

Where in the country are you and what's your soil type and aspect?

SwanFlight · 05/08/2025 22:37

Giant Redwood?

Gouache · 05/08/2025 22:37

Where do you want to plant, soil type etc? And what do you want it to do — add height to a garden, block something, give shade, add privacy etc?

Cinnamonx · 05/08/2025 22:39

ConflictofInterest · 05/08/2025 22:23

Ash and Sycamore are really fast, Silver birch is fairly fast too, we're still talking about 5 years from seedling to a standard tree size and shape though but by year 2 Ash and Sycamore can be about 6 foot tall and leafy Do you need it to be evergreen?

Not bothered about it being a evergreen just as long as it grows tall and fast-ish.

OP posts:
VintageJewellery · 05/08/2025 22:39

If the soil is etremely good then it will grow faster. A family member of mind once planted a silver birch in a vegetable patch that had been heavily manured for years before that. The tree grew extremely quickly to a good size and the vegetable patch was never any use for growing vegetables after that.

Cinnamonx · 05/08/2025 22:41

Gouache · 05/08/2025 22:37

Where do you want to plant, soil type etc? And what do you want it to do — add height to a garden, block something, give shade, add privacy etc?

Im planting them in the garden out side.

OP posts:
SwanFlight · 05/08/2025 22:43

Walnut? (Slower but I have one that has grown about 12 ft in a year.)

someoneseatenmyapple · 05/08/2025 22:44

Eucalyptus or laurel.

Cinnamonx · 05/08/2025 22:45

All the trees said so far are going on my list.
Im doing it for privacy.

OP posts:
SwanFlight · 05/08/2025 22:46

A squirrel planted a Hazel a few years back in the garden and now it's about 15-20ft. Great trees. You can always cut them back to the ground when mature. The leaves go from small to large too, so it's a good privacy tree.

TheAutumnCrow · 05/08/2025 22:50

Fig. Huge leaves. Can be pruned to spread and make a lot of privacy cover, especially in the soil rather than a pot.

It grows back very vigorously from said pruning.

minipie · 05/08/2025 22:52

Be careful, some fast growing trees can have big root systems and/or are very thirsty. Eg Eucalyptus. Don’t put these close to a house or wall. Birch roots are shallow but wide so can cause issues with lawns and patios.

Sycamore and Ash self seed like crazy so don’t plant unless you’re happy to be weeding out sprouts and mini saplings a lot.

Bamboo (in a container or it goes nuts) is good for fast privacy screening. Or if budget allows, buy pleached trees.

PInkyStarfish · 05/08/2025 22:53

Crack Willow. I call them mile a minute trees! salix Fragilis.

minipie · 05/08/2025 22:53

Problem with a fig is it wants to grow wide rather than tall - tho you can train it to a certain extent. Also no leaves for a lot of the year.

No3392 · 05/08/2025 22:54

Sumac.

Mine is a menace! She throws out new trees every year! I have one waist height that was not there until a month or two ago!

Going to dig her up and give to my brother!

Jellybean23 · 05/08/2025 23:01

You need to carefully consider the drawbacks before planting trees.

Remember that as trees grow and form trunks, the privacy is lost at ground level over time. How tall do you need the trees to be ultimately? Also, consider the implication of tree roots on the drains, house foundations. walls and driveways etc.
Are you prepared for the mess - large trees can drop an enormous amount of leaves and debris . It all has to be cleared away. Sycamore leaves become sticky with aphids. Tree seeds and nuts create a problem of self seeding.
Where will the shadows fall - will your house be dark?

MrsSkylerWhite · 05/08/2025 23:04

Eucalyptus. Beautiful and evergreen but they’ll be 50ft before you know it, not really suitable for many urban/suburban gardens.

SwanFlight · 05/08/2025 23:08

As others have said, trees like Eucalyptus are fast, can look good, but can suck the living daylights out of the surrounding area like Ash. So I'd suggest looking up each tree here, see if it will do in your part of the country and on your soil type. And go from there. There are pioneer species like Birch, may grow fine where other trees could struggle. I read that someone was trying to plant a hillside as an orchard, and it didn't happen until they went through a bit of long term succession planting as the site was so exposed. So OP if you can give a little detail about the plot, it might well help and dictate what you want to plant.

I'd love a giant redwood, but I don't think my neighbours would be that keen!

CatherinedeBourgh · 06/08/2025 05:01

Willow and poplar (not near the house)

One thing to bear in mind is that the faster a tree grows the more its roots are a risk to any buildings around it. Make sure you respect the safe planting distances for any trees you choose.

SuperGinger · 06/08/2025 07:16

We went for silver birch, although not great in winter for screening, it is beautiful in summer, and the roots are not the worst. Barcham is very good if you are buying trees and some are quite big. Our silver birch which we planted recently is now huge.

Also pleached beech is very pretty provides year round screening but needs maintenance

EasternStandard · 06/08/2025 07:59

Poplar. Fast and tall

slightlydistrac · 06/08/2025 22:19

Sequoiadendron giganteum
Wellingtonia
Lombardy poplar
Cupressocyparis x leylandii
Dawn redwood

The thing is... oh never mind 😂

myvolvohasavulva · 07/08/2025 09:05

Assuming you have lots of space the fastest growing trees I know for height and privacy are Italian elders, gorgeous trees that grow huge, very quickly and can be planted fairly close together. They also fix nitrogen in the area around them so will help growing spaces further out from the root line.

NeedToKnow101 · 07/08/2025 09:20

Sumac grows reasonably fast.