tree advice

neeshasamuel

Looking to plant a tree in the bottom left corner of our garden to gain some privacy from the house behind but no idea what! I'm not a gardener so not sure where to start. Don't want anything that's going to grow too big and take over but must be high enough to hide the windows. Ideally something that looks good/interesting all year and not too messy. Any suggestions? thanks in advance!

dappledshade

How about an Ameliancher? All round seasonal interest, not too massive, tolerates some drought and pretty much most exposures and soil types.
https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/amelanchier-lamarckii/classid.257/

Then again, it does drop its leaves, so maybe you are looking for an evergreen only?

AndyDean

Silver birch? Beautiful, good for wildlife, looks good all year round and grows upwards more than outwards.

Fairygirl

We get asked this a lot on the forum, and the main problem is that, you'll have to wait a long time for a tree to get big enough, and the canopy to be dense enough. to disguise or hide that.
It's better to plant one about two thirds of the way down the garden. A smaller specimen will then do the job. 
Alternatively, create a pergola, or even a simple screen, with posts and trellis down near the corner, and plant a couple of climbers on it. They'll grow much quicker than a tree, and will give privacy. If you only want privacy when dining, you can do something similar but nearer the house.
You could still plant a tree in the corner, and the pergola would give privacy until the tree's big enough. Either of the trees mentioned will do the job, but bear in mind they will keep growing and may need attention in future 
The other tree I would suggest is a sorbus - there are two types. The mountain ash [rowan] or the whitebeam, which has lovely silvery green foliage and a good shape, usually. 

Rubytoo

All the above suggestions are along the lines of what I think too.

But I see you might have keen footballers in the family?
So perhaps any tree considerations might be left for later on when they grow up a bit. An errant football can do quite a lot of damage to a new small tree.
Fairygirls suggestion of a private dining/ seating area screened by easier climbing plants on a pergola nearer the house would be my choice.
Or let the hedge grow a little taller in that bottom corner area for now, don't know if you have neighbourly considerations in mind.

ZeroZero1

Three trees I planted in my garden this year. Magnolia (soulangea) , Cherry (Kanzan) and Hawthorn n(Pauls Scarlett). All have stunning flowers. All unfussy and medium sized. If you get an older tree it will screen faster. Magnolia is the most expensive (5 year old) but is the queen of any garden in early spring

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=5909

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/93812/i-Crataegus-laevigata-i-Paul-s-Scarlet-(d)/Details


https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/99553/i-Prunus-i-Kanzan-(d)/Details

neeshasamuel

Thank you all - some brilliant suggestions here! Checked out all the tree suggestions and they are all so beautiful it will be a hard choice. I love the silvery trunk on the silver birch so very tempted by that. Will post back to let you know what we decided. Thanks again.

Fairygirl

If you decide to buy a tree, please bear in mind that even if you have the funds to buy a mature one, they are much harder to get established. You need the knowledge and skill to keep one happy. If you don't have that skill, it will suffer. Young trees establish more easily, so don't rush into a decision 

neeshasamuel

thanks for heads up fairygirl. yes, I would've been looking at a mature tree so maybe I will have to look into this before forking out mega bucks - I am not particularly green fingered!

Borderline

Mature trees are tricky and very expensive. As Fairygirl states, they need a lot of care and checking on. The larger the size, the harder it takes for them to settle in. Watering is the main issue. Mainly not enough watering for the first few years.

Where I'm based, there are a lot of dead trees. Some were drying up as early as early June, and many are just 3 meter tall trees, planted in when they are quite mature. It will be interesting to see if they come alive next year.

neeshasamuel

great advice here thanks. i would definitely be sure to look after it well especially if we’d forked out loads for it. if it’s just a case of making sure its planted properly and kept well watered then that’s doable and confident i can keep it alive. anything more then i should probably accept buying something younger and waiting a few more years!