Recommendations for a instant screen tree pls

Wow have to say that is a nice looking garden and it is also a great idea. Thanks. It gives me another very good option to look at.

Paul

 

Thanks for letting me know. Much appreciated.

 

Just had a look. They are pricey and delivery on top is quite excessive. BUT they look awesome. I am in a real dilemma. Not being a gardener makes it all more confusing as well!

Thanks,
Paul

 

Cottage garden looking magnificent as is always the case, @glengarry23!

Nick

 

Thank you Nick,..well appreciated.

 

Yes - pricey! I think they have gone up dramatically this last year. I bought them Feb just before the first lockdown and the pleached trees (quercus ilex - holm oaks) I bought were £175+VAT each (I bought 24!!!! ). Now they are priced up closer to £350!!! Grasslands is another tree nursery - I've actually got two 3/4 standard (1.5m of clear trunk and then the leaves/canopy starts) Indian Bean Trees arriving tomorrow (for screening). They were more reasonable at £70 each but they are deciduous.

 

Portuguese Laurels are quite good - evergreen and much smaller leaved than the Cherry Laurel - you can get them quite tall and they're nowhere near as expensive as pleached trees....saying that - you can pleach trees yourself - it's actually relatively straightforward.

 

For anyone with time and patience they can be "trimmed" with secateurs, thus cutting a stem rather than through the leaves as would be the case with a hedge trimmer. But, yeah, I agree, any leaf cut-edges go brown if you just use a hedge trimmer and that looks pretty naff.

Our Portuguese Laurel we cut "once every half dozen years" murdering it back one side and the other side a year or two later. Dunno if you can do that with Cherry Laurel? and if it is a specimen tree that would be the wrong approach anyway!!

SELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I cut each individual shoot

 

True, but their unsightly appearance doesn't last long enough to matter to me. My mate comes round and cuts them with a hedge trimmer about 3-5 times a year and they have that awful "hacked" look you mention for the first couple of weeks, the damaged leaves are still there but barely perceptible after that.

Nick

 

I do quite a few cherry laurel hedges / balls etc , I don't think they look to bad along as you can get a good cut on them . Yes the leaves can get a slight brown hedge but unnoticeable unless close up.

These a some I cut last December , I keep them tight to get a good shape and they don't appear to be hacked at and I only cut them once a year . They all done off ladders its quite a steep slope . The cut leaves fall off through spring .


I don't personally recommended Cherry laurels for hedges or topiary seen as they are far better alternatives but they can look good if they are well trimmed.

 

I had to make this decision earlier this year to replace a giant conifer that was killing my garden.
This was he........



The cost of evergreen was to much for my budget so plumped for Hornbeam which of course is deciduous but I really only need cover in summer.
So from this.



To this in five months and still lots of options how to size them .
The wind is howling at the moment.
Still work in progress.
Very happy so far.

 

I think they look blinking smart

 

Thanks again everyone. Because of budget restrictions, I have opted for a Cherry Laurel. It is going to be slightly short of height I require but may raise the bed a little to compensate. I have ordered from Seagrave Nurseries as they were best priced.
Thanks again everyone!
Paul

 

I've had Tree Ferns from them, always been good quality. I went there once for a look-see - plenty of "big stuff" T'was a few years ago, so hopefully still same people / service.