Reply With QuoteI have trees in the front and back gardens, wouldn't dream of getting rid.
Back in the early 1970s, nearly every front garden had a tree in it, often slap bang in the middle of the lawn in a 3ft diameter circle of soil. There was a popular slogan back then - Plant a tree in 73 and the year after it was - plant some more in 74.
I live in a cul de sac of 6 houses, all owned by pensioners and every house has still got a tree in the front garden and it just looks nice. Last year a young family moved in to one of the houses and lo and behold, the tree has now been chopped down even though it was healthy.
When you look at houses in streets with the usual age mix, you hardly ever see a tree anymore and most councils have removed them from the pavements which was prevalent in my childhood.
I thought trees are good for the environment and they certainly look attractive, so why the apparent lack of interest in them ?
I have trees in the front and back gardens, wouldn't dream of getting rid.
Kids these days eh? No respect for trees. Now, back when I were a lad...
I have a very large tree in my front garden and 2 in my back garden.
I don't mind them, but the apple tree does make alot of mess.
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Love 'em, a little piece of the country in suburbia.
Front garden, a pine tree which is taller than the house, back garden, 4 apple trees, 3 pear trees, 1 plum tree, 10 2 storey conifers lining half of the back fence and 2 beech trees
They potentially damage the property, the drains etc. That's why people get rid of them. Insurance increases if you have certain types of tree within certain distances of a property.
Personally, I love them, but I have shrubs near the house and trees at least 100 feet away.
My insurers are happy (and a few others I got quotes from) if the tree is further away from the house than 5m.
I have a large number of trees in my garden and I wouldn't get rid of them, particularly those that line the driveway. However, they get pollarded every three or four years to keep them manageable. Here are a few other issues with trees, particularly when they get large:
- Clearing up the leaves takes an age and if planted in a lawn and not cleared regularly will damage a lawn.
- Little or nothing grows beneath them as little light gets to the ground.
- The roots of some trees e.g. willow, will undermine building/driveway/pathway foundations incurring huge costs. This occurred at my father's with a neighbour's tree.
- Pollarding, crown reducing, crown thinning involves climbing the trees and is a young man's game. Additionally, it isn't cheap.
A friend has a massive beech tree in his front garden that has a TPO on it. He can't even prune or pollard it. As a consequence his front garden is bare as nothing will grow, he can't park his or his wife's car in the driveway as sap drops onto them and also pigeons that roost in the tree cause a huge mess.
Last edited by Skier; 9th August 2019 at 20:00.
Trees in gardens round here and in the streets. Houses were built early 70s.
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I thought Pampus Grass plants were prevalent in 1970s suburbia :-)
You mean like this?
Originally Posted by broxie
Councils I guess have removed trees (and grass verges around my way) to limit ongoing maintenance costs or issues with pavements and roads. I fundamentally disagree and love a tree lined road, and think for my near £3k council tax they should happily maintain the trees and pavements.... anyway that’s not what it’s about. I see the same as the OP has pointed out and it is a shame. I have just planted some birch trees in my garden and have re-planted a 50ft hedge that had been removed. I’d love to see more trees and may approach my LA to see if they’d be up for replanting the ones they’ve removed, especially as they want to become carbon neutral soon enough. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Love trees but they can present problems if unattended ours shield our small road from the main road.
As to Pampas grass inherited some a couple of houses ago and was told by the buyers it apparently indicated “ swingers” lived in the property
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
I'm surrounded by trees. I think they're great but I do live in the country. The messiest being the Apple trees and particularly the massive crop of apples I have to pick up every year. Also our pet (wild) badger has a penchant for them and regularly leaves apple chutney like gifts on the lawn.
Gratuitous pic of the errr..... summer house in the garden and some trees.....
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I worked on a PFI for a council highway maintenance, trees are a very large burden on the councils budget..we had maybe 3000 trees in our Borough including parks. Each one needed checking for rot and maintained on a 2 or 3 year cycle. There was up roar when we had to remove some but they were diseased, that's probably why councils avoid replacing them.. we have all heard the strains on council tax to save money. Not good, but it's business at the end of the day.
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I grew up with 2 large trees in our front garden, both have now been removed, the first an elm, contracted Dutch Elm Disease and was lopped by the council, the second, an oak, leached water out of the clay soil so much the corner of the house dropped and caused internal cracking. Once the tree was chopped and the damage repaired no further movement has happened. Unfortunately trying to sell the property was a nightmare with a history of 'subsidence' on it's record and we eventually had to let it go for much less than it is actually worth.
So yes trees, love them and in the right place they are great but I'll never have another on my property.
I have a 60' front garden and thought it a good idea around 2000 to plant a dwarf corkscrew willow about forty feet up. It began at five feet tall with a stake.
By 2009 it had to come down. It was 25' tall and threatening the phone lines, and 25' across. It was clearly alien with the speed at which it grew, and as to the dwarfing root stock, that didn't exist. It cost £350 to get a guy round with two mini diggers (the first broke) to cut it down and then dig it up and make good.
Pity, because it was beautiful, but I had been sold the wrong thing.
We have a huge (and very old) copper beech tree at the back of our house. It has a TPO on it (we live in a Conservation Area, so all trees over a certain size automatically have TPOs).
We get it pruned every couple of years or so - we have to get Planning Permission (well, our tree surgeon does the paperwork), but it's pretty painless and has never been refused.
I love trees so much as they provide character to the street scene, however we have a problem tree (deodar cedar) in my neighbours garden and want rid. This also has a TPO, which looks to have been placed at a time before my current house was built (circa 40 years ago) but in my view shouldn't be valid today. As I understand and it trees that are fit for TPO's should provide outstanding contribution to the local amenity, fair enough, however this tree is on private property, is 40m high and only viewable from a very specific location on the public road and then only the very top 10-15% of it can be viewed. Not sure how much contribution this is actually providing, I reckon 9 ouut of 10 people wouldn't even know it was there. This tree overhangs my garden by a fair portion and sheds needles at an alarming rate, my lawn is difficult to maintain, my gutters and drainage are continuously blocked, triggers broom is getting well used to clean up the needles on the patio, it's a nuisance.
I'll hold my hand up and say right now I purchased the house in full knowledge of this tree so take full responsibility for the problem, however I don't see how this tree qualifies for a TPO and want to challenge the council to remove it. Anyone had any success at removing a TPO?
It's amazing how many people DON'T apply for planning permission to remove a tree; they just go out there with a saw or get a man in without going through the required permissions.
I see it all the time :-(
Sometimes tree removal is necessary - we have had an ongoing battle to get a huge willow tree cut down as it’s causing subsidence to our property. Never an easy conversation not helped by them being in complete denial despite an arborist commissioned by their insurance company agreeing it was to blame
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I am not sure who you mean by 'them', but I would also take issue if it was an arborist advising on structural movement. A structural engineer should advise on structural movement, a geotechnical engineer can advise on the soil characteristics and whether or not the soil is shrinkable and/or desiccated by the tree roots, but an arborist is simply a tree specialist.
It's interesting that they are willing to risk a £20,000 fine - and also being required to replace the removed tree!
Many people in the London area have paved over their front garden for multiple car parking.
Cheers,
Neil.
Said tree might have preservation order attached to it, could be an expensive gardening mistake for the newbies.
Upto £20k & made to replace.
Glad I logged in
RIAC
Leaf it out,,
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Not every post is about watches,it's good to branch out now and again, was bough'nd to happen.
Treemendous replies
RIAC
Wood be a shame knot to comment.
Thread deviation is the root of all evil.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
We have a lot of Scots Pines in our road, needles everywhere, sap falls on the cars but I wouldnt change it as I love them, the local council are very protective of trees too and come down heavy on anyone messing with them, neighbour got hit for £250 for pruning one small branch!
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