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Identifying trees - help please!

littleflower100littleflower100 Posts: 3
edited January 2021 in Plants
Hello! We saw these beautiful green and purple trees with relatively thin trunks and full but unstructured foliage on an episode of ‘Location, Location, Location’ and we are very keen to know what they are as we’d love to plant some in our garden! I appreciate this is not a very clear image, but I’m hoping someone may be able to identify them. Any suggestions for similar trees (preferably evergreen) would be gratefully received too!


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  • Loraine3Loraine3 Posts: 579
    They look like they could be beech- copper and green.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Have a look here 
    https://www.barcham.co.uk/store/?page=2

    lots of types with coloured leaves

    find some you like them check with us to see if they’re suitable for your planting site and needs. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    They potentially grow into very large trees, but they can be trimmed into a hedge. If then trimmed at the right time, they keep their  russet autumnal leaves over winter, so you get another season of colour :)
  • littleflower100littleflower100 Posts: 3
    Thank you for your replies! We’re really keen to have something that adds instant height as our back garden is somewhat overlooked, but want to avoid anything that may become hard to manage longer term. We don’t want to lose any privacy in the winter either, hence why we’re particularly keen on something evergreen. Quite a long list of requirements I know! 😆
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    You could do a pleached hedge using a mix of green and copper beech.  It looks like a hedge on stilts as the lower trunks are bare but the top is furnished with stems and foliage that give colour and texture and privacy so would give height without too much volume and allow you to plant below to provide seasonal interest thru the year.

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=155 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    The house opposite us has a beech hedge (the green kind). They cut it now and again so it doesn't have the loose look of the ones in your picture. The leaves turn brown in autumn but mostly stay on the plants all winter. Not exactly evergreen, but it might work for you.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    littleflower100 said:
     We’re really keen to have something that adds instant height
    The problem with that is that you also need the experience to care for them. Large specimens of any tree are more difficult to establish. It's a common request, but it isn't always simple to achieve. 
    Your photo isn't clear enough for an ID, and I'm not sure the green  ones are beech, but beech or hornbeam retain their foliage over winter if kept below about 10 to 12 feet, and can be pleached, as @Obelixx says. 

    That also requires some skill.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It also requires them to be trimmed twice a year, at specific times of the year year and in a specific way, in order for them to hold their leaves through the winter. 

    Clip them too early and/or not short enough and they will lose their leaves in the winter as other deciduous trees do. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Dovefromabove said:
    It also requires them to be trimmed twice a year, at specific times of the year year and in a specific way, in order for them to hold their leaves through the winter. 

    Clip them too early and/or not short enough and they will lose their leaves in the winter as other deciduous trees do. 
    The beech hedge over the road from us must be a particularly good-natured one because it's a rented house, the tenants change fairly often, none of them have been gardeners and they seem to chop the hedge at random times. One guy who lived there used to do it several times over the summer, little but often. The current people leave it until it's halfway over the pavement and then hack loads off.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited January 2021
    Little and often, or leaving it late probably fits in 🤣
    The last trim should be in August ... earlier and the hedge is likely to drop a lot of leaves 
    Ive found this useful site
    https://www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/knowledge-base/when-to-trim-a-beech-hedge/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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