Now hang on folks, we're Methodists you know! No churchyard, just a garden which is quite big and only me to maintain together with a man that comes round to mow the grass. And did I mention the incline and the sandstone bedrock that sticks through in places??? . Anyway, I'm done with shrubs because they get infested with nettles and convulvulas etc. We (meaning me) would like to just have the grass cutting chap mow underneath? You know it makes sense!
OK, hollies and rowans then - they don't need much root room at all. Lots of berries for the birds and free berried hollysprigs for Christmas if you chose the right varieties
Ma would be proud of you - she's a lifelong Methodist
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
What has happened to the drains. Old ones were rigid clay pipes with many joints. A bit of heave from a passing root and "crack", the joint opens and Luvly the plant says, with a steady feed supply. If you now have modern replacement long PVC runs with few and flexible joints, much of your problem may have gone. Most trees that grow near water such as willow and poplar have searching roots, so avoid water-side trees. Surface rooters like silver birch may be OK. Cherries grow far and wide like all suckering shrubs and trees, amd want to take over the world, but may not go deep enough to bother the drains much, so don't assume spread is the same as deep rooting unless your drains are very shallow because of the rock.
Anybody else think monkey puzzles are one of the ugliest trees?
yes i do welshonion, ghastly things and totally out of keeping with the English landscape.
I think that they add something. Native evergreen trees must number below 5 - Yew, Holly, Scots Pine? I usppose 400 years ago winter must have been a very brown place!
Jim, I think there are still people who buy anything different and exciting without regard for how it looks with the rest of the garden. Probably the same ones that see a brilliant flower and don't notice the ugly bush it's growing on.
Not like us lot on the forum, we have superior taste
Welsh onion, I SO agree about monkey puzzles; my landlord planted one in the front garden when I lived in London; I used to risk life, limb and eyesight trying to weed underneath it. Ghastly!
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Now hang on folks, we're Methodists you know! No churchyard, just a garden which is quite big and only me to maintain together with a man that comes round to mow the grass. And did I mention the incline and the sandstone bedrock that sticks through in places???
. Anyway, I'm done with shrubs because they get infested with nettles and convulvulas etc. We (meaning me) would like to just have the grass cutting chap mow underneath? You know it makes sense! 
OK, hollies and rowans then
- they don't need much root room at all. Lots of berries for the birds and free berried hollysprigs for Christmas if you chose the right varieties 
Ma would be proud of you - she's a lifelong Methodist
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
What has happened to the drains. Old ones were rigid clay pipes with many joints. A bit of heave from a passing root and "crack", the joint opens and Luvly the plant says, with a steady feed supply. If you now have modern replacement long PVC runs with few and flexible joints, much of your problem may have gone. Most trees that grow near water such as willow and poplar have searching roots, so avoid water-side trees. Surface rooters like silver birch may be OK. Cherries grow far and wide like all suckering shrubs and trees, amd want to take over the world, but may not go deep enough to bother the drains much, so don't assume spread is the same as deep rooting unless your drains are very shallow because of the rock.
Thanks chaps! Some great information here and I will definitely make use of it.
I think that they add something. Native evergreen trees must number below 5 - Yew, Holly, Scots Pine? I usppose 400 years ago winter must have been a very brown place!
Welshonion LOL, yes, I think they are an abomination.
400 years ago I don't think many people were too bothered about how they gardens looked.
Jim, I think there are still people who buy anything different and exciting without regard for how it looks with the rest of the garden. Probably the same ones that see a brilliant flower and don't notice the ugly bush it's growing on.
Not like us lot on the forum, we have superior taste
In the sticks near Peterborough
Welsh onion, I SO agree about monkey puzzles; my landlord planted one in the front garden when I lived in London; I used to risk life, limb and eyesight trying to weed underneath it. Ghastly!