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Tree for shade
Abbie2
Posts: 15
My neighbours are building a conservatory which means that on their side of the six foot dividing fence there is now an eight foot brick wall which looks ugly and will now cast considerable shade. Can anyone recommend a shade loving, fast growing tree to hide this monstrosity?
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Posts
Have you considered bamboo? Just make sure you put a barrier between it and your garden which will allow you to cut any invasive roots each spring.
Tricky one as you won't want big tree roots too near their wall! Bamboo idea is a good one or how about a ceanothus or a pyracatha? These will grow big and tall quickly, will cope ok with shade and don't necessarily need support. I'm assuming you can't grow anything up or attach trellis to their conservatory wall? Otherwise that will give you some good options for climbers.
Lol I did a double take at your username
I'd add trellis to the fence, assuming it belongs to both parties, and grow climbers.
A 'fast growing tree' by definition, doesn't magically stop at the height you want, and will be quite invasive in terms of root spread, and as I'm guessing it's near your house, I don't think that's a very good idea at all.
Alternatively, some evergreen shrubs which you can mainatin more easily, planted in front of the fence, but again, it depends what room you have, as most shrubs eventually have a fair bit of depth and will extend out into your plot.
Bamboo is very contentious, so it's not something I'd recommend unless you really know what you're doing. It could create a much bigger problem than the bit of wall.
A little more info about the room you have and the location of your property in relation to the neighbouring one would be helpful. It also depends what experience and how much time you have for maintenance of any planting. Otherwise, suggestions aren't always very helpful.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It's not a tree by definition but I have a Mahonia Charity that does brilliantly in a relatively shady spot (around 2-3 hours of direct sun). It's about 10 feet tall but I have no idea how long it took to grow that high as I inherited it from previous homeowner. Colours are magnificent though and bees love it when other nectar is scarce.
Mahonia is great for shade and good for rogue bees over winter. Not sure how fast it grows though