It would be easy to write a few paragraphs listing all the plus points of trees: they clean up the air; are net oxygen releasers; somewhere for birds to nest; provide welcome shade in summer; somewhere to shelter in a sudden summer downpour etc etc. So much so that politicians love being associated with tree planting (that was rather serendipitous - I noticed that post just as I started writing this one).
Most relevant for this discussion is that they look nice (whether that is an aesthetic thing or simply because they are associated with all the Good Things listed in the bog standard opening paragraphs on trees).
From closer up and on a practical point of view, trees are a pain in the arse. They undermine foundations; soak up so much water that other plants won't grow around them; drop leaves on your lawn and in your gutters; you need to prune the overhanging branches and go and grovel to your neighbours if a storm snaps off branches into their gardens (happened to me after the Great Storm of 1987 - in south Germany - it wasn't just a UK thing); a car parked under a tree gets covered in sap, seeds, leaves and bird poo (depending on time of year).
So there must be a trade off. Trees, yes, but Not In My Back Yard - which boils down to the question posed in the title.
For example: the back gardens on my street and the one behind it are stupid long (by London standards). The neighbours behind us had two large trees in their back garden,they looked great swaying in the breeze but were far enough away not to cause any inconvenience to Yours Truly (they didn't block any sunlight to our house or shed leaves in our garden). The neighbours extended their house a couple of years ago and they chopped down the larger one, reducing the quality of the view from our back garden (I still miss the larger one).
To my mind, that's the best place for trees - in somebody else's garden, at least twenty yards from your house, or at least twenty yards up or down the road from where you park your car.
But what if everybody thought like that? We'd have no trees on urban streets and gardens at all.
Hmm...
Wednesday, 14 November 2018
What's your optimum distance from a tree?
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14 comments:
A garden two doors away from us has a Populus tremula (poplar family) which is about 6 metres from the back of the offending house and about 8 or 9 metres from ours. It's grown enormously over the last 10 years or so and it does now overhang our garden as well as totally overhanging the garden in between.
Roots have popped up in my garden and the neighbours one on my other side,so three gardens away from the tree! The root system can extend to 40 mtrs apparently.
The complication is that the owner of the tree and the house that separatea us are both absent landlords. Even though I've spoken to the home owner, whose house adjoins the tree as he lives nearby, and who is a civil engineer, I've come to the conclusion that both he and the guy who is directly responsible don't want to take action because it might cost a few hundred quid! They'd rather keep their fingers crossed. Might try and write to the owner as I understand that if he had prior warning of the extent of the root system and potential damage and ignores it he can be held liable for subsequent damages.
First thing I did when I moved in was level the back garden and uproot the trees!
Like you say...they look great if they're far enough away.
"They undermine foundations; soak up so much water that other plants won't grow around them; drop leaves on your lawn and in your gutters; you need to prune the overhanging branches and go and grovel to your neighbours if a storm snaps off branches into their gardens "
It depends a lot on the trees, some are far worse than others and your soil type.
Willows are particularly bad see
https://www.bickersinsurance.co.uk/about-us/latest-news/property-owners-news/a-list-of-trees-and-the-recommended-safe-distance-from-buildings/
Thyanks for this article, I need to do some work in my garden and it reminded me.
Yes. Well. I have no human neighbours at all. Nearest is 600 yards away. My 'neighbours' are trees. Trees know their place. They don't walk around getting in your way. They don't have audible shouting matches. They don't light bonfires or smelly bar b queues. They don't play loud music. And they look nice - which not all humans do. They don't mind you climbing up them. They give you free stuff like apples and plums. You can sit in their dappled shade on a hot day with a beer or three. Children can build dens in clumps of them. The leaves that fall on your grass look nice, add in humus and can be mowed away ones ride on mulching mower. Birds live in trees and their songs delight. In fact a big tree is a city for fauna of all types. Even dead trees are good as their give food to bugs.
I like trees.
Tree lined residential streets are nice. If only there were some way that the community could gain back the additional amenity and value created to encourage the public purse to invest in lining streets with trees...
PC, thanks for example. I hope you can get it sorted out.
LF, that's a bit technical for me
L, sure, but would you like them asuch if your garden were as small as everybody else's?
OTOH, the amenity value is mainly for people who don't live there, but drive or walk down them.
So if the council pays to plant trees on a street, the rents and the house prices go up all else being equal. Therefore the amenity seems to be enjoyed most by those that live there. I was teeing you up for LVT!
OTOH, it's a tricky one. Would I pay more for a house with lots of trees a respectable distance away? Yes.
Would I pay more for a house with a tree right in front of it? No.
It depends on the make of tree. Cupressus Leylandii are boring, support little wildlife and grow to an unknown height somewhere in excess of a hundred feet, if you let them. The best distance away from them is messy in miles.
Georgian squares are very good in this regard. Some of them even have car parks underneath them.
B, leylandii aren't trees, the giant weeds.
BJ, they got it spot on.
Leaves in gutters is no small irritant. The catchment area of the leaves is the whole roof. They can get in gutters, pipes to soakaways, drain pipes, hoppers.
Din, yes.
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