Medium tree for small garden

Hi folks,

Looking for advice on the best small/medium tree for a small garden.

I'm looking for it for screening and noise reduction from next door really. Was looking for a clear stem trained cherry laurel to use as a tree but can't find anywhere that do them.

Thanks

B

Jim_Hodge

The definition of small or medium varies from person to person. What height and width are you looking for?

_Brian

A single medium sized tree will do nothing for noise, even a dense hedge doesn’t do much for noise.

unless it’s a big garden I’d be thinking mountain ash or silver birch.

I don't know how small your garden is but I have a small space myself and planted a silver birch (weeping) about 15 years ago. It went in at about 9ft tall and maybe 2m wide and is now about 18ft with a beautiful cascading canopy that spans almost as broad as it is high (maybe 5m) and completely blocks the view of the houses which used overlook my garden. It is deciduous so in winter its not as effective but I used an evergreen honeysuckle as trellis covering which sort of mitigates the sparse foliage when its bare. I know its size is partially dictated by the space it is growing in which is limited as its almost raised up in a bed surrounded by concrete on either side but it seems to be doing okay still. Its a very beautiful tree though, almost graceful with a waterfall effect when in leaf.

edited to add, as for noise reduction there is only so much foliage can do and although it does provide some privacy you might want to consider noise cancellation like using a water feature or some nice deeply toned wind chimes to help disperse sound.

Thanks so much for your comment. I will follow up all your great points 😊😊

JPup

Silver birch is native and tends to be shallow rooted (grows well from pots) so I think that should be a good option.

magicbastarder

i have a silver birch in my garden, and it's probably 50 foot tall. planted in 1989 according to the previous owner.