Trees for a front lawn

I'd use Hawthorn if I were you. They're a fast growing native Irish tree that change more dramatically with the seasons than maybe any other Irish tree. Their bare branches in winter are very distinctive, fabulous in snow; there's a burst of fresh green in early spring followed by heavy blush pink/white blossom in April/May, followed by more green, followed by thousands of bright red berries in autumn that the birds love. They're great for attracting birds into the garden and provide tonnes of food for them heading into the winter months. Hawthorn grows quickly but doesn't grow beyond about twenty-six to twenty-eight foot high, so it provides great cover but won't grow out of control. You won't have to worry about cutting down trees or even cutting them back.

Common lilac is a nice tree to pair with Hawthorn, or if you want to add to your Acers I'd advise Prinston Gold. Google it if you haven't seen that variety, it adds a fabulous splash of very bright colour, especially in a sunny spot.

I would suggest that you could still mow around trees that are 2m apart, and I would suggest that you think of using two groups of maybe 4 or 5 trees, one closer to the house and one a bit further away so that visually there are trees all across but not actually spread all over the lawn. Very scattered individual trees like that are not as restful to the eye as a couple of groups as it allows you to have some open sweeps of grass - little 'meadows' if you like.

As to the trees, I would think in terms of a couple of evergreens like holly, a bit slow but does make a lovely tree, or medium sized conifers. Deciduous trees would definitely include silver birch, rowan, crab apple. I would prefer to see a group of two or three of one sort (silver birch are especially good in small groups) with a couple of different one close by rather than a 'one of each' arrangemnent.

You can certainly get bare root hawthorn, quite decent sized ones if you wish. I have some that I am growing as a row of trees in an awkward spot where I need high-ish level screening and they are doing fine.

Silver birch are lovely alright.

Even at 4M apart, they are going to be touching soon enough. Is this the look you are going for or do you want individual trees to stand out?

I have 6 mature apple trees and 4 pear trees, be warned there is a lot of fruit that you need to take care of every year...I dump buckets of apples for example every year.

I love cider, but once the trees get mature you are talking about hundreds of apples!

then you add in the pears, berries, figs and you get a slimey mess around the garden with lots of wasps

not to mention the drunk cats, birds, foxes and squirrels! :D

It's called hawthorn for a reason.

The thorns are vicious.

If you are trimming them, be sure to pick up every twig (wearing gloves!) or they will puncture your mower wheels.

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