We have 150′ long 30′ wide garden, with shrubs down both sides, an 20′ apple tree half way down one side and a 50′ sycamore in the corner of the bottom of the garden.

The bottom quarter of the garden has no shrubs along the fences, and we’d like to plant some trees so that we’re not overlooked.

The garden is south facing.

What could we plant that will grow relatively quickly and provide some privacy but not block out all the light to the bottom of the garden?

We just bought something fits the bill whose name i forget but RHS webbo is great.

acer palmatum

Hornbeam ftw

Hornbeam, very common as a hedging tree, keeps a lot of its leaves during winter as well. I wouldn’t use Acer Palmatum, they’re more of a feature tree, used for their Autumn colour, and they’re pretty slow growing; I’ve got one, A.Palmatum Osakazuki, which is a glorious red in the autumn, bought from a nursery roughly twenty/twenty-five years ago, and it’s barely more than ten feet high, if that.

Pruning will be required. It is natural for a tree to try and optimise all available space.

Hornbeam is a good call, but I quite like stuff I can eat, so fruit trees that will take some training to a wire or nuts like hazel or cob that are also common hedgerow species.

Eucalyptus and silver birch are both worth considering as they look beautiful.

If it’s dappled shade you’re after you want a variety of birch. They come in various flavours, some big, some small, some bushy ish. All with little leaves and interesting bark that will be nicely offset on a dark backdrop.

Edit – plant in groups of 3, 5 or 7

I’m with you on the trees that make stuff you can eat theory, not much chance of training a fruit tree to wire,but hazel is a good idea.

Hornbeam, love the look, but not really looking for a ‘formal’ hedge. Leaves on in winter would be useful though..

Why 3, 5, 7?!

Just a garden design thing and you’re after screening rather than a single specimen. If you were to go with a smaller birch, from what you described, a cluster of 3 or 5 may look way better than 1

Edit – I’ve not read the article but there’s an example here – http://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/the-8-best-perfect-for-privacy-garden-trees/

Disclaimer – I’m not an expert! I’ve got a reasonable size garden that’s mostly a blank canvas so have spent a lot of time researching design, plants and trees.

betula utilis jacquemontii is the peeling ultra white barked tree often called silver birches. Ive got a lot of them and I love them. You can keep their height and shape under control quite easily.

Hornbeam IS a lovely tree but they get huge.

What about an ornamental Cherry?

You get amazing blossom in Spring

[url=https://flic.kr/p/nceCft]Ornamental Flowering Cherry Tree[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

and then great autumn colours

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qbRF73]Ornamental Flowering Cherry Tree[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

Shade isn’t too bad and fully mature they’re only about 4-5m tall.

Plenty of mid sized ornamentals that won’t block all the light – carpinus frans Fontaine, amelanchier lamarkii, cercidiphyllun japomicum, sorbus aucuparia varieties. Don’t worry about planting trees in groups, that’s more for perennials (ex garden designer)

Eucalyptus

Foul things IMO.

I like things that grow vertically and fairly fast so Silver Birch and Ash.

Fruit trees are slower and take a long time to give fruit so plant some as well as the Birch then fell the Birch at about 15 years.

Japanese Knotweed

Barcham Trees ~ treefinder

Majestic Trees ~ treefinder

Bluebell Nursery