Size (in 10 years) really does matter

The photo here is of a Sequoiadendron giganteum, one of the biggest trees in Britain, and it’s in the back garden of a suburban house. Someone would have planted that around 100 years ago when it would have been a fraction of its current size.

It is completely out of scale and proportion to its surroundings. This is a problem I have seen many times - trees planted by owners who haven’t questioned “just how big is this going to get?".

In another garden I saw a Cordyline australis towering over the roof of the single storey dwelling. The garden owner told me that when she planted it it was half a metre high.

We had it removed and it totally transformed her garden into a more equitable space. And the owner was really pleased that I had persuaded her thus.

In the case of the Californian redwood - aka the Sequoia - removal is not an option. It’s protected and would be a logistically impossibility to take apart. (You can find films online of these trees being logged in 1940s America and it’s mind boggling.)

When you buy any tree the label will tell you what size it will be in 10 years and/or point of maturity. It’s so important to note this detail and decide whether it really is the right tree choice for your garden. Do not ignore this as otherwise you’re just storing up one massive headache for the future for you or someone else.

See also the person who decided it would be ‘sustainable’ to plant their rooted Xmas tree to the side of my front garden and then forget all about it. A tree that has on its way to the 40 metres it would get to in its original natural habitat, half way up a snowy mountainside.

Then there was the massive Cedar of Lebanon on the other side that pushed over the Victorian brick wall…..