They weren't joking! (Not sure how to feel)

If they have pollarded them to 10' you should get re-growth next spring. We regularly pollard our poplar trees and they soon grow back. It would have been better if they had waited until after leaf fall though.

PS And then, just to round things off, I ended up locked in the downstairs toilet/lavatory/loo (take your pick) for half an hour and had to climb on the seat and shout for help out of the window to neighbours having a barbecue over the way.

Aren't ash trees protected?

Oh dear. We have a canal at the back of our house and there is a beautiful (huge) willow tree on the bank. It has been there since we moved here almost 35 years ago. There are houses on the other side of the canal but due to trees and this lovely willow in particular, we are not overlooked. Last year the council decided to cut this tree back. (Yes I know all the problems willows can cause). They took every single branch and leaf off it, leaving this huge ugly stump towering into the sky. It looked like something out of a creepy horror movie. Our lovely view was ruined. I could have cried. Our GDG came and said 'oh nan, that is scarey'. It's grown back now thankfully

whitewave all the talk earlier in the year about "ash tree die-back", well, I wish this one had died back!

The damn thing puts up saplings like weeds, they can literally spring up in areas of gravel, within tubs or planters with other things in (my cordyline for example) and we all fight a constant battle against them!

On the subject of trees, the S.O. is selling his late mum's house. In amongst the hedge surrounding the back garden is a beautiful tree with red leaves [don't know what it is]. Since the house has been on the market the neighbour ACROSS the road has complained and said it needs cutting back as it takes light away from their kitchen. Their house is surrounded by trees and their kitchen has a very tall hedge growing close to it. Not only have they complained to the S.O, but they've phoned the estate agent. We're completely flummoxed by it and are worried that they're going to accost potential purchasers when they view the house. If I could put photos up here I'd show how far away it is from their house. When I was first married we pulled out of buying a new house when the builders pulled down some trees at the end of the garden. However, one of the straws that broke the wotsits back when I was still married was when my ex did some 'pruning' and the bushes that he 'pruned' were cut back to nothingness . However, it is easy to get carried away when pruning I find and something does seem to take over when I hold a pair of secateurs so dread to think what damage I'd cause with a chainsaw .

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Ahem! We have cleared a nearly 90ft long section of the overhanging branches on our side of the Leylandii at the bottom of our garden. These were planted wby the older houses along the bottom were that the land had been developed. It has cost us quite a lot of money having it trimmed our side, over nearly 30yrs.

It started when we had to replace a lot of the very old fence panels in our garden and we needed to cut away some of the overhanging branches to get the old fence panels out.
Then I decided I was fed up of nothing growing properly under the four foot wide overhang of the B leylandii. It looks pretty dreadful at present and will not grow back but I have plans.

There is already an existing clematis montana growing up and now benefitting from the improved light and I bought another similar one to go in further along.
I have plans for a vigorous rambling rose, (Not the notorious Kiftsgate), a Virginia creeper which was in a corner and not doing well has given me several rooted cuttings to go in and I am intending to move another clematis which is in the "wrong place" at present.
It's a bit scary but I am not really regretting it. It will probably take a couple of years to get better but all the climbers are vigorous growers.
here is two portions of the mess. It is not quite finished as a broken lopper and holidays have interrupted the work.

We have young ash trees at one side of our garden which is mostly laid to gravel, it was once a pub car park! I seem to spend all summer pulling ash tree seedlings out if the gravel. They get everywhere.

Sorry for all the typos in order.

Planted by the owners of the older houses.

Here are two photos of the mess.

At least I have not damaged any important native vegetation.

Oh dear phoenix, I know just what you mean!
The woods (on MOD) land behind us had deprived everyone's back gardens of sunlight pretty much all day because of enormous ash trees, firs etc along our boundary. After 17 years and several power cuts because of overhanging branches, a substantial number were cut down leaving a sight akin to Armageddon too.

That was 18 months ago and the regeneration has been surprising - there are bluebells, foxgloves, orchids and snowdrops and the bird life has returned- including hedge and house sparrows which we hadn't had before.

Well done Nelliem, it might look stark but with the climbers it'll be a great transformation. The Banksii Lutea rose is a good climber, perfumed and a beautiful mellow yellow colour (there's also a white version, equally good and a little less high growing).

"not sure how to feel" moments are perfect for practising your shrug and move on style with a gutsy hey ho.

I am upstairs in the home office, which looks out over the back garden & fields.

I suppose I really should take some photos to show what I mean, but the light is starting to fade a bit, so perhaps I will leave it until another day.

Suffice to say, as I look to the left, apart from the ragged point of what is left of the beech tree, I can see for a fair distance across the fields to a line of oaks a few hundred metres away (I'm not much good at distance, so please make allowances). To the right, there is not much left of the ash tree, it was multi-stemmed and currently there are 3 cut off stumps left, around 7 metres, 3 metres and 5 metres. If I look absolutely straight ahead, (i.e just at the bottom of our garden), I can see hawthorn, holly and some of those willows that are not weeping willows, but the ones that have all that fluffy seed stuff that blows everywhere when they are producing the fluffy seed stuff that blows everywhere....................

All of these (except the hawthorn) are huge as in really, really tall!

It does look a bit odd.

The problem with neighbours and their gardens is, that you have no control over anything they do in theirs, but the upside is, that the same goes for you and your garden.we try and arrange ours, with shrubs and small trees, so that no matter what the neighbours take it into their heads to do, it doesn't really impact on us.Maybe they misunderstood what you wanted Phoenix?

Arboreal Chainsaw Massacre

What is it about blokes (especially middle-aged and older) and their notoriety with chainsaws or machinery?
Thankfully we no longer have a functioning chainsaw (and if DH ever mentions digging it out from under all his junk in the shed I'll beat him to it) or my shrubs would be bonsai'd in seconds.

That and their inability to gauge length without gross exaggeration I remember asking for a small vegetable patch (and marked out a 12' x 15' area) to be dug out of our large walled back garden.... I returned from shopping as he was driving the tractor and rotavator back into the barn. He'd decimated the lawn with a patch 45' x90', enough to feed the whole ruddy village

Needless to say I had to reseed 90% of it.

Bless them!

Loopylou I was just looking at the lovely rose but that fence faces Northwest and does not get much direct sun. The RHS says it really needs to be in good sun East-facing or South-facing or West-facing.

I was getting all excited just then.

What about "Albertine" Nelie?

What about "Albertine", Nellie?

You could even plant two of them

A climbing hydrangea will grow on a northwest wall/fence, and is pretty robust. It's not as colourful as some climbers (white flowers), but is almost maintenance free (just a bit of pruning now and again) once established and gives very good coverage. Honeysuckle is another good one, which doesn't mind not having direct sun.

phoenix could the chainsaw gang come here please? There is a huge tree which is quite likely to fall and decimate several houses but nobody will take responsibility for it. I am 300% certain that it belongs to the council. It is not in our mews but the overhanging branches etc are. We were given the price of £3000 and that was only to trim the thing, not fell it which I would prefer.

phoenix If it'd been me, I'd have stayed in the toilet with the door locked! It sounds a safer place to be . x

Tegan - if the beautiful tree of which you speak (copper beech perhaps) is visible from the road you could contact the local tree officer and see if it's eligible for a Tree Preservation Order. That would protect it and he can then blithely tell the neighbours it has a TPO and he can't touch it......... However, this can be a two edged sword!

We have a large walnut tree in our garden which overhangs the neighbours a bit. Well, it did. New people have moved in. A small dead branch dropped off on their side and landed on their shed roof like a drum stick on a drum when C was nearby. She thought her life was in danger and now they've had their side pruned back to nearly the fence line. We're fine with that. It's their side. Their share of walnuts gone. But now she keeps dropping hints obviously aimed at trying to persuade us to have the whole tree down. We had already spoken to our tree surgeon to arrange to have it crowned and pruned a bit, but not until this autumn when the leaves - and walnuts - are off. Holding firm!

A bit late now, (and this thought has only occurred to me after finding dead fledglings from the sparrow's nests under the eaves at work) I just hope that any birds that might have been nesting in the varied hedgerow trees at the bottom of R's garden had successfully fledged.