GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

10-10-2003, 11:42 AM

In article ,
(Manic Blue) writes:
| I would really like to plant a silver birch by the boundary fence with
| my nextdoor neighbour, and surround it with an hedge. The tree would
| have been planted just over 7 metres from the house. BUT after
| reading the recent thread about sliver birch and taking into account
| that my neighbour said that he knew of someone who experienced
| problems with the expanding roots of one of these trees, would it be
| wise to scrap the idea altogether? Are there any varieties of silver
| birch where the root system is less attrusive? Also, if the news on
| this is bad as I suspect it will be, what kind of trees are generally
| safe to plant in a back garden? An alternative I was thinking about
| was a mountain ash. Any info would be much appreciated.

At 7 metres, I wouldn't worry too much. The roots will get into
any crack in any drain, though. There are lots of trees that are
fairly safe at that distance, of which rowan is one.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.