Craning trees into rear garden 12 April 2017/in Client work, Garden design, Tree moving, Tree Planting /by Marketing

Craning trees into rear garden

Our clients were undertaking a refurbishment programme at their home in Kensington, London and wished to add trees to their rear garden, which had no vehicular access. We had been acclimatising their carefully selected trees at our Tree & Hedge Nursery in Iver, Buckinghamshire for the previous twelve months, waiting for the house renovations to be completed.

We called in an expert crane hire company, who used their 100 tonne mobile crane to lift the six large rootball trees into the rear garden using our own Newman Frame, which is a bespoke attachment for lifting trees with care, over the rooftops. The trees were carefully positioning directly into the pre-prepared planting pit, in the rear garden.

The trees were:

Box head Tilia cordata or small-leaved limes
Multi stemmed Amelanchier lamarckii or snowy mespilus
Mature Acer palmatum Bloodgood or Japanese maple

The works, which were undertaken by in-house experts, included two days of onsite preparation, a full road closure, planting and project management.

This is an example of the complicated projects that we can undertake; from sourcing specific species, delivery using our own vehicles and planting using our own experienced installation team; that is the Practicality Brown difference.

: Preparing trees for lifting

: Using newman frame

: Lifting underway

: Lifting over the rooftops

: Careful lifting by crane

: Lowering into prepared pit

Creating Privacy with Screening Trees 30 March 2017/in Screening, Semi mature trees, Specimen Trees /by Marketing

Screening Trees

Prunus laurocerasus Novita`

Privacy in your garden can be created using trees to hide or screen out an undesirable view; they can also be used to draw the eye to a specific feature.

Trees grown for this purpose often have a clear stem i.e. no leaves on the lower trunk; they reach up to fence panel height of around 1.8-2m with a full bushy canopy above, forming a good screen above the fence line. This type of screening is particularly useful if you are overlooked by neighbouring properties or would like to retain lower level exposure to an attractive wall or area. Screening trees can be designed to create a focus point, perhaps to make the most of a feature.

Type of Privacy

It is a good idea to consider what you are aiming to screen out. For example are you directly overlooked by a neighbouring property, or would you like to filter out a large building or structure? Also consider the angle you are viewing from, as this may help choosing the right tree for your needs.

Practicality Brown’s semi-mature trees can be planted to achieve effective screening from the offset with evergreens being preferred for this purpose as they screen throughout the year. However, a planting scheme that includes deciduous trees can provide rich contrast and seasonal interest.

Cherry Laurel

Prunus laurocerasus Novita close up

Prunus laurocerasus Novita, a dense evergreen tree, is popularly used for screening due to its upright and bushy habit and its

resilience to cold weather. In April small, fragrant, white flowers grow in vertical racemes about 12cm long which are followed by small glossy, black fruit.

We have semi-mature containerised Prunus laurocerasus Novita with a 1.8m clear-stem, available now.

The Cherry Laurel grows well in most soil and conditions, preferring moist slightly acidic soil. Pruning in late spring to helps to retain its shape and encourages new growth. If planting in a row, the optimum distance for the clear stem is with 1.2-1.5m spacing.

Trees from Practicality Brown

We can supply a range of top quality trees for decorative or screening, which are particularly useful to create privacy in your garden. These include feathered trees that have full growth from the ground upwards and offer the same screening ability. A mix planting of evergreen and deciduous trees, if space allows, can be an attractive solution.

We also have a range of pleached trees which can be used in the same way; pleached trees can be effective for a formal screen and where space is limited.

Root-balled Trees and Transplanting 9 November 2016/in Rootball, Semi mature trees, Specimen Trees, Tree moving, Trees /by Marketing

Bare root trees

Autumn heralds wonderful colours and falling leaves but for growers the cooler soils signify the ideal time to start transplanting trees and shrubs. Specimen trees, typically too large for containers, are systematically transplanted by skilled growers and root-balled with a compact root system, which enables trees to be re-located without stress or shock. This process continues into the winter when the trees are fully dormant making it perfect to transplant them.

Practicality Brown’s preferred growers throughout UK and Europe are now preparing and shipping those trees selected and reserved during the summer, either to our nursery in Iver or direct to site to satisfy clients requirements.

These trees have their root system carefully enclosed and held in place with wire-wrapped hessian, which ensures the soil remains in contact with the roots throughout lifting, transportation and planting operations. Our root-ball trees have been prepared by being ‘undercut’ i.e. root pruned or transplanted several times (every 3 years for Deciduous and 4 years for Evergreen) to encourage the development of a fibrous root system.

The root ball season is now open; please call us to discuss your requirements. We can advise on preparation, planting and aftercare too.

Moving trees for Microsoft 30 June 2016/in customer work, Tree moving, Tree Planting, Trees /by Marketing

Practicality Brown moved and transplanted three semi-mature Pyrus Chanticleer (Callery Pear) trees at the Microsoft Campus in Reading, West Berkshire.

The trees formed part of the soft landscaping at the prestigious Reading campus, but had grown too large at their location, restricting potential building and extension plans. Instead of simply cutting down and removing the trees altogether, PBL advised Microsoft that the trees could be transplanted to a new location within the grounds, using a specialised tree spade machine. This enables the trees to be saved continued to be enjoyed by campus users and a greener environment for everyone.

Each tree was moved individually, in one action, using the tree spades to carefully lift the tree and roots out of its location and move it to a prepared hole of the same size and shape. Great care and planning were employed with the machine working so close to the building and to safe guard the ground in the new planting area.

Topiary Garden Design and Build 20 June 2011/in Client work, Elveden Instant Hedging, Garden design, Tree Planting /by Practicality Brown

Elegant Topiary Garden

Practicality Brown were commissioned to design and build an elegant topiary garden around the client’s rotunda in a private garden in Kent. We supplied and planted 24 semi mature trees, Instant Hedge and Specimen Topiary; the project required a high level of in-house project management and coordination with other trades on site and the entire design and build programme, from start to handover, was just eight weeks.

Major tree planting project 12 November 2009/in Client work, Semi mature trees, Topiary, Tree Planting, Trees /by Practicality Brown

Major tree planting project

Practicality Brown had a large scale planting project in Buckinghamshire. The private development required over 250 semi-mature trees of at least 7 metres height, together with associated landscaping works, including Carpinus betulus box head trees, box hedging and topiary such as columns, Taxus pyramids and Buxus balls. The designer and client chose Practicality Brown, stating Read more →