Need to choose the right trees

[renohuskerdu]

We need a visual screen for our neighbors, but I don't want to cause trouble with there pool. They have a nice pretty suburban house, whilst ours is rather more rustic, with firewood logs getting cut up, tractors, etc. :blah:

Their pool is about 9m (60') from the fenceline where I'll plant new trees. Prevailing winds will mostly miss there pool with whatever the trees drop, but no doubt some stuff will wind up in there pool sometimes. So I'd like to choose trees that are not known for causing trouble with pool chemistry, as our neighbors are relative neophytes and rely heavily on (go ahead and groan) a pool store guy who smokes and throws his butts.

I'm thinking conifers so no leaves will leave. :lol: We live in France near Germany. So if anybody has a recommendation from your similar climate, please fire away! The last thread on this topic that I found in search is a year old, and did not address the use of conifers in my climate.

 

[257WbyMag]

I cannot really recommend anything to you as I am not familiar with what you have available over there. What I will say though is that I admire the fact that you are so considerate as to consider what effect your choice of flora will have upon your neighbor's pool chemistry. If all neighbors considered each others feelings about things in the way that you do, this would be a better world indeed.

 

[loop_pea]

I thought this was an interesting question, and did a very quick internet search which said not conifers - they drop needles all year around rather than just in the autumn, and some of them leave sticky deposits.

 

[crek31]

We have pines near our pool and I would not choose it. The needles themselves are not so bad since they are easy to scoop out. But the sap is terrible!

 

[cramar]

Cedar would be a good choice, there are varieties available that don't get too high.
If you plant them right they can be made into a nice thick hedge that can be left to grow naturally or trimmed to look nice and neat. One thing to note is that birds might start to really like them and may start nesting in them. Our house has 2 spruce hedges, we bought it 2 years ago and I spent a lot of time evicting blackbirds.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

With the trees being 60' away, I think pines would be fine. The sap won't fall in from that distance, and the needles are heavy enough to fall to the ground near the trees.

 

[cramar]

I agree with Melt in the Sun, one thing to note with pine is that they are predominantly self-pruning, meaning as they grow they shed lower branches in order to dedicate energy to the upper portion of the tree for reproduction and new growth, this is compounded if there are other trees in the immediate area, they will shed more branches in order to try and out compete the tree next to it. This will impact privacy. There may be ornamental species available where this does not occur, I'm not sure.

Spruce and cedar are great choices in that they don't self prune, they will keep their bottom growth.

I graduated as forestry tech and worked in the industry a bunch of years.

 

[renohuskerdu]

With the trees being 60' away, I think pines would be fine. The sap won't fall in from that distance, and the needles are heavy enough to fall to the ground near the trees.

That's just what I was thinking when I reading the previous posts. We have a very big pine near our pool, only a few meters away, and not so much pine needles in our pool. Oh yes, a few here and there, but not so bad as to write any letters of injury.


That self-pruning aspect is one that did not think of to me. I might lose my visual screen that way! Thanks for saying it.

 

[frogabog]

How tall do you need the trees to be? Have you considered some good sized Rhododendrons? The occasional leaf falls off here and there but they're very large leaves and always green. Any tree will take a while to grow tall if that's what you're looking for.

Rhodies can get very tall, although not quickly. They do make a very nice border plant that allows privacy. Buying large rhodies is costly however, and they're a real pain to move/replant because the rootball is wide, shallow and HEAVY. Break the root ball at all and it will be a very sick rhodie.

I suggest rhodies mostly because you say you're near Germany and my German teacher (raised in Germany) said their weather was like ours. Rhodies flourish here.