metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood) in garden

SteveinKent · #1 (**permalink**) 12-06-2011, 04:47 PM

We have just had about £2000 worth of trees planted in our garden by a "professional" tree nursery.

One of these is a dawn redwood.

When we picked this out at the nursery we didn't even know the name, just liked the look of it.

It's now been planted about 2m from the border of our garden and 3m from the property of our neighbour, (about 15m from ours).

Having read up about this tree we now realise it is both far too big for our garden and far too close to the border and our neighbour.

Have we got any leverage over the original supplier to at least move this tree away from the boundary, (it's already about 5m tall), or preferably take it it back?

It was only planted 4 weeks ago and we had originally spoken to them about moving it 1 week after planting, but now they are not accepting or returning our calls or emails.

Sorry it's my first post

Steve

Dorts · #2 (**permalink**) 12-06-2011, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveinKent

We have just had about £2000 worth of trees planted in our garden by a "professional" tree nursery.
One of these is a dawn redwood.
When we picked this out at the nursery we didn't even know the name, just liked the look of it.
It's now been planted about 2m from the border of our garden and 3m from the property of our neighbour, (about 15m from ours).
Having read up about this tree we now realise it is both far too big for our garden and far too close to the border and our neighbour.

Have we got any leverage over the original supplier to at least move this tree away from the boundary, (it's already about 5m tall), or preferably take it it back?

It was only planted 4 weeks ago and we had originally spoken to them about moving it 1 week after planting, but now they are not accepting or returning our calls or emails.
Sorry it's my first post

Steve

Hi Steve, welcome to WAB. I spent a great part of my proffesional life planting trees, in the latter years mainly ornamental. I consider it somewhat 'unprofessional' to even consider a Dawn Redwood in any planting scheme on a property of less than several acres, as lovely trees that they are.

I would point out to him/her that you have since discovered the potential mature size of this species of tree and consider it unsuitable for your property. I would ask your advisor to suggest and supply another species more in keeping with the size of garden and to remove the Redwood at no cost to you. Don't take 'no' for an answer!
All the best and please let us know how you get on
Dorts.

The Woodman · #3 (**permalink**) 12-06-2011, 06:14 PM

Dawn Redwood has an interesting history. My first employment as forestry student was on Huntley Manor Estate near Gloucester where a compartment of the species was planted allegedly from the first batch of seed to enter the country (the commercial tree nursery Forest Products was part of the estate).

I went back to look at these trees a couple of years ago and was amazed at their growth. The compartment hadn't been thinned and the dominant trees were a considerable size.

I agree with Dorts, it's not a tree for the garden.

SteveinKent · #4 (**permalink**) 13-06-2011, 04:01 PM

Thanks for the advice guys I'll see what I can do.

Having trouble getting the guy to reply to my phone calls/emails at the moment..

Steve

APC · #5 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 04:28 PM

Go to Arbtalk.co.uk and ask those guys their advice. Planting of a redwood in ones garden is verging on the comical, if it were not so serious. Any even slightly competant arboriculturalist would have warned you away from it.

SteveinKent · #6 (**permalink**) 23-06-2011, 08:22 AM

Just posted in your recommended forum.

Having measured the distances it's actually 1m from our border and 2m from the wall of our neighbour's house.

The nursery are still not returning our calls/emails.

Steve

Dorts · #7 (**permalink**) 23-06-2011, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveinKent

The nursery are still not returning our calls/emails.
Steve

Perhaps it's time to pay them a visit?
All the best.
Dorts.

Tursiops2 · #8 (**permalink**) 23-06-2011, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveinKent

We have just had about £2000 worth of trees planted in our garden by a "professional" tree nursery.

One of these is a dawn redwood.

When we picked this out at the nursery we didn't even know the name, just liked the look of it.

Unbelievable.

Forgive my bluntness, but... you bought a tree you didn't know the name of, without doing any basic research into it's suitability for your garden, and you expect the supplier to take responsibility for your lack of planning? If you bought a car, and got it home to find it wouldn't fit into your garage, would you expect the dealership you bought it from to come and remove it and provide a replacement free of charge?

It's not the nursery's job to tell you if a tree is suitable for your garden, unless you specifically ask for their advice. Did you?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveinKent

Having measured the distances it's actually 1m from our border and 2m from the wall of our neighbour's house.

That's not a sensible place to plant any tree, let alone a Redwood.

T2

SteveinKent · #9 (**permalink**) 24-06-2011, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tursiops2

Unbelievable.

Forgive my bluntness, but... you bought a tree you didn't know the name of, without doing any basic research into it's suitability for your garden, and you expect the supplier to take responsibility for your lack of planning? If you bought a car, and got it home to find it wouldn't fit into your garage, would you expect the dealership you bought it from to come and remove it and provide a replacement free of charge?

It's not the nursery's job to tell you if a tree is suitable for your garden, unless you specifically ask for their advice. Did you?

That's not a sensible place to plant any tree, let alone a Redwood.

T2

Right at the beginning of this the supplier came to our house to recommend what trees to have and where to put them to create screening from a new housing development.

The first lot of about five trees were delivered and planted with him in attendance. The snow and then personal problems, (his), prevented him finishing the job.

One of the trees still undecided was to cover up the large expanse of the end wall of a new house that is 1m from our border. We visited the nursery to go through with him what tree was suitable for this. We saw a very nice tree and said we liked it and he just said OK.

He was then supposed to have been with his 2 employees when this turned up to be planted, (along with three others), but he just didn't show up.

Using your analogy, if I wanted a delivery van to deliver specific goods that the dealer knew about and chose a vehicle from his lot, I would expect to be advised that it wasn't suitable.

Steve

Tursiops2 · #10 (**permalink**) 24-06-2011, 11:29 AM

Ok, you may have a legitimate grievance with your supplier, but I still think there's some onus on you to do some research before you commit yourself to a major purchase like that, and 2m from a house wall is still not a sensible place to plant a tree.

I strongly recommend you visit this site: Garden Law Discussion • Index page both to get clarification on your legal position, and to get some idea of the potential problems caused by planting trees too close to houses.

T2