Caring for Trees in Essex Gardens: From the Coast to Historic Towns
Why trees on the coast and in old market towns need different care, and when removal is the right answer.
Essex gardens range from windswept plots a mile from the sea to old town gardens full of mature trees. Trees in each face different problems, and the right care depends as much on where they are as on what they are.
Coastal gardens: wind and salt
Trees close to the coast live a harder life than those inland. Constant easterly winds carry salt spray that damages buds on the exposed side, so crowns grow lopsided and thin towards the sea, with dieback at the tips after a hard winter. Shelter belts and leylandii screens planted around bungalows decades ago now tower over single-storey gardens.
A local tree surgeon in Clacton-on-Sea will usually recommend reducing and rebalancing a wind-damaged crown rather than removing the tree, and checking exposed trees after each winter's gales.
Historic towns: permission first
Old market towns tend to have large conservation areas, listed buildings and long-established gardens with big, old trees. Most of these trees need reduction and deadwooding rather than removal, and much of the work needs notice to the council before it starts. Six weeks' written notice is normally needed for any tree in a conservation area with a trunk of 75mm or more in diameter, measured 1.5 metres above the ground.
Experienced tree surgeons in Coggeshall and similar towns will check for Tree Preservation Orders and conservation area rules, and make the application on your behalf where it is needed.
When a tree has to go
Some trees are simply in the wrong place: a conifer blocking all the light, a tree lifting a driveway or one that has died back after years of exposure. Where there is no room to fell it in one piece, it is climbed and dismantled in sections, with heavy pieces lowered on ropes. Professional tree removal usually includes chipping the branches on site and grinding the stump out below ground, so the space can be replanted or turfed.
A seasonal checklist
- Late autumn and winter: prune most deciduous trees while the leaves are off
- February to August: check trees and hedges for nesting birds before any work
- Summer: prune cherries and plums to reduce the risk of silver leaf
- After storms: look for split limbs, new leans and lifted roots
For more on garden design, fencing and landscaping, see our landscaping category.
