Fire damage project! ideas please!

hey all, some nice person decided our wheelie bin looked better on fire, which then resulted in a 40ft tall fire to the trees that run along the side of our drive leading to the garage....

used to look like this (please ignore dog! only pic i could fine LOL)





the fire damaged about 20ft of trees....









and we have today had the trees removed... leaving this....

the one big tree is still to come down and will be done in next couple days....





the space we are left with (once the concrete posts laying down and debris is removed) is earth, as the concrete does not cover where the trees were, and we still have the stumps and been told they will take about 2 years to rot down...



the fence will be replaced and go around the corner to the gate post... but we are then left with the concrete to earth part with stumps...



any ideas how to make this look "pretty"????



thanks

 

Holy mackerel. That does look like a scary fire happened. Was it you that posted up about the bin fire a few days ago (sorry can't remember if it was)? I didn't realise it had been such a biggy.

That could have been so nasty. I really hope they catch the little scrotes.

Anyway, back on topic. I believe you can hire a stump grinder to take the stumps right down to ground level. Alternatively how about just planting some evergreen shrubs in there, and some spring bulbs (you can get them already growing in pots, seeing as its too late to plant them as bulbs this year for this spring). That way it would quickly fill out, and I think it would look quite pleasant.

Another good plant for this situation might nasturtium. Apart from looking pretty, it also grows so vigorously once established that it quickly hides everything.

 

I don't suppose household insurance would have covered felling, removal, stump grinding and planting replacement mature trees in addition to replacment fence panels.

Are those railings (gates?) the polyester powder coated type (rather than painted) and have they aslo been damaged?

 

"please ignore dog!"

Certainly not The dog looks gorgeous

How tall a replacement do you need?

Not much width there, unless you are going to remove some of the width of concrete to make the "bed" wider.

Just replanting is going to struggle to get going. Taking the fence AWAY until the new stuff has established, and then putting the fence back, would help (assuming your neighbours are happy, and it doesn't make it become a thoroughfare ...

Standard hedging will do - I wouldn't replant with Leylandii, but if you want something similar then Thuja plicata atrovirens is a good substitute - pretty fast, makes a nice clipped hedge, will look OK unclipped, and unlike Leylandii can be cut back into old wood and will regrow.

But I'm a sucker for Pleached Hedges so here's a link to an earlier suggestion

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/Thread-Best-Trees-for-Screening-out-overlooking-windows.html?pid=407981#pid407981
[hr]
P.S. I reckon to get a replacement hedge going you are going to have to get a digger in and dig out a trench and improve the soil. I don;t reckon much will grow there if you just pop some new plants in without preparation, and the trees will mean you can't dig it. Digging with a JCB may pull up the concrete though. :(

 

I have to agree with clueless
"That could have been so nasty. I really hope they catch the little scrotes."

 

hi all and thanks for your replies and suggestions!



Clueless, yes it was me who posted about the fire,at that stage asking if the tree would grow back! not now they wont haha! there are a couple of suspects so we shall see how that goes... two cars also damaged and now in for repair which is even more annoying as hubbys new car is less than 2 weeks old!!

Scrungee, The house insurance covered the removal of trees only (£100 contents excess) and the fence replaced was covered by (£100 buildings excess) any excuse to get two excess' paid!!!

we got the trees taken down for £110 so not bothering doing that via insurance, but the fence as it will need new gate posts etc is looking more like £500 so will do that one via insurance...

and luckily the drive gates are not damamged, they are painted and apart from needing a good power wash are fine



Kristen, awwww i would never forget my lovely boy! haha

yeah this afternoon I have cleared away alot of the rubbish and debris and your right its not very wide at all... the thin end is probably just less than a foot wide, and then it goes wider to about 1.5ft...

Armandii, it was the tree surgeon that told me 2 years! will look at stump grinder!or somehow make a feature of them haha!



Thank you all.... I cleared away alot of the debris this afternoon, and after just discussing all these ideas with hubby in think we have decided that we will probably, due to it not being very wide, put some decorative stone/gravel down as you said there really is not any quality soil there, then try and make it look pretty with some pots and things.... will also see about the grinder as dont want these stumps forever!! and maybe look at widening it all to about 3ft wide too....still trying to work this out but the big tree needs to come down and fence replaced first off

thank you all! some great ideas!

 

Were you just going to replace the timber panels? If so you may find it easier to lift out the concrete gravel boards while doing this ,this will give you better access for the stump grinder .
Dave

 

the tree man is coming back today, will talk to him re the grinder! he is also doing the hence and the concrete is all coming out anyway and being replaced