Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

We've decided it needs to be done. In order for my yard to be more usable for parties and for DD to play, we need to take down the trees and put up a fence. I just feel so bad removing them. Some are so beautiful, but in order to put up the fence, it's an all or nothing deal. I keep telling myself how large the yard will be and how "clean" looking. Plus we're hoping it will help even a little with the insect/nat problem. Tell me I'll be happy with the outcome :( I've never been so unsure about a home improvement project.

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

I totally understand what your feeling.
Our yard was pretty unusable, we had 4 large oaks, that made the yard have no sun, and not much room to do anything with.

It sounds like you have a similar issue as we did

It is sad cause i love trees, my dad is a horticulturist, so it killed him knowing we were taking them down.

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

I used to get so upset every time we removed a tree. It broke my heart because "the beautiful, treed backyard" was one of the reasons why we purchased our home. I would say we've removed about 20 trees (pines and locust trees) from our backyard alone, BUT we're amazed at how useful our property is now. Now that I'm able to see the difference, I have no regrets. I'm glad my DH didn't listen to me!

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

Thank you so much! I feel a little better now. I know once we put in a nice PVC fence, a swingset, maybe do some landscaping here and there, I will be very happy. It's just that looking out my windows this morning at the gorgeous snow-covered trees, broke my heart :(
Thanks for sharing. It makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone and that I will be happy once it's all done!

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

We did have to remove very large trees to do it ourselves.

It has been a couple of years but I had the intention all along to replace them with others trees that would work for us.

I think I have found the trees I want. And I will be doing it this year.

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

We had a few trees taken down. I was only home when they took down one of them and to be honest, it was very upsetting. I honestly felt like I was killing it.. and I'm sooo not that way when it comes to these things. if I was home for the 1st one I wouldn't have taken down any others!

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

We did this 2 years ago and it was a great choice for us. We removed a lot of trees and brush at the back of our property and put in a new fence...to make ourselves feel better about removing so many trees, etc. and for more privacy, we started planting Privet along the fence in the back. I didn't like looking at a fence and we like the way Privet looks when it is trimmed.

Re: Anyone else feel terrible about removing trees & putting up a fence?

How many trees will you have left when you're done? Do you have to take down all of them or can you get creative with the fence to keep some?

I'm a total treehugger. And even I know that there are situations where they should go, and "smarter" trees be put in their place.

Some things to consider... Planting a new tree can take decades to replace what you're taking down, depending on the rate of growth. Removing a tree that is already overplanted and is truly destructive (not just convincing yourself that it is, but really researching it) is ok in my book. If you remove trees that are taller than your house, you will spend more money in air conditioning in the summer since shade is a great cooling agent. If an understory tree is starved for light, it will not be as strong or healthy so if you remove the tree shading it, it might mean the death to the understory tree too.

I don't want to hijack your thread so I'll FM you with pictures of what we did in the same situation and why, including the fence.