Greenfingered Hedge Help
Discussion
I'm looking for suggestions for a hedge to be dug into the back garden. We are in a new build estate and have a house directly behind our one. This house is set a little higher than ours. There is a wooden six foot high fence between the houses. I am looking to cover the width of the garden which is about 35 metres and to grow to about seven foot high.
I have been looking and saw ligustrum ovalifolium (a privet hedge)
which look like they might do the job, or am I not looking at the right sort of plant??
Any other suggestions.
I have been looking and saw ligustrum ovalifolium (a privet hedge)
which look like they might do the job, or am I not looking at the right sort of plant??Any other suggestions.
Depends on your personal preference and budget really. I live on the edge of some woods and wanted something that would blend in to the environment and give me cover all year round, so I chose a native holly hedge from the company below. They provide 'instant hedge' so it was 6 feet tall when we planted it, not cheap but worth it.
http://www.pracbrown.co.uk/instant-hedge
On another part of my boundary (with the neighbours) we planted laurel. Again evergreen, not as in keeping as a holly but a lot less cost and fast growing.
http://www.pracbrown.co.uk/instant-hedge
On another part of my boundary (with the neighbours) we planted laurel. Again evergreen, not as in keeping as a holly but a lot less cost and fast growing.
Yes, privet is fine unless you have really wet soil, and it's evergreen most winters.
I like yew for evergreen. Laurel (Bay or common or Portuguese) are good evergreens too.
I also like beech (in various leaf colours) or hornbeam looks similar if your soil is heavy, both hold onto their dead leaves until spring.
Or you can go mixed native!
http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/
I like yew for evergreen. Laurel (Bay or common or Portuguese) are good evergreens too.
I also like beech (in various leaf colours) or hornbeam looks similar if your soil is heavy, both hold onto their dead leaves until spring.
Or you can go mixed native!
http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/
Mr GrimNasty said:
Yes, privet is fine unless you have really wet soil, and it's evergreen most winters.
I like yew for evergreen. Laurel (Bay or common or Portuguese) are good evergreens too.
I also like beech (in various leaf colours) or hornbeam looks similar if your soil is heavy, both hold onto their dead leaves until spring.
Or you can go mixed native!
http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/
I planted a mixed native before I went down the holly instant hedge route. The bloody thing got eaten by monkjacks!I like yew for evergreen. Laurel (Bay or common or Portuguese) are good evergreens too.
I also like beech (in various leaf colours) or hornbeam looks similar if your soil is heavy, both hold onto their dead leaves until spring.
Or you can go mixed native!
http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/
another vote for english laurel, quite a few houses round ere have them on there boundries, mine is about 8ft high one and the previous owners let it get 8-10ft deep!! cant really do anything with that now but it eats into the driveway quite a bit.
we did the other side of our driveway and got it from a local place , good prices
http://www.o-l-d.co.uk/main/
we did the other side of our driveway and got it from a local place , good prices
http://www.o-l-d.co.uk/main/
Yew everytime for me with Beech 2nd. Both will give an excellent hedge in 5-10 years and if they ever get to big can be cut back hard. Some thoughts on the others - Privet at that height is a bit unstable and more liable to dying back in parts. Laurel is all right but a real thug and will drop leaves (like all evergreens) in Summer. Holly likewise is an evergreen and the hedge cuttings will be prickly to clear. A mixed wild hedge (hawthorn, field maple, dog rose, cornus etc) is a good bet is you want to attract wildlife and provide a tough prickly screen but its not evergreen. But please, please, please not leylandii!!!!!!
Have you got your 'batter' right Simpo? All hedges should be wider at the base than at the top to allow light to get to all parts of the hedge. Here is our yew hedge at work
For information the hedge was planted in 1965 but would have been this big after 15 years and has for the last thirteen years been kept at this size
For information the hedge was planted in 1965 but would have been this big after 15 years and has for the last thirteen years been kept at this size
racing green said:
Have you got your 'batter' right Simpo? All hedges should be wider at the base than at the top to allow light to get to all parts of the hedge.
To be fair our hedge didn't have quite the TLC that yours does!racing green said:
Here is our yew hedge at work
I see no batter; it looks vertical to me...Big garden you have there Mr Green!
I hope you donate your yew clippings! http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-q...
racing green said:
Big garden I work in, batter - no its too late for that, not enough yew clippings and not of good enough quality. A friend of mine used to work for the company that deals with all the clippings and if its not clean and free from rubbish they can't use it.
The link explains quite clearly, thanks Mr negativity!Not sure how you got negativity from my post, I was speaking from experience as about twenty years ago I use to send clippings away for this purpose and they need to be clean and free from rubbish ie not dropped on bare ground but cut onto sheets and then placed in bags and collected as quick as possible. My friend worked for the Chichester based company and loved it but it was hard work and long hours for those few months of cutting. Our hedge does not produce more than half a dumpy bag of clippings which for the companies concerned isn't enough to collect unless combined with another collection close by. I have no problem with this process or the companies and would recommend others to do this.
racing green - nicely topiared hedge! I wish I could be bothered to do mine as well
To the OP, here some examples
This is part of my holly hedge planted in March 2009. Originally 6 feet tall, now, 6.5 feet tall with some 'spurts' up to 8 feet tall
This is part of the Laurel. Planted July 2009 (wrong time to plant), the plants were about 1 foot tall and not very bushey. Now about 3 foot tall and really plumping out
These are my Yew Trees - planted over 30 years ago and never seem to grow. Gardener made a hash of trying to shape them a couple of years ago and can't seem to grow them out to repair the damage
So in other words don't go for Yew unless you can wait until you're coffin doger to get some privacy.
To the OP, here some examples
This is part of my holly hedge planted in March 2009. Originally 6 feet tall, now, 6.5 feet tall with some 'spurts' up to 8 feet tall
This is part of the Laurel. Planted July 2009 (wrong time to plant), the plants were about 1 foot tall and not very bushey. Now about 3 foot tall and really plumping out
These are my Yew Trees - planted over 30 years ago and never seem to grow. Gardener made a hash of trying to shape them a couple of years ago and can't seem to grow them out to repair the damage
So in other words don't go for Yew unless you can wait until you're coffin doger to get some privacy.
As an alternative to a hedge, if you put some trellis up on the existing fence then plant Passion Flower to grow up it. This would be faster growing than a hedge and you get the benefit of a colourful wall of flowers for the summer. Also you don't really need to do any maintanence, only thing i can think of is that it is recommended that it is cut right back every 7 years.
Thought I'd resurrect this thread as I need some opinions on what type of hedge to go for. We back on to a field and the rear boundary is currently wide open and approx 20 metres long. I'm looking for density rather than height, 4-5ft max, that won't take eons to mature.
It's rather exposed to the wind so needs to be wind tolerant and act as a screen all the way to floor level as there's a public footpath running along the back which is lower level.
I'm liking the look of the Laurel pictured above, but I've someone told me that laurel isn't good for wildlife and could become difficult to maintain once it takes hold. Is this true?
Given the quantity I'd be buying I don't want to later find out I've made a mistake, so any advice or planting tips will be much appreciated
It's rather exposed to the wind so needs to be wind tolerant and act as a screen all the way to floor level as there's a public footpath running along the back which is lower level.
I'm liking the look of the Laurel pictured above, but I've someone told me that laurel isn't good for wildlife and could become difficult to maintain once it takes hold. Is this true?
Given the quantity I'd be buying I don't want to later find out I've made a mistake, so any advice or planting tips will be much appreciated
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