Litl Fish wrote:

Hi folks,

After having various items stolen from our front yard, the final straw was
when 2 beautiful Washington Cotton palms were dug up one night.

snip

Are there any "tropical" hedges that grow fast and thick? (We're trying to
establish a semi-tropical/semi-arid garden!) And then what is the best way
to buy them, tubestock, seeds, or what?

Thanking you in advance for your advice......

Casey

Rosemary Grevillea (G. rosmarinifolia) makes an *excellent* people-repelling
hedge! It's prickly and dense and bears lovely little chinese-lantern-like
flowers! My Mum grew such a hedge to repel the neighbour's feral no-neck
children and it worked like a charm - the No-nex stopped coming into Mum's yard
and suddenly mail stopped disappearing from the mailbox, the milk money remained
intact and the dog was a heap happier!

The only drawback I can think of is that, like most grevilleas, G.rosmarinifolia
can be infested by that obnoxious bag-worm pest that ringbarks the plants in the
axils of the branches - it's not attractive and can alter the shape of the bush.

G. rosmarinifolia really is very prickly and also deters anything else from
growing in its dripline, so don't expect lawn or lawn-mowing husbands to enjoy
it. But I doubt your junkies would brave a thick hedge of G.rosmarinifolia to
get at your tap, either!

HTH,
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia