On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 12:18:21 +0100, "Martin Newman"
wrote:

In the June 2003 edition of Gardeners world magazine, Alan's top hedges, Mr
Titchmarsh suggests the Thuja Plicata as "the hedge we would all love".
However, Mr Titchmarsh does not tell us the variety of this tree, and as
there are many different varieties of this kind, I would be most grateful if
anyone could tell me the variety he is talking about.
We are currently deciding what to plant for our new hedge in our back
garden, and this hedge seems to be most suitable for our needs. The hedge is
described as:

An evergreen that grows to 1.2 - 1.5m (4-5ft) which then stops. It just
needs a few light clips a year and won't go beserk!

We need this hedge as some sort of privacy screening from the neighbourts,
and do not want the hedge to be too high (its difficult to trim!) and
something that is not intrusive on the neighbours and surrounding area.

After some initial research, we found that some varieties included:

Pumila, whipcord, aurea and rogersii.

However, we are still not sure of which type Mr Titchmarsh suggests.

If anyone has a more clear idea of what to suggest, then we would be most
grateful.

I haven't seen the article, but according to Adrian Bloom's book on
garden conifers, there's Thuja plicata, i.e. the original Western Red
Cedar species, with no varietal name appended, and then there are all
the varieties e.g. Thuja plicata rogersii. Bloom actually recommends
T.p. atrovirens for hedging as being more consistent in form and
colour than the species itself. But if you can't get it, just go for
the true species, Thuja plicata.

I'm surprised to see that AT says it grows to 1.2 - 1.5m and then
stops, as you quote. Bloom says it's a fast growing pyramidal tree,
reaching 5 - 7m after 10 years, ultimately reaching 30 - 60m. The RHS
encyclo. gives it's ultimate height as 20 - 35m, and also recommends
T.p. atrovirens for hedging. Most of the other named varieties are
'shrubs', i.e. grown as single specimens for their shape, form or
colour.

I doubt that conifers actually stop growing, but just get very slow
when they reach their mature height. Conifers that have a low mature
height such as you're seeking are usually slow growing. If someone
discovered what you describe, they'd make a fortune! It's every
gardener's dream. Thuja plicata has been around in the UK for about
150 years and while I'm sure it makes an excellent hedge, if it did
what AT describes, no-one would ever grow anything else.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net