"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Claude" wrote:

Can anyone suggest a suitable tree that I can plant to create a 20 metre
'hedge' to screen my house from the street?

I take it you mean a 20-metre-*long* hedge? 20m *high* seems excessive!

Needs to be (a) visually dense
(b) have foliage low to the ground and (c) most importantly, grow
quickly.

You would not be looking at a tree, but a shrub for this job.

Preferable if it doesn't grow too high but I suppose I could always trim
it
regularly. I live in Melbourne so a hardy native would be preferable
provided it meets the above criteria. Someone suggested Pitostrums
would be
suitable (although my wife hates them - don't know why)

Pittosporums have a rather strong fragrance and have become environmental
weeds in some places. They also grow much higher than hedge-height, which
means you are setting yourself up for years of pruning.

I would suggest something like a "Robyn Gordon" grevillea, ultimate height
2m
and (IIRC) width 3m. Very bushy, flowers most of the year, very hardy
too.
I've planted Grevillea "Moonlight" as a hedge on the western edge of my
front
garden to protect the garden from the sun. Once we get some decent rain,
they
might actually grow...

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Jeez; if only those Ancient Greek storytellers had known about the
astonishing
creature that is the *Usenet hydra*: you cut off one head, and *a stupider
one*
grows back..." -- MJ, cam.misc

Depending on where it's planted, you might want to check to see if you're
allergic to this plant first. It's actually listed as a poisonous plant in
the firstaid book I was given recently. I'm allergic to it myself, break out
in a rash that feels a lot like a burn & is incredibly itchy. Needless to
say I keep my two RGs that the previous owner of my house planted next to a
pathway WELL pruned.