I am building a hedge to the street with Photinia Red Tip. The young
plants are not really blocking much of the view. What are the pros and cons
if I plant double rows of plants, spacing two feet between each row, and two
feet between each plant on one row?

Since the plants would be back to back, the street facing row would get sun
in the morning on the street side, but would be denied sun on the back side
at all times of day. The lawn facing row would get no sun in the morning,
but lots of sun in the evening. I guess that means the inward facing parts
of both rows would die off over time. But would planting double rows
make the hedge thicker and block more of the view from the street?

--
W

On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:19:43 -0700, "W"
wrote:

I am building a hedge to the street with Photinia Red Tip. The young
plants are not really blocking much of the view. What are the pros and cons
if I plant double rows of plants, spacing two feet between each row, and two
feet between each plant on one row?

Since the plants would be back to back, the street facing row would get sun
in the morning on the street side, but would be denied sun on the back side
at all times of day. The lawn facing row would get no sun in the morning,
but lots of sun in the evening. I guess that means the inward facing parts
of both rows would die off over time. But would planting double rows
make the hedge thicker and block more of the view from the street?

If yours are a deciduous variety they won't offer much privacy
regardless how many rows you plant... if an evergreen variety one row
would be sufficient as they are a dense plant and usually grow quite
large and if in rows they will shade each other so the inside parts
will be bare anyway.

On 4/17/12 11:19 PM, W wrote:
I am building a hedge to the street with Photinia Red Tip. The young
plants are not really blocking much of the view. What are the pros and cons
if I plant double rows of plants, spacing two feet between each row, and two
feet between each plant on one row?

Since the plants would be back to back, the street facing row would get sun
in the morning on the street side, but would be denied sun on the back side
at all times of day. The lawn facing row would get no sun in the morning,
but lots of sun in the evening. I guess that means the inward facing parts
of both rows would die off over time. But would planting double rows
make the hedge thicker and block more of the view from the street?


In the end, the die-back where the two rows face each other will defeat
your intent. This can be sufficiently unhealthy for the plants that you
put their survival at risk.

As an alternative, consider planting the Photinia in a single zig-zag
line. This could be created by having two rows with 3 feet separating
each row and 3 feet between plants. A plant in one row would align with
the gap between two plants in the other row. From your description,
each row would then get sun on both sides.

In many situations, good gardening requires patience. Instant results
are not possible even with Photinia, which grows quite fast.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

David E. Ross wrote:
On 4/17/12 11:19 PM, W wrote:
I am building a hedge to the street with Photinia Red Tip. The
young plants are not really blocking much of the view. What are the
pros and cons if I plant double rows of plants, spacing two feet
between each row, and two feet between each plant on one row?

Since the plants would be back to back, the street facing row would
get sun in the morning on the street side, but would be denied sun
on the back side at all times of day. The lawn facing row would
get no sun in the morning, but lots of sun in the evening. I guess
that means the inward facing parts of both rows would die off over
time. But would planting double rows make the hedge thicker and
block more of the view from the street?


In the end, the die-back where the two rows face each other will
defeat your intent. This can be sufficiently unhealthy for the
plants that you put their survival at risk.

As an alternative, consider planting the Photinia in a single zig-zag
line. This could be created by having two rows with 3 feet separating
each row and 3 feet between plants. A plant in one row would align
with the gap between two plants in the other row. From your
description, each row would then get sun on both sides.

In many situations, good gardening requires patience. Instant results
are not possible even with Photinia, which grows quite fast.

Photinia grows pretty large. Having too many competing with each other will just
slow down the growth.