I am looking for a thick, tall, flowering, fast-growing hedge that does well
in California. So far Oleander looks like a good candidate.

I need:

* Approximately four feet wide, and dense enough that you cannot see through
it.
* Flowering, preferably multiple times a year
* Eight to 10 feet tall
* Very fast growing
* Does well in direct sun and shade

This would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mediterranean climate and not
directly on the coast.

I have been trying Photinia as a hedge, but it simply isn't thick enough.
It shoots up new growth in a few major branches, but even in the thickest
sections you can see right through it. It would take six years to get
thick at the current rate, and even then it might not be dense.

--
W

On Sunday, October 13, 2013 1:22:04 PM UTC-7, W wrote:
I am looking for a thick, tall, flowering, fast-growing hedge that does well

in California. So far Oleander looks like a good candidate.



I need:



* Approximately four feet wide, and dense enough that you cannot see through

it.

* Flowering, preferably multiple times a year

* Eight to 10 feet tall

* Very fast growing

* Does well in direct sun and shade



This would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mediterranean climate and not

directly on the coast.



I have been trying Photinia as a hedge, but it simply isn't thick enough.

It shoots up new growth in a few major branches, but even in the thickest

sections you can see right through it. It would take six years to get

thick at the current rate, and even then it might not be dense.

Hi, W. You might want to look further Oleander can be lethally poisonous. There are MANY sites on-line that detail the risks. I once had a tenant who asked me to remove the oleander in his yard, for fear of a child or an animal being harmed.

HB

--

W

"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
...
Hi, W. You might want to look further Oleander can be lethally
poisonous. There are MANY sites on-line that detail the risks. I once
had a tenant who asked me to remove the oleander in his yard, for fear
of a child or an animal being harmed.

Oleander tastes awful, and you need to ingest fairly large quantities to
cause poisoning. So unlikely humans are going to ingest it?

Is it attractive to any specific types of animals (e.g., rabbits, squirrels,
rats, dogs, etc)?

--
W

On 10/13/2013 3:02 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Sunday, October 13, 2013 1:22:04 PM UTC-7, W wrote:
I am looking for a thick, tall, flowering, fast-growing hedge that does well

in California. So far Oleander looks like a good candidate.



I need:



* Approximately four feet wide, and dense enough that you cannot see through

it.

* Flowering, preferably multiple times a year

* Eight to 10 feet tall

* Very fast growing

* Does well in direct sun and shade



This would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mediterranean climate and not

directly on the coast.



I have been trying Photinia as a hedge, but it simply isn't thick enough.

It shoots up new growth in a few major branches, but even in the thickest

sections you can see right through it. It would take six years to get

thick at the current rate, and even then it might not be dense.

Hi, W. You might want to look further Oleander can be lethally
poisonous. There are MANY sites on-line that detail the risks. I
once had a tenant who asked me to remove the oleander in his yard,
for fear of a child or an animal being harmed.


Accidental poisoning by oleanders is extremely rare. The most common
instances occur in public parks where users cut long, thin branches of
oleander to use as BBQ skewers. Even then, those people become slightly
ill but not dead.

Other common garden plants are also poisonous. One leaf of a peach tree
contains enough cyanide to kill a small child; the almond-like kernel in
the pit can kill an adult. Foxglove makes an excellent tea that is
medicine for heart disease; but if the tea is too strong, it is deadly
(digitalis). Lilies of the valley are quite toxic. While the fruit of
Natal plum is both edible and tasty, the rest of the plant is as toxic
as its near releative: oleander. The foliage of tomato and potato
plants is toxic since those are related to tobacco. Etc, etc.

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

On 10/13/2013 1:22 PM, W wrote:
I am looking for a thick, tall, flowering, fast-growing hedge that does well
in California. So far Oleander looks like a good candidate.

I need:

* Approximately four feet wide, and dense enough that you cannot see through
it.
* Flowering, preferably multiple times a year
* Eight to 10 feet tall
* Very fast growing
* Does well in direct sun and shade

This would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mediterranean climate and not
directly on the coast.

I have been trying Photinia as a hedge, but it simply isn't thick enough.
It shoots up new growth in a few major branches, but even in the thickest
sections you can see right through it. It would take six years to get
thick at the current rate, and even then it might not be dense.

Consider Viburnum. See Sunset's "Western Garden Book" for this genus.
Several species are suitable for your climate, make excellent screens,
and have fragrant flowers.

I happen to like oleander. In southern California where I live,
however, there is a blight killing them. The blight might eventually
reach the San Francisco area.

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

Higgs Boson wrote:

Hi, W. You might want to look further Oleander can be lethally
poisonous. There are MANY sites on-line that detail the risks. I
once had a tenant who asked me to remove the oleander in his yard,
for fear of a child or an animal being harmed.

HB

Many sites on-line pass on this supposed risk. Oleander is poisonous that's
true but it isn't that much risk because you would have to really work at it
to ingest enough to get sick much less dead. How you would get an animal or
child to eat enough of this bad-tasting woody stuff to be dangerous is never
explained. Then there are the stories of the BBQ made with oleander wood
where everybody gets sick. Those who are so careless to make a fire and
cook food on it with any material at hand without being sure of the
consequences have plenty of opportunities to Darwin themselves (and their
neighbours) out of the population aside from growing oleanders. If you want
to remove every risk from your garden then you have much work to do.

On a more practical level, the requirement to be dense and fast growing but
to stop growing at a certain height may not be possible. If you have a
shrub or bushy tree that meets the first two you are likely to be trimming
it frequently to keep it at the height you want. The height a hedge grows
to depends on its genetics and the local conditions not the figure you had
in mind when you planted it.

D

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
Higgs Boson wrote:

Hi, W. You might want to look further Oleander can be lethally
poisonous. There are MANY sites on-line that detail the risks. I
once had a tenant who asked me to remove the oleander in his yard,
for fear of a child or an animal being harmed.

HB

Many sites on-line pass on this supposed risk. Oleander is poisonous
that's true but it isn't that much risk because you would have to really
work at it to ingest enough to get sick much less dead. How you would get
an animal or child to eat enough of this bad-tasting woody stuff to be
dangerous is never explained. Then there are the stories of the BBQ made
with oleander wood where everybody gets sick. Those who are so careless
to make a fire and cook food on it with any material at hand without being
sure of the consequences have plenty of opportunities to Darwin themselves
(and their neighbours) out of the population aside from growing oleanders.
If you want to remove every risk from your garden then you have much work
to do.

On a more practical level, the requirement to be dense and fast growing
but to stop growing at a certain height may not be possible. If you have
a shrub or bushy tree that meets the first two you are likely to be
trimming it frequently to keep it at the height you want. The height a
hedge grows to depends on its genetics and the local conditions not the
figure you had in mind when you planted it.

It's certainly okay to be constantly trimming the hedge on top. The height
requirement was a minimum, not maximum.

--
W

On 13/10/2013 21:22, W wrote:
I am looking for a thick, tall, flowering, fast-growing hedge that does well
in California. So far Oleander looks like a good candidate.

I need:

* Approximately four feet wide, and dense enough that you cannot see through
it.
* Flowering, preferably multiple times a year
* Eight to 10 feet tall
* Very fast growing
* Does well in direct sun and shade

This would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mediterranean climate and not
directly on the coast.

I have been trying Photinia as a hedge, but it simply isn't thick enough.
It shoots up new growth in a few major branches, but even in the thickest
sections you can see right through it. It would take six years to get
thick at the current rate, and even then it might not be dense.

Escallonia?

--

Jeff

On 10/13/2013 4:30 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
On 10/13/2013 1:22 PM, W wrote:
I am looking for a thick, tall, flowering, fast-growing hedge that does well
in California. So far Oleander looks like a good candidate.

I need:

* Approximately four feet wide, and dense enough that you cannot see through
it.
* Flowering, preferably multiple times a year
* Eight to 10 feet tall
* Very fast growing
* Does well in direct sun and shade

This would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mediterranean climate and not
directly on the coast.

I have been trying Photinia as a hedge, but it simply isn't thick enough.
It shoots up new growth in a few major branches, but even in the thickest
sections you can see right through it. It would take six years to get
thick at the current rate, and even then it might not be dense.

Consider Viburnum. See Sunset's "Western Garden Book" for this genus.
Several species are suitable for your climate, make excellent screens,
and have fragrant flowers.

I happen to like oleander. In southern California where I live,
however, there is a blight killing them. The blight might eventually
reach the San Francisco area.


Another one is wax-leaf privet (Ligustrum japonicum). This can grow 10
ft high and 8 ft wide with dense foliage to the ground. The flowers are
white. I don't like it because I am allergic to the flowers. Be
careful; according to Sunset, nurseries often sell plants labeled as L.
japonicum that are actually L. lucidum (a tree).

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

Murraya paniculata- the rain tree. or any lilly pilly species.