Hello all,

We are renovating the rear of our garden (might end up putting in a
swimming pool!) and I need to plant some trees to provide some privacy.
Ideally something fast growing, but which doesn't go rocketing
skywards like leylandii. We already have masses of laurel, so
something different would be nice.

We have a clay soil, which gets boggy wet in winter, but dry and hard
as stone in the summer.

Any suggestions?

Simon.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all,

We are renovating the rear of our garden (might end up putting in a
swimming pool!) and I need to plant some trees to provide some privacy.
Ideally something fast growing, but which doesn't go rocketing
skywards like leylandii. We already have masses of laurel, so
something different would be nice.

We have a clay soil, which gets boggy wet in winter, but dry and hard
as stone in the summer.

Any suggestions?

Simon.

Some of the less invasive bamboos perhaps?

Teleman wrote:

Some of the less invasive bamboos perhaps?

Sounds like a good idea. I have been looking at a few available from
junglegiants.co.uk and mulu.co.uk, but there are so many different
ones! I suppose I need something which is not going to take over the
entire garden, will grow to 2m-4m high, and can tolerate 6 months per
year in boggy soil (!) and 3 months in hard baked soil. Sounds like a
tall order!

In winter, our lawn gets so that you feel you are sinking into it when
you walk on it because it's so wet. The grass goes brown in patches,
presumably because it's drowning. It recovers in the spring though.
Does this sound too wet for bamboo?

Thanks again...

S.

wrote in message



We are renovating the rear of our garden (might end up putting in a
swimming pool!) . . . . . snip

A swimming pool? You'd better get evergreens - and I mean "ever" !!

G

To the group-any thoughts on shrub roses?
40 years ago we made a god dividing hedge with Ballerina.
Roses will tolerate clay and are not too exotic.
David T.
wrote in message
oups.com...
Teleman wrote:

Some of the less invasive bamboos perhaps?

Sounds like a good idea. I have been looking at a few available from
junglegiants.co.uk and mulu.co.uk, but there are so many different
ones! I suppose I need something which is not going to take over the
entire garden, will grow to 2m-4m high, and can tolerate 6 months per
year in boggy soil (!) and 3 months in hard baked soil. Sounds like a
tall order!

In winter, our lawn gets so that you feel you are sinking into it when
you walk on it because it's so wet. The grass goes brown in patches,
presumably because it's drowning. It recovers in the spring though.
Does this sound too wet for bamboo?

Thanks again...

S.

i would look through the plant lists in a book such as Hilliers manual of trees and shrubs ( in most libraries ) and look at various willow trees under the name Salix . not all willows are as badly behaved as the hugh weeping one you see around (Salix babylonica ? ) ... some are quite managable and produce those catkins in spring . willow would cope with the soil conditions you describe.

sourcing of plants is often best done through mail order nurseries rather than garden centres once you ve read a few lists of descriptions , many nurseries will send quite detailed catalogues and reading them can be fun and educational...more fun than traipsing round garden centres seeing the same old stuff because garden centers generally only stock things that sell and the british public will only buy plants they know .

this isn t a recommendation for Hilliers by the way.

In winter, our lawn gets so that you feel you are sinking into it when
you walk on it because it's so wet.

our last house was like this and we grew loads of dog woods - may not sound
ideal for privacy but some grow quite high and the twigs are so dense that
they still cover in winter. Also you can do a large area cheaply - there was
a wild thicket of teh stuff near our house, I just used to cut a load of
sticks off this each autumn, after the leaves had dropped, and stuck them
into our boggy clay. Over half would take and be growing well by spring.
Hayley

In article .com,
writes
Hello all,

We are renovating the rear of our garden (might end up putting in a
swimming pool!) and I need to plant some trees to provide some privacy.
Ideally something fast growing, but which doesn't go rocketing
skywards like leylandii. We already have masses of laurel, so
something different would be nice.

We have a clay soil, which gets boggy wet in winter, but dry and hard
as stone in the summer.

Any suggestions?

Simon.

Hi

How about some type of eucalyptus - there are loads of them, some
suitable for hedging and can tolerate pretty extreme conditions.

Lynda

We have a clay soil, which gets boggy wet in winter, but dry and hard
as stone in the summer.

Any suggestions?

Simon.


Pyracantha
Photinia


But as for putting in a swimming pool ........do think of the maintenance
....the difficulty selling your house and the neighbours faced with screaming
kids jumping in and out

We have a clay soil, which gets boggy wet in winter, but dry and hard
as stone in the summer.

Any suggestions?

Simon.



If you're digging a pool into the garden then use the opportunity to
add drainage and some decent topsoil.