"Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
Photina Red Robin http://www.hgc.ie/plants/hedging.asp
will make an attractive hedge and it is different.

regards,
Emrys Davies.

I have one of those. albeit here in NZ. In autumn after a trim, new leaf
growth is deep red. If you inherit a scruffy one, like I did, it takes some
coaxing back to life but is worth it, in my opinion.

rob

Hi,
I need a hedge which will be about 1.5 mts high
by 4 mts long.
I do not want conifer but a decorative hedge which
will hopefully grow reasonably quick.

It is for a boundary hedge between myself and next door
which will not grow too thick.

Thanks for any suggestions.

On 13/7/06 14:52, in article ,
"Merlin" wrote:

Hi,
I need a hedge which will be about 1.5 mts high
by 4 mts long.
I do not want conifer but a decorative hedge which
will hopefully grow reasonably quick.

It is for a boundary hedge between myself and next door
which will not grow too thick.

It helps if you tell us where you live because not all plants survive in all
areas of UK. Most plants will require some trimming once or twice a year
but 4 metres isn't going to make that an onerous task. You could try
Fuchsias, Escallonias, Box, Agapanthus (not your usual hedging plant but
very attractive used that way if you get the evergreen ones and live in a
mild area) Euryops which, with us, flower about 8 months in the year and
would need no trimming, and Hypericum 'Hidcote'. If you don't know these,
try doing a Google image search. As to the length, that will depend on
which plant you choose and how many you need to fill the gap.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 13/7/06 14:52, in article ,
"Merlin" wrote:

Hi,
I need a hedge which will be about 1.5 mts high
by 4 mts long.
I do not want conifer but a decorative hedge which
will hopefully grow reasonably quick.

It is for a boundary hedge between myself and next door
which will not grow too thick.

It helps if you tell us where you live because not all plants survive in
all
areas of UK. Most plants will require some trimming once or twice a year
but 4 metres isn't going to make that an onerous task. You could try
Fuchsias, Escallonias, Box, Agapanthus (not your usual hedging plant but
very attractive used that way if you get the evergreen ones and live in a
mild area) Euryops which, with us, flower about 8 months in the year and
would need no trimming, and Hypericum 'Hidcote'. If you don't know these,
try doing a Google image search. As to the length, that will depend on
which plant you choose and how many you need to fill the gap.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)


I live in North Somerset, near to the coast but sheltered.
Thanks for the info so far.

On 13/7/06 15:10, in article , "Merlin"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 13/7/06 14:52, in article ,
"Merlin" wrote:

Hi,
I need a hedge which will be about 1.5 mts high
by 4 mts long.
I do not want conifer but a decorative hedge which
will hopefully grow reasonably quick.

It is for a boundary hedge between myself and next door
which will not grow too thick.

It helps if you tell us where you live because not all plants survive in
all
areas of UK. Most plants will require some trimming once or twice a year
but 4 metres isn't going to make that an onerous task. You could try
Fuchsias, Escallonias, Box, Agapanthus (not your usual hedging plant but
very attractive used that way if you get the evergreen ones and live in a
mild area) Euryops which, with us, flower about 8 months in the year and
would need no trimming, and Hypericum 'Hidcote'. If you don't know these,
try doing a Google image search. As to the length, that will depend on
which plant you choose and how many you need to fill the gap.
--



I live in North Somerset, near to the coast but sheltered.
Thanks for the info so far.


You can check what neighbours grow and with your local nursery but I think
most of the things I've suggested should be okay with you.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)

Hi,
I need a hedge which will be about 1.5 mts high
by 4 mts long.
I do not want conifer but a decorative hedge which
will hopefully grow reasonably quick.

I have a Fuchsia Riccartonii hedge, it stands at about 3 ft. but you
can keep it whatever height you want, it is hardy and stunning

kate

In article , Sacha writes:
|
| I live in North Somerset, near to the coast but sheltered.
| Thanks for the info so far.
|
| You can check what neighbours grow and with your local nursery but I think
| most of the things I've suggested should be okay with you.

Including box? That is normally classed as a slow grower, and likes
chalk and other well-drained alkaline soils. It will grow on others,
of course. Does it really behave differently with you?

He should also add bay - Laurus nobilis - evergreen and useful.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 13/7/06 16:43, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article , Sacha
writes:
|
| I live in North Somerset, near to the coast but sheltered.
| Thanks for the info so far.
|
| You can check what neighbours grow and with your local nursery but I think
| most of the things I've suggested should be okay with you.

Including box? That is normally classed as a slow grower, and likes
chalk and other well-drained alkaline soils. It will grow on others,
of course. Does it really behave differently with you?

When I made the suggestions I didn't know where the OP lived or one what
type of soil he is gardening and no, I didn't look back through my list!
How quickly it makes a hedge of the desired height rather depends on what
size it is when bought. But now we're on that subject, it does occur to me
to wonder if the OP could make his hedge out of plants in pots. Given the
height mentioned, it seems not to be a screening and privacy hedge so much
as just a demarcation line.
For that matter, he could put up low trellising and train something along
it.

He should also add bay - Laurus nobilis - evergreen and useful.

It certainly is but it grows quickly and spreads like mad, IME. It might be
too bushy and too wayward for his needs. But in the location he's in, I
think he can grow Fuchsias and Escallonias which have the bonus of flowers
and being rather more interesting in my view.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)

I inherited a Forsythia hedge (yellow flowers) at my previous house, but it only flowered for a couple of weeks and I had to prune about three times in the summer because it grew so fast, and too late a pruning loses you the flowers, so I don't recommend that. I've inherited a Viburnum tinus hedge in my current house, the flowers are lovely, but it requires careful management if you are to keep it to size without losing next year's flowers. I also have inherited hedges of beech and laurel (which won't flower), and they are nothing special either.

If I was planting a new hedge of that size in my dry soil, I would probably first choose one of the varieties of rose suitable for hedging. Then you get lots of flowers in the summer, and some of them have interesting stems also. Another thing that would appeal to me would be Leptospermum spp, very small dark heather-like evergreen leaves, very upright (hence thin hedge) and smothered in flowers in midsummer, choice or white, pink or red. They are supposedly a bit tender, but I haven't found them so.

I really like my neighbour's Pyracantha hedge - flowers in spring then holds many red/orange/yellow berries (according to variety) for many months, and very manageable, but may not get to full size immediately.

I rather like the idea of hedges to produce edible goodies. If you are in a mild, damp area of the country with non-alkaline soil, the Chilean cranberry (Queen Victoria's favourite fruit) Ugni molinae (Syn. Myrtus ugni) can be grown as a hedge. Evergreen with small shiny leaves, summer flowers, autumn exceedingly delicious berries (if the birds don't get them first). Won't grow too fast, nor need much pruning, though would take a few years to get to 1.5m.

A more traditional edible hedge accepting a wider range of conditions would be damson or a juneberry (Amelanchier spp), both having nice spring flowers, though these are both deciduous and the leaves are nothing special. Juneberry needs reasonably moist soil and not too hot a location to thrive, and birds can beat you to the delicious berries.

Very unfussy, the worse soil the better, is Eleagnus x ebbingei which produces scented flowers in winter and edible berries (in spring oddly) after a few years, has interesting evergreen leaves (silver or variegated to choice) and prunes to shape well, though I hesitate to suggest it given its common habitat in supermarket car parks. Likewise various Berberis; unfortunately the fruiting form of Berberis buxifolia, the favourite calafate berry of Patagonia, and excellent low hedging, is hard to track down in this country; everyone seems to sell the sterile "nana" cultivar. One of my neighbours has an ever-purple berberis as a hedge, and we rather like that, though I don't think I'd bother with the fruit.

For the go-ahead gardener, in mild, damp, non-alkaline conditions, Desfontainea spinosa would make a novelty hedge: it looks just like holly until you surprise the neighbours with lovely red and yellow waxy tubular flowers about 4cm long, in summer. No red berries though.

I've seen Christmas box (Sarcococca spp) used as lovely hedge, though it would be a bit slow to start with - evergreen, scented winter flowers, black berries in summer, but could be a good idea if this is a shady location.

Some hedges can be livened up by growing some suitable climbers, eg, native honeysuckle, up through them. I've got a rambling rose in my beech hedge.

In article ,
echinosum writes:
|
| I really like my neighbour's Pyracantha hedge - flowers in spring then
| holds many red/orange/yellow berries (according to variety) for many
| months, and very manageable, but may not get to full size immediately.

Bloody hell! I got rid of mine because I was getting too old to fight
it. A year's growth was often 6'+, 3/4"+ in diameter, equipped with
some really serious, mildly toxic, thorns. To avoid that, I would have
had to cut it once a month in early summer.

It depends on the soil and aspect - pyracantha can be anything from a
very slow-growing, small shrub up to what I had.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Sacha writes:
| He should also add bay - Laurus nobilis - evergreen and useful.
|
| It certainly is but it grows quickly and spreads like mad, IME. It might be
| too bushy and too wayward for his needs. But in the location he's in, I
| think he can grow Fuchsias and Escallonias which have the bonus of flowers
| and being rather more interesting in my view.

There's no accounting for taste :-)

Yes, it can be vigorous, but it can be cut back hard (VERY hard), and
it has splendid golden flowers in spring. They are not large, but I
don't know why nobody has ever bred a flowering form.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

A cotoneaster? Blossom,bees,berries
and evergreen to boot.

Sue W.

--
Derby, England.

Don't try to email me using "REPLY" as the email address is NoSpam. Our
email address is "thewoodies2 at ntlworld dot com"


"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
echinosum writes:
|
| I really like my neighbour's Pyracantha hedge - flowers in spring then
| holds many red/orange/yellow berries (according to variety) for many
| months, and very manageable, but may not get to full size immediately.

Bloody hell! I got rid of mine because I was getting too old to fight
it. A year's growth was often 6'+, 3/4"+ in diameter, equipped with
some really serious, mildly toxic, thorns. To avoid that, I would have
had to cut it once a month in early summer.

It depends on the soil and aspect - pyracantha can be anything from a
very slow-growing, small shrub up to what I had.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
"Sue" writes:
|
| A cotoneaster? Blossom,bees,berries and evergreen to boot.

Well, vaguely evergreen, like privet. The flowers aren't attractive
for long, are unimpressive at their peak, I find that bees go there
only as a last resort, and the berries are pretty dull, too. But
some people like them.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I must be "some people" then!

Sue W.

--
Derby, England.

Don't try to email me using "REPLY" as the email address is NoSpam. Our
email address is "thewoodies2 at ntlworld dot com"


"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Sue" writes:
|
| A cotoneaster? Blossom,bees,berries and evergreen to boot.

Well, vaguely evergreen, like privet. The flowers aren't attractive
for long, are unimpressive at their peak, I find that bees go there
only as a last resort, and the berries are pretty dull, too. But
some people like them.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Photina Red Robin http://www.hgc.ie/plants/hedging.asp
will make an attractive hedge and it is different.

regards,
Emrys Davies.