wrote in message
...
Hello,

I am looking to buy a hedge for our garden. I'd like it to be about 4
ft high. I'd prefer not to buy a Leylandii because of all the bad
press they seem to have. Is this deserved?


It is worse; to properly control/keep in check you need to clip 2 or more
times per year; it gives me a rash if I rub against it (hrd to avoid when
clipping); it is very hard to renovate if you leave it for a season; it can
grow to a vast size and make your neighbours hate your guts; etc.

What hedge do you recommend? Is Yew the best?

It is slow growing and forms a very neat hedge; for fancy big house gardens
or mega topiary it is the Rolls Royce species.


Hawthorn is a bit prickly but is native and birds like it; it has nice
flowers and fruits (again for de birds); it is fairly slow growing but maybe
a bit hard to keep neat?



Thanks.

Des Higgins writes
Hawthorn is a bit prickly but is native and birds like it; it has nice
flowers and fruits (again for de birds);

Not much of either if clipped as a hedge

it is fairly slow growing but maybe a bit hard to keep neat?

About 2 ft a year. The real pain is not the clipping but the collection
of all the bits - they are vicious things to come across while weeding
or walking bare foot.


--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
Des Higgins writes
Hawthorn is a bit prickly but is native and birds like it; it has nice
flowers and fruits (again for de birds);

Not much of either if clipped as a hedge

it is fairly slow growing but maybe a bit hard to keep neat?

About 2 ft a year. The real pain is not the clipping but the collection of
all the bits - they are vicious things to come across while weeding or
walking bare foot.

Last house we were in we had 60 feet of Pyracantha so after that, the 60
feet of hawthorn we also had was tame and cuddly but I take yer point (very
prickly stuff).

Des




--
Kay

In article , K
writes
Des Higgins writes
Hawthorn is a bit prickly but is native and birds like it; it has nice
flowers and fruits (again for de birds);

Not much of either if clipped as a hedge

it is fairly slow growing but maybe a bit hard to keep neat?

About 2 ft a year. The real pain is not the clipping but the collection
of all the bits - they are vicious things to come across while weeding
or walking bare foot.




God, not half !

They puncture bicycle tyres and they are lethal if you want to pick them
up, though I shred mine quite easily. They are a good security hedge and
fairly free of diseases.

Nightmare to put wire netting along the bottom as the dogs can get
through to next door if they feel so inclined, even with the thorns!


Janet
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Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk