Hello all! Finally resorted to posting on a site with knowledge!

Im a avid 'visual' gardner but sadly know nothing about species and type so im looking for some advice!

We have just had our old shed removed and the patio replaced with a deck and a large raised bed. It has obviously exposed 1 side of the house to our neighbours over the road and we would like our privacy back. We have various shrubs , ferns and bamboo in place and ready to go but we are looking for a quick fix, a tree, preferably evergreen (no leylandi!) that can sit in amongst the shrubs.

Would be greatful for any recommendations? Love the tropical look of things like Albizia Julibrissin which somebody recommended but worried about its performance and screening abilities in the UK?



Cheers
Ben

Leylandii is the only "quick fix", but cupressus will do the job, if you want a conifer.

Holly is another possibility, or Viburnum rhytidophyllum, or Eleagnus ebbingei.

In article ,
smuudge writes:
|
| We have just had our old shed removed and the patio replaced with a
| deck and a large raised bed. It has obviously exposed 1 side of the
| house to our neighbours over the road and we would like our privacy
| back. We have various shrubs , ferns and bamboo in place and ready to
| go but we are looking for a quick fix, a tree, preferably evergreen (no
| leylandi!) that can sit in amongst the shrubs.
|
| Would be greatful for any recommendations? Love the tropical look of
| things like Albizia Julibrissin which somebody recommended but worried
| about its performance and screening abilities in the UK?

Albizia julibrissin is deciduous, anyway, and is VERY "iffy" in the UK.
I have been trying to get one to go for years, and it has lost ALL the
ground it gained in the "summer" over the winter. I needs a hot summer
to ripen its wood.

How big, where are you and what's your soil?

One good evergreen for many parts of the country is bay - yes, Laurus
nobilis. It will get out of hand, but (unlike leylandii) can be pruned
back as hard as you like and kept to any size from about 3' up. So can
holly (including the variegated ones) and yew, but bay is also useful.

It isn't an immediate fix, though, as it takes a couple of years to
get going. No immediate fix is satisfactory in the long term.

Generally, the south-west and far south have lashings of choice, most
of the south and midlands have plenty of choice, things get a bit
tricky as you go north, and it is only the northern upland areas which
are real problems.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

smuudge wrote:
Hello all! Finally resorted to posting on a site with knowledge!

Im a avid 'visual' gardner but sadly know nothing about species and
type so im looking for some advice!

We have just had our old shed removed and the patio replaced with a
deck and a large raised bed. It has obviously exposed 1 side of the
house to our neighbours over the road and we would like our privacy
back. We have various shrubs , ferns and bamboo in place and ready to
go but we are looking for a quick fix, a tree, preferably evergreen (no
leylandi!) that can sit in amongst the shrubs.

Not an evergreen, but when grown as a hedge beech will keep its leaves
on over winter and look a wonderful golden brown. Fatsia Japonica is
reasonable if a bit slow growing and exotic in appearence. So are
various of the hollies, and a few of the other common evergreen hedging
plants and dwarf conifers. We have a specimen juniper filling this role.

Would be greatful for any recommendations? Love the tropical look of
things like Albizia Julibrissin which somebody recommended but worried
about its performance and screening abilities in the UK?

I suspect it is not cold hardy enough unless you have an exceptionally
mild microclimate.

Regards,
Martin Brown
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

In article ,
says...
Albizia Julibrissin

Albizia Julibrissin is both slow and deciduous in the uk, you did not say
where you are or how big the tree can be allowed to go. If you want
tropical and evergreen think about Trachycarpus fortunei! (Chusan Palm)
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 12/6/08 00:14, in article , "smuudge"
wrote:


Hello all! Finally resorted to posting on a site with knowledge!

Im a avid 'visual' gardner but sadly know nothing about species and
type so im looking for some advice!

We have just had our old shed removed and the patio replaced with a
deck and a large raised bed. It has obviously exposed 1 side of the
house to our neighbours over the road and we would like our privacy
back. We have various shrubs , ferns and bamboo in place and ready to
go but we are looking for a quick fix, a tree, preferably evergreen (no
leylandi!) that can sit in amongst the shrubs.

Would be greatful for any recommendations? Love the tropical look of
things like Albizia Julibrissin which somebody recommended but worried
about its performance and screening abilities in the UK?

Very dodgy in UK. There was one in this garden but eventually a frost took
it off. Depending on where you are, I'd suggest a Camellia (you can grow a
late-flowering Clematis through it) or perhaps Eucryphia or again,
Crinodendron. Escallonias grow reasonably quickly and so do Eucalyptus if
you choose one which you can keep at the height you want it. But everything
does depend on where you live and the winter climate you have, the position
of the bed in terms of which way it faces and the soil.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

AJ is deciduous and late into leaf, so screening ability is poor, and a lot of people have difficulty getting it to grow.

Quick fixes for screening are always difficult, because something that starts fast continues fast and can become a problem.

I know it's boring, but I would recommend laurel (ie evergreen prunus spp) to provide easy rapid screening without leyland problems. The reason it is better than leyland is that if you let it grow too much you can cut it back hard as you like and it will come back (unlike leyland where if you cut back to the brown it never comes green again). Also you can get flowering forms. And once it is to size, it is quite easy to prune to keep it to that size, becuase the new shoots are cut through easily provided you don't leave it too long.

If you are a bit more patient, there are all sorts of dense medium/large evergreen shrubs that will be big enough to screen almost as quickly: arbutus unedo (can be trained as a bush, choose the small form) aucuba, choisya ternata (mexican orange blossom), euonymous fortunei, certain ceanothus (california lilac), certain osmanthus, photinia, certain pyracantha, etc.

echinosum writes


I know it's boring, but I would recommend laurel (ie evergreen prunus
spp) to provide easy rapid screening without leyland problems. The
reason it is better than leyland is that if you let it grow too much
you can cut it back hard as you like and it will come back (unlike
leyland where if you cut back to the brown it never comes green again).
Also you can get flowering forms.

Does this imply that there are non-flowering forms? I'd always assumed
that the reason you don't get flowers on a laurel hedge is that you keep
cutting it back.
--
Kay

When I bought my house, the laurel hedge was not being pruned (it was more than 2m thick), but there was no evidence of flowering: it took me 8 months to close the deal, and it was some time before I addressed it, so I had a whole season to observe it. I've seen some other people's pruned/shaped laurel hedges in flower. So I think that there are some that never flower, some that always flower, and some that only flower if you don't prune them. Both P. lusitanica and P. laurocerasus are used for hedging, and I think the latter is the strong flowerer. Also there are many cultivars of the latter, and maybe some are sterile.

Also, laurel [Aucuba japonica] flowers are not very evident. They are a purplish colour in small racemes : http://tinyurl.com/56rehf produced on the tips of new growth.

There is a difference between Aucuba japonica and the Prunus laurels which have upstanding white racemes.

echinosum writes

K;797874 Wrote:
echinosum writes-I know it's
boring, but I would recommend laurel (ie evergreen prunus spp) to
provide easy rapid screening without leyland problems. The
reason it is better than leyland is that if you let it grow too much
you can cut it back hard as you like and it will come back (unlike
leyland where if you cut back to the brown it never comes green
again).
Also you can get flowering forms.-

Does this imply that there are non-flowering forms? I'd always assumed

that the reason you don't get flowers on a laurel hedge is that you
keep
cutting it back.
--
When I bought my house, the laurel hedge was not being pruned (it was
more than 2m thick), but there was no evidence of flowering: it took me
8 months to close the deal, and it was some time before I addressed it,
so I had a whole season to observe it. I've seen some other people's
pruned/shaped laurel hedges in flower. So I think that there are some
that never flower, some that always flower, and some that only flower
if you don't prune them. Both P. lusitanica and P. laurocerasus are
used for hedging, and I think the latter is the strong flowerer. Also
there are many cultivars of the latter, and maybe some are sterile.

That all makes sense. I wonder if there is also a light requirement?
Think of my various laurels (P laurocerasus) - the one I pruned to -1/2
inch is now about 6ft high and 3ft dia, pruned heavily a couple of times
a year and never flowers. The other is huge, but all the flowers are at
the top where they get plenty of light - no flowers below 8 ft.

The one I grew up with (it was my tree-house from when I was quite
small) was also a tree, and never pruned, and, thinking back, all the
flowers were on the upper side, with nothing between them and the sky.
--
Kay