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Old 13-06-2010, 07:03 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
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Default How long a shade does a privet hedge cast?

My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.

I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.

In 3 years, a holly "J C Vantol" grew a bit , but lost all its leaves
and now obviously has to be pulled up. A Pieris Japonica further along
hasn't died, but it has hardly grown in 3 years.

Only now has the penny dropped that this is probably because of the
shade cast by the hedge - the rest of the garden seems reasonably
fertile.

So my questions to you are :-

* Am I right in thinking that the poor doing of these plants is
because they are so near the hedge on their south side?

* How far does the hedge's influence extend?

* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?

Michael Bell

--
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Old 13-06-2010, 09:26 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
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Default How long a shade does a privet hedge cast?


"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.

I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.

In 3 years, a holly "J C Vantol" grew a bit , but lost all its leaves
and now obviously has to be pulled up. A Pieris Japonica further along
hasn't died, but it has hardly grown in 3 years.

Only now has the penny dropped that this is probably because of the
shade cast by the hedge - the rest of the garden seems reasonably
fertile.

So my questions to you are :-

* Am I right in thinking that the poor doing of these plants is
because they are so near the hedge on their south side?

* How far does the hedge's influence extend?

* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?

Michael Bell

--


I have the same problem and have found Hardy fuchsias do well in this
position along with summer bedding of Busy Lizzies or begonias. I have also
a very large Choisya Ternate Sundance, that I grew from a tiny pot plant,
that is now over 4 foot tall in the shade.

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Old 13-06-2010, 10:17 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
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Default How long a shade does a privet hedge cast?


"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.

I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.

In 3 years, a holly "J C Vantol" grew a bit , but lost all its leaves
and now obviously has to be pulled up. A Pieris Japonica further along
hasn't died, but it has hardly grown in 3 years.

Only now has the penny dropped that this is probably because of the
shade cast by the hedge - the rest of the garden seems reasonably
fertile.

So my questions to you are :-

* Am I right in thinking that the poor doing of these plants is
because they are so near the hedge on their south side?

* How far does the hedge's influence extend?

* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?

Michael Bell

--


It *may* not only be shade. I had a privet hedge on Thames Valley clay and
up to about a foot from the hedge the earth was always drier and less
fertile which I attributed, in part, to the hedge sucking away at the earth.

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Old 13-06-2010, 07:27 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Rod Rod is offline
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Default How long a shade does a privet hedge cast?

On Jun 13, 9:17*am, "Graham Harrison"
wrote:
"Michael Bell" wrote in message

. uk...





My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.


I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.


In 3 years, a holly "J C Vantol" grew a bit , but lost all its leaves
and now obviously has to be pulled up. A Pieris Japonica further along
hasn't died, but it has hardly grown in 3 years.


Only now has the penny dropped that this is probably because of the
shade cast by the hedge - the rest of the garden seems reasonably
fertile.


So my questions to you are :-


* Am I right in thinking that the poor doing of these plants is
because they are so near the hedge on their south side?


* How far does the hedge's influence extend?


* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?


Michael Bell


--


It *may* not only be shade. * I had a privet hedge on Thames Valley clay and
up to about a foot from the hedge the earth was always drier and less
fertile which I attributed, in part, to the hedge sucking away at the earth.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Yes, absolutely. Unless you have a large garden, you can't afford to
waste space with a hedge. Hardly anything's going to grow well within
several feet of it, they're hard work, boring and greedy of space and
nutrients. When we moved in here a year ago (after 40 odd years of
cutting hedges for other people) I got rid of all of ours (big
leylandii) and liberated a huge amount of extra space. The outside
boundaries are now fenced with trellis soon to be covered with
climbing roses, clematis, honeysuckle etc backed by mixed borders of
shrubs, old roses and herbaceous. This gives just as much privacy,
more enjoyable work and when everything's established your'e going to
smell it before you turn into our close.

Rod
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Old 15-06-2010, 11:56 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
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Default How long a shade does a privet hedge cast?

In article ,
says...
My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.

I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.

In 3 years, a holly "J C Vantol" grew a bit , but lost all its leaves
and now obviously has to be pulled up. A Pieris Japonica further along
hasn't died, but it has hardly grown in 3 years.

Only now has the penny dropped that this is probably because of the
shade cast by the hedge - the rest of the garden seems reasonably
fertile.

So my questions to you are :-

* Am I right in thinking that the poor doing of these plants is
because they are so near the hedge on their south side?

* How far does the hedge's influence extend?

* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?

Michael Bell


It not the shade but the dry thats causing the problems
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea


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Old 16-06-2010, 12:09 PM
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Location: Chalfont St Giles
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Bell View Post
My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.

I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.
...
So my questions to you are :-
....
* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?
--
Both my neighbours have planted Leylandii hedges along my garden boundary for part of the length, including on the south side. Even worse than privet. Fortunately on the south side he keeps that one to about 5ft, I'm not too worried about the taller one on the north side. What I have done to enable myself to grow plants along my side of the hedgeline is sink a waterproof sheet of thick plastic vertically into the soil, about 2 ft deep, so that at least the upper part of the soil is not too badly sucked out by the hedge. I haven't done this the whole hedge length, just a few locations where I wanted to protect the plant. I use some 2mm thick sheeting sold as bamboo rhizome barrier sold by bamboo specialists such as jungle giants (available via internet), so that the risk of it being penetrated by roots is small. I have also created a few small internal water barriers within my own garden where some of my own plants with thirsty roots (conifers, Euonymus fortunei) were preventing me from growing anything adjacent to them, by the same technique.

Having done this, I have been able to grow shade-loving bamboos (Fargesia nitida "Juizhaigou #2" and Fargesia murieliae "Simba" if you really want to know), thirsty but shallow-rooted plants, quite happily right alongside the thirsty and more grasping hedge. I think the same trick would work well for a variety of other plants happy with a north facing aspect, such as holly, etc.

As ground-cover plants, at low level, I suspect you will find epimediums and vincas will do fine. I have an epimedium growing great guns next to the leylandii hedge and overshadowed also by a multi-stemmed shrubby pine tree, a very dry dark situation, without any water-protecting barriers. I thought nothing would grow there, as even weeds don't, but the epimedium does!

Someone mentioned hardy fuschias. I would second that. There is a hardy fuschia that lives in the middle of a cluster of conifers in my garden, which was there before I arrived, and it comes back every year to my astonishment.

Not the most exciting plant, but cotoneasters are extraordinarily canny about satisfying their needs. I'm forever having to weed them out where they self-seed in the narrow dark gap between my shed and the leylandii hedge. You might also get a chaenomeles to grow, provided it is a basic one (small red flowers and thorns) not a fancy one, I have one going great guns in a very disadvantageous situation. We have a Spiraea that grows on the north side of a hedge and seems ineradicable, it is the type that grows on canes with pink fluffy flowers at the top, I think that's douglasii or a hybrid thereof. There are some ferns that will grow in dry shade, such as hartstongue.
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