Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

Hello, I'm Eloise, new to the group, hi to everyone. :)

The old fence that was attached to my five foot boundary wall has finally fallen down. It gave us total privacy from our neighbours but cannot be replaced with a new fence due to council restrictions on height.

So, we need a fast growing evergreen that has no flowers. It needs to grow to be a dense hedge and only needs to be 5 1/2 - 6ft tall at the very most.

My husband and I are more than happy to buy plants that are already four feet (120-150cms) tall.

I do not want to plant Leylandii, we have always got on very well with our neighbours and want no disagreements. Life is too short to bicker.

We live in Arshire but sand and sea/salt air are not a problem: we have the most beautuful soil.

The shrubs/hedge would get sunlight from 8am all day long till 6ish in summer and be in a sheltered area.

May I stress again, no flowering/berry shrubs.

Thank you to everyone who might answer for your time and experience. I hope I have given enough information.

Kind Regards, Eloise

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

"Eloise" wrote in message
...

Hello, I'm Eloise, new to the group, hi to everyone. :)

The old fence that was attached to my five foot boundary wall has
finally fallen down. It gave us total privacy from our neighbours but
cannot be replaced with a new fence due to council restrictions on
height.

So, we need a fast growing evergreen that has no flowers. It needs to
grow to be a dense hedge and only needs to be 5 1/2 - 6ft tall at the
very most.

My husband and I are more than happy to buy plants that are already four
feet (120-150cms) tall.

I do not want to plant Leylandii, we have always got on very well with
our neighbours and want no disagreements. Life is too short to bicker.

We live in Arshire but sand and sea/salt air are not a problem: we have
the most beautuful soil.

The shrubs/hedge would get sunlight from 8am all day long till 6ish in
summer and be in a sheltered area.

May I stress again, no flowering/berry shrubs.

Thank you to everyone who might answer for your time and experience. I
hope I have given enough information.

Kind Regards, Eloise




--
Eloise

If you have the funds then Yew takes a lot of beating as it can be cut hard
back in years to come with no damage to the hedge, well established fed and
watered they will make around 18" of growth a year but have the advantage of
being manageable, once they reach the desired size and you stop feeding
growth slows to around 9" and one cut a year normally suffices. Many of the
faster plants such as Privet and laurel have no off switch and will require
twice a year cutting to look half decent. Avoid anything that can not be cut
back into old wood (like leylandi) as they always end up looking awful


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:49:33 +0000, Eloise
wrote:


Hello, I'm Eloise, new to the group, hi to everyone. :)

The old fence that was attached to my five foot boundary wall has
finally fallen down. It gave us total privacy from our neighbours but
cannot be replaced with a new fence due to council restrictions on
height.

So, we need a fast growing evergreen that has no flowers. It needs to
grow to be a dense hedge and only needs to be 5 1/2 - 6ft tall at the
very most.

My husband and I are more than happy to buy plants that are already four
feet (120-150cms) tall.

I do not want to plant Leylandii, we have always got on very well with
our neighbours and want no disagreements. Life is too short to bicker.

We live in Arshire but sand and sea/salt air are not a problem: we have
the most beautuful soil.

The shrubs/hedge would get sunlight from 8am all day long till 6ish in
summer and be in a sheltered area.

May I stress again, no flowering/berry shrubs.

Thank you to everyone who might answer for your time and experience. I
hope I have given enough information.

Kind Regards, Eloise

Would you consider a hedge grown from Escallonia? I have about 25
yards of a mature hedge of this shrub that is usually pruned back in
my case to stay around 8 feet high. It is used to give good privacy to
screen off a public area lying beyond this border hedge around part of
our home back garden in Dundee. It is evergreen and has a slightly
fragrant resin on the leaves. Although most of the plant has dense
leaves, it does produce some smallish flowers in the summer that in my
experience do not fall to leave any significant ground debris. It does
not produce berries. Is it absolutely crucial that you have no flowers
at all? The link below gives an example of what is available and the
properties of the plants. I am not in any way endorsing any particular
merchant and I found this as an example simply by googling with
"escallonia hedge" as the key words.

http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Escal...Hedging-Plants

Apologies if this is not helpful.

Best wishes

Geoff

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:49:33 +0000, Eloise
wrote:


Hello, I'm Eloise, new to the group, hi to everyone. :)

The old fence that was attached to my five foot boundary wall has
finally fallen down. It gave us total privacy from our neighbours but
cannot be replaced with a new fence due to council restrictions on
height.

So, we need a fast growing evergreen that has no flowers. It needs to
grow to be a dense hedge and only needs to be 5 1/2 - 6ft tall at the
very most.

My husband and I are more than happy to buy plants that are already four
feet (120-150cms) tall.

I do not want to plant Leylandii, we have always got on very well with
our neighbours and want no disagreements. Life is too short to bicker.

We live in Arshire but sand and sea/salt air are not a problem: we have
the most beautuful soil.

The shrubs/hedge would get sunlight from 8am all day long till 6ish in
summer and be in a sheltered area.

May I stress again, no flowering/berry shrubs.

Thank you to everyone who might answer for your time and experience. I
hope I have given enough information.

Kind Regards, Eloise

Would you consider a hedge grown from Escallonia? I have about 25
yards of a mature hedge of this shrub that is usually pruned back in
my case to stay around 8 feet high. It is used to give good privacy to
screen off a public area lying beyond this border hedge around part of
our home back garden in Dundee. It is evergreen and has a slightly
fragrant resin on the leaves. Although most of the plant has dense
leaves, it does produce some smallish flowers in the summer that in my
experience do not fall to leave any significant ground debris. It does
not produce berries. Is it absolutely crucial that you have no flowers
at all? The link below gives an example of what is available and the
properties of the plants. I am not in any way endorsing any particular
merchant and I found this as an example simply by googling with
"escallonia hedge" as the key words.

http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Escal...Hedging-Plants

Apologies if this is not helpful.

Best wishes

Geoff

Lucky you, I used to really like this for coastal hedging but there is some
sort of nasty leaf blight disease doing the rounds down here and they just
look an unsightly mess the whole time.

Do agree about that lovely resin smell, and its certainly quick, but the
flowers may not be wanted in this particular case


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Hi Charlie

Thank you so much for your time and knowledge.

My husband has been busy on the internet looking for the correct size: 1-2m - 1.5m that we need of the Yew trees but is having difficulty finding them, or they're too expensive for us.

I didn't know that only eleven metres of wall would need 22 plants! lol That amounts to approx £800.

Yes, we're definitely avoiding the Leylandii trees, wouldn't want to start WW3 with the entire street! :)

If anyone, or yourself, has any more ideas on other shrub varieties then we'd be most grateful. Hopefully, we'll be able to find the Yew somewhere not too pricey.


Many thanks again for your time.
Kind Regards, Eloise

Hi Geoff

Many thanks for your time and information but we really need a non-flowering shrub as I am terrified of bees and wasps. Silly, I know, but true.

The Escallonia does look beautiful and looks as though it would make a beautiful hedge.

Absolutely no need to apologise, I am thrilled to have had such lovely responses. Thank you for taking the time to google a link for me, that was very kind of you and much appreciated.

Still on the lookout for an evergreen shrub, fast growing, dense, for eleven metres in length. :)

Thank you Geoff, nice to meet you!

Kind Regards, Eloise.

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:22:43 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:49:33 +0000, Eloise
wrote:


Hello, I'm Eloise, new to the group, hi to everyone. :)

The old fence that was attached to my five foot boundary wall has
finally fallen down. It gave us total privacy from our neighbours but
cannot be replaced with a new fence due to council restrictions on
height.

So, we need a fast growing evergreen that has no flowers. It needs to
grow to be a dense hedge and only needs to be 5 1/2 - 6ft tall at the
very most.

My husband and I are more than happy to buy plants that are already four
feet (120-150cms) tall.

I do not want to plant Leylandii, we have always got on very well with
our neighbours and want no disagreements. Life is too short to bicker.

We live in Arshire but sand and sea/salt air are not a problem: we have
the most beautuful soil.

The shrubs/hedge would get sunlight from 8am all day long till 6ish in
summer and be in a sheltered area.

May I stress again, no flowering/berry shrubs.

Thank you to everyone who might answer for your time and experience. I
hope I have given enough information.

Kind Regards, Eloise

Would you consider a hedge grown from Escallonia? I have about 25
yards of a mature hedge of this shrub that is usually pruned back in
my case to stay around 8 feet high. It is used to give good privacy to
screen off a public area lying beyond this border hedge around part of
our home back garden in Dundee. It is evergreen and has a slightly
fragrant resin on the leaves. Although most of the plant has dense
leaves, it does produce some smallish flowers in the summer that in my
experience do not fall to leave any significant ground debris. It does
not produce berries. Is it absolutely crucial that you have no flowers
at all? The link below gives an example of what is available and the
properties of the plants. I am not in any way endorsing any particular
merchant and I found this as an example simply by googling with
"escallonia hedge" as the key words.

http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Escal...Hedging-Plants

Apologies if this is not helpful.

Best wishes

Geoff

Lucky you, I used to really like this for coastal hedging but there is some
sort of nasty leaf blight disease doing the rounds down here and they just
look an unsightly mess the whole time.

Do agree about that lovely resin smell, and its certainly quick, but the
flowers may not be wanted in this particular case


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk


Yes, Charlie, I had read about the leaf blight problem in some places.
I don't know if it is affecting areas in Scotland yet e.g. Ayrshire
where Eloise lives, but so far I may be lucky in not appearing at the
moment to have a problem with my hedge in Dundee.

Geoff

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

In article ,
says...

Yes, Charlie, I had read about the leaf blight problem in some places.
I don't know if it is affecting areas in Scotland yet e.g. Ayrshire
where Eloise lives, but so far I may be lucky in not appearing at the
moment to have a problem with my hedge in Dundee.

I live just off the Ayrshire coast and have seen no problems in
escallonia here.

There are tight-pruned escallonia hedges here which produce very little
flower. In any case since escallonia flowers are tube-shaped I'd think
very little pollen would be emitted (if that's what she's worried about).
It would certainly be a lot faster (and cheaper) than yew..

Janet (Arran)

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundary wall.
 

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:09:58 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article ,
says...

Yes, Charlie, I had read about the leaf blight problem in some places.
I don't know if it is affecting areas in Scotland yet e.g. Ayrshire
where Eloise lives, but so far I may be lucky in not appearing at the
moment to have a problem with my hedge in Dundee.

I live just off the Ayrshire coast and have seen no problems in
escallonia here.

There are tight-pruned escallonia hedges here which produce very little
flower. In any case since escallonia flowers are tube-shaped I'd think
very little pollen would be emitted (if that's what she's worried about).
It would certainly be a lot faster (and cheaper) than yew..

Janet (Arran)

Thanks, Janet. I hoped that you would enter this thread and have some
information on the experience in your location.

Geoff

Hi Janet, thanks so much for your time. First of all, lucky you, I look over to Arran every single day, it's the most beautiful island to live on.

I asked my family if anyone has Escallonia and my aunt (Lothian) has it and says it is covered in bees throughout the summer, despite being cut back.

I would much prefer the Escallonia to Yew but with a husband who has an allergy to bee stings and a feartie like me, it's just not a possibility, although beautiful.

Thank you so much for your time, hope you're enjoying the gorgeous weather we're having here today. :)

Kind Regards
Karen

Should add quickly that this was typed by my nine year old, thus her name appearing rather than mine at the bottom!!! :)

I guessed dictating a post for her is better than her watching tv on a Saturday after dance class! :)

Eloise (typed by myself, this time!)

Hi Sacha

Thank you so much for your time and information, I'm so happy to have found gardenbanter. :)

I adore flowering hedges but our circumstances mean they are not available to us. Husband comes out in terrible hives at bee stings and I've passed on my fear of buzzy creatures to my two wee girls - so no eleven metre long flowering shrubs for us, I'm afraid. :(

We are so lucky with our neighbours, they'll keep their side in perfect order as we've already discussed putting up a hedge with them.

I'm just going to start going round the online stores to look at what sizes and stock they have of the shrubs you suggested and then try to pick one that's most suitable for us. If anyone has anymore suggestions we'd be delighted to hear them.

Thank you so much to everyone for contributing to my initial post, I can't tell you what a relief it is to have such expert opinions instead of floundering around myself trying to find something appropriate.

Kind Regards, Eloise

Hi Eloise, further to the very good replies, I'd like to add my thoughts. Like Charlie, I'm in West Cornwall and am also not advocating Escallonia anymore, and I agree with Sacha that I'd look at Grisellinia littoralis (but not any of the variegated forms) Its available at the size you want but I'd suggest that you put in plants about 18" to 2 ft. they will establish much better than 4ft plants and obviously they would work out alot cheaper !! Now Grisellinia does flower but relies mainly on wind for pollination so hence the flowers are green, inconspicuous and dont attract many insects !!
I'd have a look around your area and just see that it is being used and is growing well. One final point, EVERYONE wants a hedging plant that is fast growing but suddenly stops growing when it reaches 6ft, you cant have both, so be aware that anything that grows relatively quickly wont stop growing to order and will need trimming.
Hope this helps, Lannerman.

Actually, most of the people who've been giving you good advice aren't on gardenbanter, which is merely rather poor way of accessing the newsgroup uk.rec.gardening ;-)

Sorry you're allergic to bees as well, it can be a real worry.

True! Once the brainwashing is complete, Karen will be delighted to cut them back every year and do all of the watering! Although when they get to six feet I think she might have a wee problem reaching up to trim the top, she is only nine!!! :) LOL

It's the thought of eleven metres of Escallonia in our admittedly small garden, I don't like the idea of there being an area the kids wouldn't be able to play in. My goodness, it's tempting as it's so beautiful but...

I've been looking into getting some of the non-flowering shrubs, somewhere local, thanks so much again, Sacha, for all of your help. Hope Arran isn't as cloudy and dreich as Ayrshire is, today.

Eloise

Hi Terry

Thanks so much for your reply. But, the council was very strict on this replacement fence. The boundary wall, of course is stone, and as they said, "would not be allowed today." :(

I hadn't thought of questioning their response, I will ask on the website you suggested, many thanks.

I find their attitude outrageous, everyone should be allowed privacy and security in their garden, especially when they have children. A five foot boundary wall isn't much of a deterrent.

Thank you so much for your reply. :)

Eloise

Hi Lannerman

Thank you very much for your reply. One of our main worries is that we're trying to have privacy for next year, thus the larger plants and price, but trying to establish them and keep them healthy and alive is something we're worried about - smaller plants would be ideal on our budget but...decisions, decisions...

The other worry we have that you astutely pointed out is: will we end up with a hedge that needs trimming a great deal of the time to keep it at 6ft? The last thing we want to do is have anything that looks unsightly or unkempt.

The Griselliinal littoralis that yourself and Sacha suggested sounds very interesting, I'll google some local nurseries and have a look around while on the school walk. That's great to know that it doesn't attract many insects, phew! That is is available now is also wonderful.

Many thanks for your help, Lannerman, it is very much appreciated. :)

Hi Lannerman

Thank you very much for your reply. One of our main worries is that we're trying to have privacy for next year, thus the larger plants and price, but trying to establish them and keep them healthy and alive is something we're worried about - smaller plants would be ideal on our budget but...decisions, decisions...

The other worry we have that you astutely pointed out is: will we end up with a hedge that needs trimming a great deal of the time to keep it at 6ft? The last thing we want to do is have anything that looks unsightly or unkempt.

The Griselliinal littoralis that yourself and Sacha suggested sounds very interesting, I'll google some local nurseries and have a look around while on the school walk. That's great to know that it doesn't attract many insects, phew! That is is available now is also wonderful.

Many thanks for your help, Lannerman, it is very much appreciated. :)

Eloise

My understanding (which may be wrong) is that if you are constructing a new fence, you need planning permission once it's over 2m (which is over 6ft). Therefore, the 5ft restriction sounds strange - are you in a conservation area?

Hi Sacha

Sorry about the goegraphic mix-up. Lucky you, living in Devon with glorious weather! :)

Yes, the Epipens are a pain to carry about but we always have a few on hand, just in case. I have a little hook just inside the garden door and hang them from it, that way they're just seconds from reach if my hubby does get stung.

I'd love to go for the Beech but am a bit worried that it might not survive a cold Scottish winter, it's really windy at that part of the garden.

I didn't know you could do the wavy look with the Beech, thanks so much for that info! I've been looking at the purple/copper variety Fagus Sylvatica Purpurea as it looks so pretty and is stock locally.

Hope you're having another gorgeous day in Devon!

Kind Regards and many thanks, Eloise

[quote=Eloise;954801]Hi Sacha

Aargh! That would be 'geographic mix-up.'

:)

Hi Kay

I'm not aware of this being a conservation area but the fence allowed to be constructed is 3ft only (2 feet less than the original boundary wall!).

I called them again this afternoon, spoke with someone else and was given the exact same information.

Everywhere I look I see boundary fences of 6ft 5" and over and these people must be willing to put in their planning app to the council, pay £165 for the assessment then pay for the fence. Or, they're putting them up without planning permission and hoping no one objects.

Personally, we'd rather put the money towards a hedge, they can't do anything about it! :)

Besides, after much thought, as a family we decided we'd rather help our habitat and wildlife. It's a process that's really involved the kids in the garden, they're now seeing it as not just as a place to play but as a place to help the environment so maybe the local council have done us a favour.

Many thanks for your help and avice. Kind Regards, Eloise

Newbie needs fast growing shrub/hedge with no flowers for boundarywall.
 

On 4/2/2012 5:23 PM, Eloise wrote:

I'd love to go for the Beech but am a bit worried that it might not
survive a cold Scottish winter, it's really windy at that part of the
garden.

I have beech in my garden on the north coast of Sutherland - they've
been there for decades.

Hi Viemeister

That's great to know, thanks so much! :) We're all visiting a local garden centre as the kids are off school this week - hopefully a decision will be made soon!

Many thanks, Viemeister, Eloise

I know you're not interested any longer, but someone else who reads this may be ...

From the government planning portal:

"You will need to apply for planning permission if you wish to erect or add to a fence, wall or gate and:
it would be over 1 metre high and next to a highway used by vehicles (or the footpath of such a highway); or over 2 metres high elsewhere .....

You will not need to apply for planning permission to take down a fence, wall,or gate, or to alter, maintain or improve an existing fence, wall or gate (no matter how high) if you don't increase its height"

So in theory you could have maintained it at its original height, since you were going to "maintain or improve" it. (Subtleties like this aren't always uppermost in the minds of council officials). Since this was the fence between you and your neighbours, I'm not sure why they were applying the lower limit.