On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 10:46:21 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:



If you want to get a natural hedge going, my advice is to plant a double
row - what you want to end up with on the outside, and leylanndii inside
for rapid 'privacy' and after 5 years rip out the leylandii, and you
should have - if enough light got in - a decent hedge of something else.

I like Yew and Holly as evergreen hedging. In the climate of the last
few years these have both been surprisingly fast growers - up to a foot
a year. Both form dense screens and both can be cut pretty agressively
and will recover if you don't cut for a year or two.

But there are loads of other options - Rosa rugoasa is untidy, but
effective and gets covered in roses all summer. Escallonia looks nice,
but grows sow and is tender. Osmanthus burkwoodii is a lovely shrub with
dark green privet like leaves, and gets covered in the best smelling
flowers in spring, but is a very slow grower. Prinus laureocalis is like
a giant privet - big leaves, trims well. Not a fast grower tho.

And of course the old favorites of beech and hornbeam (better on wet
clay soils) that keep the brown leaves on over the winter.

I've even seen some of the evergreen Euonymous used as hedging, and
things like cotoneaster, berberis and pyracantha. The latter is a bit
watsed since the berries which are the star attraction, only grow on
second year growth, which regular trimming removes.

Even decidous stuff like lilacs can in time make a decent hedge.

If you want an instant priovacy screen, put up a fence :-)

If you want a natural hedge, plant one behind it :-)

Privet is perhaps a bit boring but I saw some nice variegated privet
the other day. Is that a good hedging plant? I guess it must be since
so many people use it. I think I'm going to cut down my L hedge.
Trouble is, I have no-where to have a bonfire.

Anyone got any clever suggestions for getting rid of about one ton of
conifer cheaply? Does anyone pay money for such stuff - or at least,
take it away F.O.C.?

Cheers,

Frank