boundary hedge row

I am sick of a neighbour parking their huge sprinter van right outside my house. Parking in the street is tight, he can't leave it at work and is parking legally. So while it's incredibly rude on his part, I don't want to be the moany neighbour when it comes to parking. This has been a problem for about 2 years so I planted some young, roughly 30-40cm high fern type plants, expecting them to take about a year to grow to the height of the wall, then speed up as the wall is south facing so blocking a lot of their direct light, they would then be great at blocking the view of the van and replace it with something prettier.

I'm not sure what species they are, I've long since lost the tags, but now 2 years later they are very thin and I'd be surprised if they were more than 10cm taller than when they were planted.

So I'm considering digging them up, maybe moving them to the back of the back garden where they can get more sun, and replacing them with something more mature. Something taller than the wall to start with.

The question is what and how many?

I found these cytisus battandieri which look quite nice
Cytisus battandieri Yellow Tail | Buy Pineapple Broom Trees!

Can anyone suggest anything?

this is what I'm working with, I haven't measured, but the wall is roughly 1m tall, and about 3-4m wide.

 

How about more individual shrubs...much as you already have on the other wall anth85?
Choisya? Aromatic evergreen with scented white flowers in spring and early summer. Grows quite quickly, easily pruned to shape and looks great.
Pittosporums? Fast growing attractive evergreens. Garnettii has grey variegated leaves but there are several different varieties.
Golden privet? Don’t despise this because it’s a privet. This is a delightful yellow evergreen.
Hebes like salicifolia are handsome shrubs with white flowers...some with red or blue flowers.
Berberis Darwinii is another handsome evergreen ....orange flowers in spring.
Euonymus japonica, evergreen with yellow and green leaves

 

that's very helpful thanks, i particularly like the look of the Berberis Darwinii, would just like to find one that is a bit more mature, they seem to be mostly sold online at about 30-40cm. I'd rather pay a bit more and get them a bit taller

 

Hi,

To add to @Verduns wide selection you could try Red Robin , fast tall grower that can be trained to size.

Would avoid Berberis on a pavement boundary as they have evil thorns that can easily catch kids and adults.

I would also test the ph of the soil as the problem may be too much lime leaching from the newish (?) wall ?

 

ill look at doing that, the wall it circa 5-6 years old, it was built before i moved in and I can only go off the different years the google streetview car went round.

 

Looks like you already have Red Robin anth85.
Yes berberis Darwinii is a but prickly....not really thorny though I think. I have one on a boundary and trim it every year after flowering....recently done...and it is fine
Best to visit a garden centre to judge for yourself and you should be able to locate a specimen about 3’ tall at least.

 

For reference, this is what I am dealing with. It is the view from the front window. The lawn is looking the way it is because it was scarified 2 days ago.

 

I cant remember what those on the side wall were either, it may just be red robin. I would prefer something a bit different to that's red leaves to give a bit variety. If the leaves of the berberis darwinii are a bit prickly I think I'd rather rule it out, there are plenty of kids in the street, I don't want to be blamed for any of them going back home in tears. I do like the idea of a smooth green evergreen with some bright seasonal flowering and/or (pet-friendly) berries.

 

I can see your dilemma anth85.
Why not treat yourself to a visit at the garden centre? See what they have there. Not evergreen but a buddleia Davidii is a fast grower. Prune it every year in autumn or early spring and it will grow to 6 to 8’ with lots of butterfly-attracting flowers.
Respect to you for not wanting confrontation with your neighbour but many of us would have a word with him about parking his van in front of your property. Take your photo with you...you may be surprised, he may park elsewhere

 

thanks, ill have a pop to a couple next weekend, I'm over the isle of man this weekend. I once asked him if he could pull the van back a couple of feet since he parks right on top of our dropped curve. It is a culdesac so it's only a left turn out to leave and its very tight to turn left out with it there. The van is so big there is not enough space behind for another car to park so it would have made no difference to him, or anyone else. I got a load of moaning that we can get out other ways, meaning turning right, then 3 point turning at the end of the road, all so he can be a couple of feet closer to his house. I thought from that point on anymore mention of it will just cause tensions and parking just isn't worth it. I'll just plant something pretty to look at instead.

 

Ok anth85.....good luck. I’m sure you will find something suitable at the gc

 

Cytisus battandieri is a lovely plant but I found grows a bit tall and scraggy - I had one growing as a tree and although the foliage is silvery, there is not a lot of it. Gorgeous scent from the flowers. Where are you @anth85? It was OK in Nottinghamshire but is supposed to be a bit on the tender side. So if you are further north it might be a bit iffy. How about cotoneaster eg the simonsii variety? Decent evergreen foliage, white flowers, nice berries, decently dense.
I would second @Verdun about the choisya - a lovely plant.

 

Plants aside @anth85. What is parked in front of the van owners home? If it's a car he owns perhaps you can ask him nicely to swap them round, so the view isn't quite so intrusive.

 

because the street is narrow, there is an unwritten rule that everyone parks on the same side which makes total sense for getting delivery/ waste vans up and down. The van owner is over the road and down one, so park their car on their drive. The van ends up as far up the street as he can get where there is a double spot. As we only have 1 car it always goes on the drive, so if my neighbour is out he ends up in front of ours. Most other houses, have multiple, including the one opposite his who have 4 (two on the drive) it would make the sense for him to put it so he can almost never get in there. Hence it's in front of mine pretty often. As I say it's parked perfectly legally, so other than being a moany neighbour I have little reason to pursue anything.

Sunderland, really close to the sea too so the salty sea air probably has an impact.

 

Close to the sea here too anth85.....a stones throw! However a walled garden mitigates the weather.
Griselinia, Olearia, Senecio to name but three thrive in salty air. The already mentioned choisya too does well here as do the pittosporums. All these thrive in a friend’s open garden overlooking St. Michaels Mount