Advice please newbie...Evergreen hedging/plants for screening

Hi everyone,

I would like to know what would be an ideal hedge/tree for blocking out a side view.
Wood Trellis is not an option.My front driveway is paved so something with non invasive root system and does not grow too tall maybe 6-7 ft.I am end of terrace house which is north facing(so no sun) and on clay soil.I do not mind pruning.The length I am trying of cover is around 4 metre long.

Research points out to these but would like a second opinion please.

1.Red Robin (Photinia)
2 .Cherry Laurel
3.Fatsia Japonica
4.Pyracantha
5. 5-6 cordylines

I would ideally like to put them in ground but do not mind containers as long as they keep in with character and do not look ugly.

Thank you for your help.

 

Hello and welcome

A couple more ideas for you to consider.

* Bamboo - needs a good rich compost though. Might struggle on clay unless you can enrich it with a load of manure or something. Doesn't need too much sun so will be fine in a north facing spot. Needs plenty of water though.

* Currants (possibly including the flowering currant). Not evergreen through, but they green up quite early in the year.

* Lemon Cypress. I really love these. They also have a slight lemony scent when you brush past them. I don't know what conditions they prefer though, and I'm not sure if they are as much of a nuisance as some other conifers.

* Broom (Cytisus). The native one is alright, but there are lots of cultivars with much more vivid flowers.

 

Thanks for your input.

Can bamboo be grown in containers indefinitely or will they need to go in soil at some stage.If i was to buy huge trough like (1 metre long) will this suffice.

 

Thanks wiseowl.Does this have invasive roots or will it be trouble later to house foundations or block paving, if it was allowed to grow around 5-6 ft and maintained at that height.

 

My one has been in a massive bucket thing for over a year, and it is doing better there than it was when it was straight in the soil, the soil being largely clay. I haven't had mine long enough to say whether it will thrive long term in the container though, but lots of people seem to grow it in containers. I expect its just the usual situation, keep it fed and mulched so that the compost its in doesn't run out of nutrients or lose its structure.

 

Great, Panda and Sparrow it is then.I will try to see what is the deepest trough i can get.
Thanks guys for your suggestions.

 

good old privet

 

One thing to consider is the time it will take to grow to the height you want (and whether you are in a hurry - e.g. to block an unsightly view / nosey neighbour). You can buy semi-mature hedging plants, but they usually stand still after planting for a year or two, so you gain the planting-height immediately, but after 3 years smaller (and much cheaper!) plants would have caught up.

Bamboo is faster on that count as it will be 6' - 7' from Year One, it just won't be as thick as in subsequent years. An option might be to container-ise twice as many as you need and sell half of them on eBay after a couple of years. You will probably only get your money back, rather thank making enough profit to pay for the other half! but you would have the "free" benefit of a thicker hedge from day one.

 

I have a driveway down the full length of my house where I've got a load of shrubs in planters to provide screening. This was a pic taken in spring last year, but I've revamped it now and even have a couple of trees in large planters.



You will need to either buy large plants or something fast growing. The most vigorous are Elaeagnus x ebbingei which are now higher than the fence but can look untidy if you don't prune them.

What you grow depends on how wide a space you've got. I started off with just Elaeagnus (see below) but mixed them up over time and now use mine the same way I would a border, so screening plants at the back and then smaller plants such as Dahlias and other summer flowering plants in front so soften the look.




You can see from the first pic how much the Elaeagnus have grown in two years. You'll need quite large planters and every few years you'll need to either pot them into larger containers or else root prune and put back into the same containers.

I've now got a mix of plants which range from sun loving to shade tolerant as the drive at the top is south facing, but runs down the side of the house which is shady most of the day. The top part, where I need the sceening has Elaeagnus x ebbingei, Cherry Laurel, Portuguese Laurel, Osmanthus x burkwoodii, Arbutus Unedo and a couple of deciduous trees (crab apple and cherry).

For shade I would recommend the Elaeagnus, Photinia or one of the Laurels. You could also try Aucuba Japonica (spotted Laurel).

Of course if you just want a formal hedge effect, then just buy plants of one type and prune to shape. If you want to keep them in character, then just buy suitable planters which will fit in with the look you want.You could also put them in plastic planters and then build a wooden box around the base to create a look like this:



Or you could have half standard shrubs so you have screening at the top and then plant annuals around the base to give more interest, but which wouldn't take up much root space.

 

Oh dear - rookie error by newbie - replying to a thread that is 10 years old!!!

I'm no expert on this but when I was looking into hedging on the old Gardeners World website, several people recommended hornbeam and beech - pretty fast growing but easy to control. I believe they do keep leaves all year though technically not evergreen. And have the advantage of not being too deep - so they don't take up as much space. Might be worth looking at. Of course, I'm sure there are some gotchas on those ideas.

Regarding the list you have - I had a stab at pyracantha and found it was taking ages to get any density so I gave up. I bought mixed colours and had very high hopes. So was very sad about that. Also, they were so prickly to keep pruned as well that even with gloves I ended up with scratches on my arms. I've seen some beautiful looking pyracantha hedges and would love to have one delivered 'ready grown'! I also had a bash with photonia, though not as a hedge - shrub version and then ornamental tree version. The shrub version died within a year - leaves blacked and then fell off. Despite a lot of care. The tree version is still surviving 2 years on though. However the leaves don't look great. And they have yet to fill out. I've been eyeing up other photinia in the neighbourhood and noticed a couple of cases of very nice hedging but I've seen even more examples where the leaves are in bad shape and are not very dense. Not that you won't have more success.

Lots of people advised me against cherry laurel as it can take over. This seems to be a common view - my mum even thinks that. But my next door neighbour has a beautiful cherry laurel hedge and it always looks neat... they cut it a couple of times a year to keep it in check and the leaves haven't grown too big and it has a good density. That said, it is VERY deep - several feet. Though I'm sure it can be cut smaller if needed. They just happen to have the space.

 

Hi Carrie

great reply but this post is dated 2014

 

Haha! just noticed that. Thank you. I think I saw the '4' and assumed it was this year!!! so funny. newbie error. but it's now there for posterity should anyone be searching for advice!

 

the hedge should be huge by now