Evening all, Conifer hedge help needed.

Good evening all,

I'm having issues, the picture is of our conifer hedge sat on top of a 6ft wall (south facing). Due to the cold winter, the red plant thing has died and so has to be removed and the green thing is about dead (both within the white lines), is there a all year plant (ideally with colour). They can fill these gaps.

Also a smaller plant to plant below the hedge to add about of colour, again ideally all year round.

Kind regards
James

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner James.

Is the picture an old one as the plants you speak of still look as if they're alive? It would also be helpful please if you could provide close up shots of the plants for us to identify and advise you on.

 

Yeah it's about a month old, the red plant suddenly lost all colour and started to rot (I assume a disease) it was removed by pretty much pulling, all rotten.

The green plant is now just bare wood sticks, so not sure anybody will be able to guess what it is.

Kind regards
James

 

To check whether the 'green' plant is still alive, scratch a little of the bark away on a couple of branches. If it shows green, then it's still alive and may start to recover this coming Spring.

Conifers sap the soil of nutrients and water and could be the reason the other two plants have suffered. Anything newly planted between them could suffer the same way.

Hebe's are evergreen and will provide flowers at various times of the year although they aren't considered to be a plant that blooms all year round. In fact I can't think of any plant that does flower all year round.

 

Should the two plants in question have actually be there as it looks like a conifer hedge and these have seeded themselves in there or were there when the hedge was planted.

 

The picture looks like more than a month old to me. A month ago would be around new year, but the picture looks like summer time - there are some plants in full flower in the foreground and the deciduous trees in the background are full of leaves.

I don't think the two plants you're enquiring about were originally intended to be be part of the hedge. Did you put them there or were they in situ when you moved into the property ? You can't get much to grow in between conifers.

You may be better off putting some creeping plants on top of the wall, that may tumble down over it, something like Aubretia maybe. They flower in spring and early summer. There isn't anything that flowers all year round.
You can get some variegated creepers that would provide year-round interest.

The way the wall faces will effect any plants growing there too. North facing will get mostly shade. South facing will bake in summer time.

 

The house is 300plus years old and so I can anly assume this hedge has been around for a good few years. The plants in question were here when we moved in.

When I took the red plant out, there was no green left, it was all hollow and dead. I will post a picture of the hole left, can I plant another conifer in the gap to grow?

What about plants in small buckets? I'm just looking for something to add abit of colour/texture to a borrowimg row of same conifer. Can you mix and match summer/winter climbers so colour all year round?

 

And yes that picture was probably more than a month ago. Can't remember exactly when it was taken

 

The hedge doesn't look very old, it's probably a Cypress called Leylandii. An old hedge would have been made with Privet.
I don't know if a new conifer would grow in the gap, I don't know much about them. Maybe someone with more knowledge than me about conifers can answer you.

Annuals in pots or troughs, or even small buckets as you suggest (which would need drainage holes in their bases) is a thought but there doesn't seem to be much room for them on top of the wall. You may be able to fix some brackets there to hold them, or something.
As for climbers, I don't think you'll get anything to climb through conifers.

Personally I would get rid of the hedge. It's ugly and really doesn't suit the old wall it's on top of. Why do you need it ? If it's for privacy, the wall is rather high so I don't think many people would be able to see what's beyond it.
If you must have something there a variety of different shrubs would be better, but not conifers.

 

I agree with Michael about the hedge, but that's my personal opinion.
The hedge is probably not that old.
As for the two plants in question, I'm just wondering if the "red thing" was a climber or something similar that disappears in a cold winter and could the "green thing" be a deciduous or semi deciduous shrub that will reshoot in spring. Do you have good photos of the plants in question from the summer? Also your location in the country would be useful.
As for planting a new conifer in the existing hedge it may well not do well.
It looks as if you already have aubretia, Mexican flea bane or something similar growing from the top of the wall.
Yes you could plant climbers to bring a bit of colour, Eccremocarpus scaber (Chilean Glory Flower, orange red), Tropaeolum speciosum (Flame nasturtium, red), Everlasting sweet peas, annual sweet peas, Dactylicapnos scandens (yellow). Most of these will require planting in pots/tubs behind the hedge and require watering and feeding, the tropeolum may grow in the soil at the base of the hedge, the eccremocarpus may self seed into the ground, but initially I would grow in a large pot.

 

These are current pictures. The hole is where the red plant was and the bare wood is where the different colour green is.

The top of the wall is our garden so need to have some hedge to stop people seeing in.

 

where abouts in the country are you jblakes ? Its a tricky spot to plant up . I'd have a look at Ceanothus Repens its evergreen and will tolorate the poor conditions, Cistus purpurea / others are a possibility. A trailing rosemary ( rosmarines prostrates ) will look nice in smaller gaps . A choyisa may take and euonymus fortunei. Cytisus variety's also a possibility. Not a lot of plants will like butting upto the conifer and nether will the conifer hence why they are gaps now tin the hedge where the other plants have died.

That ash tree sapling wants removing as well , you'll probably have to poison it when it shoots from the base after cutting it back.

 

Cheers I will have a look at them plants stated. The wall gets sun in the morning till about 12ish then will be shaded, so hopefully something can grow. I'm in Derbyshir
kind regards
James

 

I suggest Taxus Baccata, the Yew, might be introduced into the gaps and although it is slow growing, it can be shaped to fit.