Hedge

Hello fellow gardeners. I am out on the look for a quick growing hedge which will also be dense enough so no-one can see through it.
This is a project for my sister. She is VERY overlooked in her back garden. 1 of her neighbours has started building decking which when they stand on it, can see over their fence. I have mentioned lleylandis and other hedges but she isn't interested in lleylandis. So any suggestions for a quick growing hedge that will reach 6 feet in height.
Thanks.

 

Elaeagnus x ebbingei
Laurel
Portuguese Laurel
Viburnum Tinus
Osmanthus burkwoodii

Or a mixture of the above to add more interest.

Obviously the bigger the plants you buy, the quicker they'll reach the desired height.

Hope this helps

 

Hornbeam and Beech.

 

Bit transparent in winter?

The only way to get height, quickly, is to buy tall plants. Costs money, and they won't grow much in the first year whilst they get established.

I like Thuja plicata atrovirens - grows quickly, clips to a nice dense hedge, so like Leylandii in that respect, but unlike leylandii can usually be cut back to old wood if you are unable to trim it one year, and doesn't suffer from the Cupressus bug that makes Leylandii go brown (and then die)

If you want to buy tall hedging plants I suspect you will be limited on what varieties are generally grown for sale as "tall plants" (sure, you probably can buy anything, but probably not affordably).

Alternative is a pleached hedge - trees shaped to be a hedge-on-stilts. Useful if you want something that is above a fence, say, and still allows planting at the base.

For a quick solution you need a 6-foot lap-larch fence, and if you need more than 6 feet tall put some trellis on top and train a climber along it - such as Clematis armandii which is evergreen, and usually dense (it can be knocked back by a cold winter though, I think)

 

I have a neighbour that planted laurel 2 years ago. It's now 6' and quite thick.
The saplings were about 3' tall when planted and placed about 18" apart - don't know how much it cost (about 60' total length) but it's effective.

 

Interesting answers. I would really like to be shut of the leyandi I inherited with this house. My first problem would be the amount of tree waste that would need taken away. Could be expensive! Then these beasts have massive roots and there is no way I could dig them out so planting new hedging would be difficult. I like the sound of laurel. Seems my only answer would be to put up fencing !!!
gazania

 

Gazania, when Leylandii is cut down there will be no re-growth and the roots will eventually die. My neighbour removed his hedge last autumn after causing damage to my drains twice and my house foundations. He left the stumps in and I grew Hebe's from cuttings for a less invasive hedge. They look a bit scruffy in the second picture below, but I have pruned them and they have filled out now and put on top growth, they are now hiding the stumps which will eventually rot down.

 

Hi Sheal, I'm impressed with you growing a hedge from cuttings, blimey !
On a positive note, I suppose, is my hedge is half that height, and where you have that wooden fence, I have a wall about the same height. This wall is on the opposite side to the hedge that faces the house. In theory I suppose I only have to build a fence starting at the wall height ? I do prefer a natural hedge though.
Thanks for the ideas.
gazania

 

Thanks for the compliment Gazania, but Hebe's are really easy to get started as cuttings. I've got five under way at the moment as a few of the plants in this new hedge will probably have to be replaced, they've become to straggly.

Go for the hedge Gazania it's much better on the eye. :WINK1: By the way the original hedge was fourteen feet high and had become impossible for me to look after my side.

 

My dad has grown a few willow 'fedges' over the years. They grow very rapidly, but are easy to control. Being deciduous though they are a bit bare in winter.

 

Clueless, do the willow 'fedges' have a root spread like other willows though?

My neighbour was happy for me to grow Hebe as there is one already in the garden that I took the cuttings from, so a cheap replacement. Plus, we needed something evergreen as my kitchen window is opposite my neighbours living room window.

 

I'm not sure, but they've never posed a problem for my dad. I think it comes down to the type of willow, and the maintenance plan. My dad uses the hybrid stuff bred for its speed of growth, straight vertical growth, and flexibility. Whenever it gets too tall, its gets a hair cut, and when the base of the stems gets more than a couple of inches thick, that stem gets cut right down. That way the 'fedge' is always made up of flexible young stems.

At his last house, he had them in the back garden. At the foot of them he had lots of flowers, so clearly the ground was ok. Next doors had lots of flowers too so it wasn't bothering theirs. This is despite the willow having been established maybe 10 years. He also has it all around his allotment, where its been for much longer, without affecting anything.

I think the thing is to not let it get out of control. Willow does grow into a massive tree, but with a bit of maintenance I think it can be kept under control. At least I hope so, I've 'built' the lad a house out of the stuff in the back garden

 

Thanks Clueless. I've not seen it before, would you have a picture of it please in 'hedge' form.