hiding a privet hedge

Hello

I'm an enthusiastic but not very inexperienced gardener with children and work competing for time and attention with my small garden in Glasgow. The garden is at the end of a back lane (Scottish/northern posters will know what I mean) and is very overlooked. There are privet hedges which I don't like - there's not enough aesthetic return on the maintenance. The neighbours don't want them pulled out (fair enough) so I wondered if I could grow anything through or against them. I was also thinking of putting in a couple of narrow trees that won't grow too tall - say 10 - 12 feet. I've heard that eucalyptus can be kept short by trimming - any other suggestions?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and learning a lot more about gardens and plants.

Morna

 

Hi welcome on board Morna.

Im not a fan of privet either, maybe a fence up against it then plant in front of that?

 

Welcome to G.c Morna,make yourself at home

 

to the forum Morna. I know where you are coming from I'm not a huge fan of privet hedges either but that's just because all three of our gardens are surrounded by it and it takes a fair amount of work keeping it in trim thank goodness for electric hedge cutters! I'm sure some kind person can help you out although I'm not sure how sorry.Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Morna.

Apart from the fencing idea already mentioned...how high do you want to grow something?

As an alternative or additional to the fencing..Holly can make a very nice high hedge...(good for Christmas as well) but will take time to grow obviously. But it will survive amongst privet as it is just as greedy.

Is there any chance you could get your neighbours to allow some privet to be removed and indispersed with holly. Might be worth a try? In the previous house I was in for 25 years, my neighbour and I came to that agreement...but as I only had a neighbour on one side there weren't many problems.

Best of luck.:thumb:

 

Hi Morna!

Welcome to GC.

I actually like privet hedge! When it is trimmed neatly I think it looks great and birds love it to nest in! I would worry about planting anything else too close to your existing hedge as privet takes up so much nutrition from the ground, other things can become a bit deficient on nutrients and water, to their detriment.

I guess at the end of the day, your boundary is your property, if you own your own home, and if you were to feel strongly enough about wanting to change it, you should have the right to be able to - a nice decorative fence with scented climbers wouldn't take too long to get established, and you never know, you may even entice your neighbours to break away from privet and do the same!

Good Luck with it anyway

Kath

 

I love my privet, not many of them left down our road now. :(

 

Welcome to g c Morna.