Topic: hedge help

[nitiram]

I want to plant a tall hedge along my border with the sadly neglected lottie next to mine..as it is 82ft long it will take some planting!!

Suggestions please as to what to plant. Don't fancy the old fashioned privet even though it does grow pretty fast. I have  a hankering for a row of rustling bamboos, but would need a non invasive type and am not sure if these would actually be allowed on the lottie. Or I could put up a row of bamboo canes and train some climbers through, they would soon  thicken up, but would need something evergreen and bird and insect friendly???  Help

[flowerlady]

Have you got enough room for a pyracantha?

I know there will be howls of protest from some beacuse of the thorns ....  I have to scars to proove it !!

but I have a hedge in my tiny garden, it grows really fast, there are flowers in spring, berries in autumn, and the birds LOVE it, constantly have at least three families in there nesting. ;D

these days the berries come in at least three colours, so when planted alternately it looks great  ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

My hedges are mainly hawthorn with quite a lot of privet and bitsof dog rose, lilac, elder, hazel, and anything else which people have used to fill gaps.

[nitiram]

A few other gardners have suggested pyracantha...can I take cuttings from the one I have at home do you think?

[Val]

I've seen a pyracantha hedge in the autumn with different coloured berries, I had to stop and look, it was beautiful, the sun was shining on the berries, it gave a real glow.cuttings are easy to take, all I did was snip some off and push it in the ground, but I'm sure others will tell you a way thats better. go for it.

[campanula]

this is absolutely the time of year for using free hardwood cuttings - you could grow a cordon of redcurrants for nothing if you can scrounge enough prunings.  You can certainly go for native hedging like hawthorn and beech - I have done enough lavender cuttings to grow a lavender hedge down one side of my plot - cost nothing but takes about 2 seasons.

[beejay]

Does it need to be evergreen? If not you could put up supports & use them to grow lots of soft fruit, either the cane fruits or gooseberries, redcurrants, whitecurrant, apples etc on cordons so you have a productive hedge.

[Mrs Ava]

The hedge along the lane that runs along one side of our allotment is pretty wild, but it is also pretty and always buzzing with wildlife.  Wild roses, greengage, sloes, elder, hawthorn and so on.  Plus the brambles wind their way through, so the fruits are amazing.

Don't think Bamboo is terribly wildlife friendly, unless you have a family of pandas that are hungry.

[jennym]

I agree with the posts on native plants for hedging and also using it productively. In fact, these posts have given me food for thought.
There isn't an effective hedge at the front of our site, so I'm going to bung in a load of cuttings over the next few weeks and hopefully some will take. I'm going to concentrate on sloe, wild roses, wild plum, hawthorn, hazel and elderberry. Should get some pickings in future years!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I got some green goo from Halfords which went inside my wheelbarrow tyre; I haven't had a puncture since. I used to be OK till my old barrow got nicked, but the new one had a thin-walled tyre which couldn't just soak up the thorns like my original one. It was a real pain till I found the goo; I imagine any decent cycle shop will have it.

[telboy]

Back to the original Nitiram.

I understand your predicament, but why don't you just spray the offending plot(?) next to yours & then you won't have any future maintenance probs?

Not a green issue, but cheaper & easier in the long run.