Posted by jones on March 4, 2007, 4:37 am
Between the side of our house and ours/neighbours side fence we have a
walkway 5 feet wide. Side of house faces north.
Beside the paling fence I have approx 18 inches of soil with various untidy
plants. What I would like to know is what I can plant there to replace what
I have and doesn't need much looking after, e.g. a narrow hedge that I can
keep trimmed, but need it to grow 5-6 feet high, no higher as I cannot reach
further up.
My problem also is that I don't want something that will end up making the
walkway only 2 feet wide. Would something like Murraya Paniculata do for
there?
Thank you for any help given.
Katherine
Posted by Chookie on March 5, 2007, 2:55 am
> My problem also is that I don't want something that will end up making the
> walkway only 2 feet wide. Would something like Murraya Paniculata do for
> there?
Not if you live in Sydney or further north. It is a very aggressive plant
here -- I've seen one Murraya paniculata at least 6m high in Petersham. The
scent is quite cloying too IMHO -- do you *like* it?
I assume that the paling fence means the garden bed is shaded. I would choose
Heavenly Bamboo -- Nandina domestica. It's not a bamboo at all, but has a
similar leaf shape on a smaller scale. It's pretty with or without its
flowers and berries, without screaming "Look at moi!" all the time. Tough
too, without being weedy. Here are some pictures, but they don't do it
justice:
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/brb/nandina_domestica.htm
You could underplant with violets, or possibly mints, for a pleasant shaded
garden.
--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
Posted by Chookie on March 7, 2007, 3:17 am
> Chookie, I note that in this post and a later one you say that 'Nandina
> domestica' is not weedy or aggressive.
>
> I'd have to disagree strongly with that based on personal experience. It is
> a garden thug and once established spreads strongly and it will certainly
> spread under the fence into the next door neighbour's place. I've found it
> can't be killed with anything that I've yet tried on it.
Oops -- in that case, I take it back. I have grown it myself and found it
seemed quite slow and didn't sucker that readily, so perhaps it's slow the
first few years or something.
> I had thought of Potato vine, which although it will grow like the clappers
> and reduce the path to less than 2 ft, is tough, takes pruning very well and
> in fact produces far more flowers if cut back hard. It could also be
> trained up the fence on diagonal wires which would give a good frame to cut
> back to and would result in a good look from soon after planting.
Ooh yes -- I like potato vine (blue rather than white). Pandorea would look
nice too, but it tends to flower on the sunny side of the fence.
--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
Posted by FarmI on March 7, 2007, 6:05 am
>> Chookie, I note that in this post and a later one you say that 'Nandina
>> domestica' is not weedy or aggressive.
>>
>> I'd have to disagree strongly with that based on personal experience. It
>> is
>> a garden thug and once established spreads strongly and it will certainly
>> spread under the fence into the next door neighbour's place. I've found
>> it
>> can't be killed with anything that I've yet tried on it.
> Oops -- in that case, I take it back. I have grown it myself and found it
> seemed quite slow and didn't sucker that readily, so perhaps it's slow the
> first few years or something.
Could be. Mine must be at least 20 years old and the bane of my life.
>> I had thought of Potato vine, which although it will grow like the
>> clappers
>> and reduce the path to less than 2 ft, is tough, takes pruning very well
>> and
>> in fact produces far more flowers if cut back hard. It could also be
>> trained up the fence on diagonal wires which would give a good frame to
>> cut
>> back to and would result in a good look from soon after planting.
> Ooh yes -- I like potato vine (blue rather than white).
I think both are drop dead gorgeous.
Pandorea would look
> nice too, but it tends to flower on the sunny side of the fence.
Lovely - wish I could grow it here.
Posted by FlowerGirl on March 10, 2007, 4:58 pm
> Chookie, I note that in this post and a later one you say that 'Nandina
> domestica' is not weedy or aggressive.
> I'd have to disagree strongly with that based on personal experience. It
is
> a garden thug and once established spreads strongly and it will certainly
> spread under the fence into the next door neighbour's place. I've found
it
> can't be killed with anything that I've yet tried on it. It loved
> glyphosate! but I couldn't give either of the clumps as strong or as
> thorough a dose as I'd like to have as they are growing near other plants.
> In one case it's growing up and around a very pretty mounding small piney
> thing (which normally I hate, but this one looks like Mt Fuji). Whenb I
hit
> the Nandina with the glyphosate, I covered the piney thing but event hen I
> nearly lost it and the Nandina just powered on. I am reduced to cutting
> these things off at the base monthly and the sodding stuff still comes
back
> strongly.
> To check whether my experience was because of living in a cold climate, I
> did a very quick google and found that Don Burke says that it's downside
is
> that it is an environmental weed
http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2004/archives/2004/in_the_garden3/flowering
_plants_and_shrubs/nandina__plant_of_the_week
Ahh well - then this is why I'm not into exotics. I also recant , although
I remember my brother had some that seemed very placid and dormant ... and
that was in Brisbane.
That being said we have some bamboo here which is clumping variety (Bambusa
oldhamii) - quite tall and compact - too tall for the OP, but some of the
other clumping varieties may be OK.
Amanda
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> walkway only 2 feet wide. Would something like Murraya Paniculata do for
> there?