A Hedging Question

 


Hi

We want to plant a hedge that will be 10ft high and 50ft long, all we
can find
are horror stories about leylandii!

Can anyone recommend an alternative? we need instant height!

Thanks




--
argonex

 


I have these magic beans... fee, fi, fo, fum... I smell the blood of
an Englishman.

The Giant

 

argonex wrote:

 So it seems you want hedging shrubs/trees that will grow very quickly and
thickly and stop at 10ft and will not require constant maintenance after
that.

Hedging plants have different rates of growth and probable ultimate sizes.
Their growth slows down as they get towards their ultimate size.  So initial
growth rates being equal if choose one that will max out at 10ft it will not
get that high as quickly as one that will max out at 20ft.  And of course
the max height cannot be known precisely because your local conditions may
mean it reaches more or less than the usual height left to its own devices.
You can see this in some hedges where one end always grows taller than the
other due to better soil, more water or whatever.

The horror stories are because (like you) people want something instantly so
they choose leylandii because it grows fast.  The trouble is that when it
reaches the required height it doesn't magically stop, in good conditions
its ultimate height is much more than 10ft.  You are then in for a lifetime
of frequent pruning to keep it under control.  The more constrained your
space is and the more sensitive your neighbours are and the more neatness
you require the more this will become a problem.

OTOH if you want something that is easier to manage it will not get to the
height you want as quickly and if it nearing its maximum it may look uneven
as some plants do better than others and perhaps the tops don't bush out
enough to fill in all the space.

TANSTAAFL

David

 



Agreed, but...

Any 10 foot hedge requires a lot of maintenance.
Boxwood reaches about 10 feet but if you don't prune it to shape
it thins at the bottom and bulges at the top.

You need a 10ft ladder and a hedge trimmer with a long blade.

Better to move if the neighbors are that bad.

 

On Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:37:57 -0400, despen@verizon.net wrote:


Any height hedge requires constant maintenence, whether two feet high
or twenty feet high.  The only hedge I know of that requires no
trimming and will still look good is Canadian hemlock... of course it
can benefit from shearing if one likes that more dense/formal habit
but will do fine left to its own devices... it will grow to about 20+
feet but can be lopped off to any height... I'd leave them to grow
naturally.


Anytime one needs a hedge to block out neighbors they'd do much better
to erect a strong wall... moving isn't always an option or a good
solution, the devil you get can be far worse.  My experience is that
people who find they need to build something to block out the neighbor
are more likely the ones who are the problem.