How long a shade does a privet hedge cast?

 

My front garden, in Newcastle on tyne, faces due south, a pedestrian
footpath runs east-west along the front, then there is a privet hedge
my height, 6 ft, and 2 ft thick, which I don't want to cut down
because it allows me to leave the curtains undrawn.

I have planted various trees and shrubs 2 ft this side of it, but they
haven't done well.

In 3 years, a holly "J C Vantol" grew a bit , but lost all its leaves
and now obviously has to be pulled up. A Pieris Japonica further along
hasn't died, but it has hardly grown in 3 years.

Only now has the penny dropped that this is probably because of the
shade cast by the hedge - the rest of the garden seems reasonably
fertile.

So my questions to you are :-

* Am I right in thinking that the poor doing of these plants is
because they are so near the hedge on their south side?

* How far does the hedge's influence extend?

* What can I plant that will do well near to the hedge?

Michael Bell

--

 



I have the same problem and have found Hardy fuchsias do well in this
position along with summer bedding of Busy Lizzies or begonias. I have also
a very large Choisya Ternate Sundance, that I grew from a tiny pot plant,
that is now over 4 foot tall in the shade.

 



It *may* not only be shade.   I had a privet hedge on Thames Valley clay and
up to about a foot from the hedge the earth was always drier and less
fertile which I attributed, in part, to the hedge sucking away at the earth.

 

On Jun 13, 9:17 am, "Graham Harrison"

Yes, absolutely. Unless you have a large garden, you can't afford to
waste space with a hedge. Hardly anything's going to grow well within
several feet of it, they're hard work, boring and greedy of space and
nutrients. When we moved in here a year ago (after 40 odd years of
cutting hedges for other people) I got rid of all of ours (big
leylandii) and liberated a huge amount of extra space. The outside
boundaries are now fenced with trellis soon to be covered with
climbing roses, clematis, honeysuckle etc backed by mixed borders of
shrubs, old roses and herbaceous. This gives just as much privacy,
more enjoyable work and when everything's established your'e going to
smell it before you turn into our close.

Rod

 

michael@beaverbell.co.uk says...

It not the shade but the dry thats causing the problems
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea