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Any suggestions..?

turmericturmeric Posts: 830
in Plants
Hello everyone.  My mum wants to try to hide a trampoline in next-door's garden so we're trying to think of a suitable plant to put into her border.  She wants something evergreen (it'll need to reach about 6ft eventually to hide the trampoline), preferably pale green leaves rather than dark green so it lightens things up.  The problem is the soil is saturated in that border for some reason but dries out completely over the summer.  She's just lost a photinia which she thinks was too wet at the roots.  We think this is because next door have paved over their side of the garden and the rainwater is running off into my mum's garden but that's just the way things are.  The border is only about 2ft deep.  She's happy to put the plant in a very large pot on top of the soil if that helps to keep it away from the wet soil below.  Any suggestions anyone?  Many thanks. turmeric

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  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    Not sure how it would deal with the soil moisture but the pale leaf requirement made me think of Choisya ternata variety sundance. I have a couple growing near our waste water percolation area and they are doing well and have not suffered from getting some additional water.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Strangely enough my mum had choisya on her list of possibilities (it's a very short list of two plants and the other is neither evergreen nor suitable).  She can only get hold of them at about 2ft high though and it will take years to reach 6 or 7 feet to hide the trampoline I think.  I have two in my garden and they've grown about a foot in a year.  Also they tend to grow into a roundish shape so keeping it around 2ft deep but 6-7ft high seems to go against its natural habit.  But maybe we'll think again about them.  Thanks for the suggestion. 
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    Most evergreen shrubs are going to take some time to reach 6 foot by which time the trampoline may have gone. 

    Some of the faster growing are often sold as hedging plants, so maybe have a look at those for some ideas?

    I also wouldn’t discount deciduous shrubs, these are usually faster growing than evergreens and even if they drop their leaves some can still be dense enough to act as screening.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    All brilliant points Butterfly66, thank you.  I did talk to my mum about deciduous plants because it would open up so many other options too and I agree about the length of time it takes a small shrub to reach an adequate height.  I also mentioned looking at standards (photinia, viburnum 'Eve Tinus' even Prunus angustifolia) but she didn't seem keen.  Mothers eh?   :/ (As a mother too, in my fifties, I can say that with tongue in cheek!).
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Looking out of the upstairs window along the gardens, there are many disused trampolines. They rarely get used the summer either.
    Children soon get fed up of outgrow toys. 
    By the time the shrubs have grown to a useful height the trampoline probably won't be an issue.

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    This will love your wet soil, and the leaves are a bright green.
    https://www.hillier.co.uk/garden-and-home-ideas/chelsea-2018-hydrangea-aspera-gold-rush/
    Sunny Dundee
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    What about one of the well behaved bamboos?
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Thanks B3 :)
    Balgay.Hill, beautiful suggestion but it would really struggle with the in the summer when the rain run-off disappears and the soil drys out completely unless she keeps watering constantly.  Gorgeous plant though, thank you.
    Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and suggestions.  Have a great Sunday.
    turmeric  :)

  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Sorry Balgay, that should have said "struggle with the dryness in the summer"!
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Do you know Mary, that's what I've been looking at this morning.  My mum originally mentioned them but I didn't think they were in keeping with her style of gardening (tidy, neat, orderly shrubs well-spaced, very traditional plants) but I'm beginning to think that if she likes bamboo it would certainly tick a lot of boxes.
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