This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
need-a-similar-but-bigger-plan-to-pinus-mugo-minikin-dwarf-mountain-pine
I am looking for a plant to put next to my toddlers football goal. I need it to be hardy (for when the ball misses the goal!) and I also want it to grow to 1 metre rather quickly. I love the look of the Pinus mugo 'Minikin' Dwarf Mountain Pine quite modern looking. But I think it will take too long to grow to 1 metre high. Any other suggestions? BTW, I am a complete newbie gardener (have just bought our first ever house with a garden).
0
Posts
I should also say that we now have a kitten, so I need cat-friendly plants.
Hi scgh. Unfortunately it's the age old request- something that'll grow quickly but suddenly stop at a desired height! You'll probably better to get something which will grow at a decent rate but will then need to be pruned or trimmed to keep to the height you want. Laurels will take anything thrown at them but put on a lot of growth once established. They're often used for hedging and can get to a huge height but you can keep it chopped back to a metre quite easily. Eucalyptus is very fast growing so you'd definitely need to hack it back a good bit every year but it benefits from that as it helps it retain it's blue/grey foliage. It's not always hardy in certain conditions, but if it's a warmer area you're in and the site has a bit of shelter you should have no problem. If you google these you'll get some extra info. Both are easy to obtain as well.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Certainly Pinus mugo would not take the sort of hammering a football would give and, the small versions of it a slow growing. That actually is the whole point of them
Another tough old shrub is Lonicera nitida, in various forms. Ours is kept as a 1 metre high hedge and it needs trimming only once a year.