Advice on plants in-front of conifer hedge

Posts

• Posy Posts: 3,601

  May 2022

  You will need more than a bit of a gap with a big, vigorous hedge like that because it will suck up all the water and nutrients. The roots will be much wider than the top growth. I would guess a minimum of 3ft but possibly much more - others will know. You also need to think about whether the light will be blocked.

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• Wild_Violet Posts: 221

  May 2022

  I’ve put some box balls and seasonal bulbs and hellebores in a shaded border in front of a chunk of huge leylandii hedging.  The bed never really dries out and the plants have been fine although it’s only been about four months so perhaps not long enough to tell.  I did dig in lots of compost and soil improver and make sure the area is hosed in dry weather. 

  
  

  I think you could plant any colour of flower that you like in front of the green hedge.  Maybe the comment about clashing was directed at if you put too many different colours into one border.   Can’t see any problem with doing that though if that’s what you want to do. 😊

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• Fire Posts: 19,096

  May 2022

  Quite a few old hands on the rose thread have had great success planting right in front of big conifer hedges. So it can be done, but would need the kind of care and attention they are giving their plants - sun, a lot of water and regular food.
  

  
  

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• Omori Posts: 1,674

  May 2022 edited May 2022

  The main thing to consider is how much care you intend to provide to the roses. 

  
  

  You can have thriving roses but you will need to amend the soil first, as it will be dry and depleted. And I mean really amend it…in terms of quantity, the amount of one of those big bulk bags of rich compost (something like 800L?), and work it in to the soil, for example with a mattock. It’s hard work but preparation is key to success.  

  
  

  There will be loads of roots to break up where you intend to plant the roses as well. The roses will be able to fight it out later once established, but initially, they can’t have competition right where they are growing. 

  
  

  And then they will need ongoing TLC in the form of regular watering during the growing season. Roses love water and there will be too much competition from the leylandii, so they will need deep supplemental watering. 

  
  

  Other than that I feed them the same as my other roses, which is to feed twice yearly (for example, Toprose, David Austin rose food, Wilko, loads of choices), and apply a very generous layer of well rotted horse manure every spring (several inches thick - don’t be stingy!). If you really want to pamper them, they love seaweed extract, that will help rejuvenate the soil. 

  
  

  The roses will grow away from the hedge so you don’t need a massive gap but you do need to leave enough space to access the hedge for trimming etc. 
  
  

  Here’s a small section but I have leylandii hedges wrapping the front of my garden and I’ve fully planted them up. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  So to sum up…
  
  - prepare the soil well beforehand
  
  - deep, regular supplemental water during the growing season
  
  - feed them well
  
  

  - amend the soil yearly
  
  Oh and yes, to echo the above poster, make sure that spot isn’t totally shaded by the hedge. 

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• Alfie_ Posts: 456

  May 2022

  Omori said:

  The main thing to consider is how much care you intend to provide to the roses. 

  
  

  You can have thriving roses but you will need to amend the soil first, as it will be dry and depleted. And I mean really amend it…in terms of quantity, the amount of one of those big bulk bags of rich compost (something like 800L?), and work it in to the soil, for example with a mattock. It’s hard work but preparation is key to success.  

  
  

  There will be loads of roots to break up where you intend to plant the roses as well. The roses will be able to fight it out later once established, but initially, they can’t have competition right where they are growing. 

  
  

  And then they will need ongoing TLC in the form of regular watering during the growing season. Roses love water and there will be too much competition from the leylandii, so they will need deep supplemental watering. 

  
  

  Other than that I feed them the same as my other roses, which is to feed twice yearly (for example, Toprose, David Austin rose food, Wilko, loads of choices), and apply a very generous layer of well rotted horse manure every spring (several inches thick - don’t be stingy!). If you really want to pamper them, they love seaweed extract, that will help rejuvenate the soil. 

  
  

  The roses will grow away from the hedge so you don’t need a massive gap but you do need to leave enough space to access the hedge for trimming etc. 
  
  

  Here’s a small section but I have leylandii hedges wrapping the front of my garden and I’ve fully planted them up. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  So to sum up…
  
  - prepare the soil well beforehand
  
  - deep, regular supplemental water during the growing season
  
  - feed them well
  
  

  - amend the soil yearly
  
  Oh and yes, to echo the above poster, make sure that spot isn’t totally shaded by the hedge. 

  Super informative reply; thank you for taking the time to do this. Your plants in-front of your hedge look great - tons of buds on those roses! So it’s not an issue if the rose did grow a bit taller than the bottom of that hedge? 

  
  

  There will be no issue with shade as it’s a west boundary so never casts a shadow in front of it. 

  
  

  I had a few questions:
  
  > what colour roses have you gone for in front of your hedge in that picture?
  > could you recommend some rough dimensions for the soil
  improvement. So if the hedge is 5m long what would you go for in terms of width of the strip and the also depth to dig down? 
  > could you recommend some soil improvers? For instance, would farmyard manure be good to work into the soil or is that more for a mulch on top afterwards. For example this stuff is cheap @ £22 for 4 bags:
  
  https://www.wickes.co.uk/Gro-Sure-Peat-Free-Farmyard-Manure---50L/p/132290?fix&gclid=CjwKCAjwp7eUBhBeEiwAZbHwkQPZI7WFXa_INSVDNEt025PUn2GLlY-MBUsdROQPbp1iVUmg-8H2hxoCDvwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
  
  Thanks 
  
  
  

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• Obelixx Posts: 30,090

  May 2022

  Don't forget you'll still need to get in and mow that hedge every year so I would suggest laying a path in front of it, minimum 2'/60cm wide but 3'/90cms might be better.  Then you'll have access to your hedge as well as the back of your new border for weeding and plant maintenance and mulching.  It could be a simple path using weed membrane and then bark chippings to keep down weeds so not expensive and it would be porous so allow water thru to the hedge roots.
  
  You can then improve the soil the other side of the path and then plant pretty much what you like depending one the alkalinity or acidity of your soil and how well it drains.  If the idea is to disguise the hedge you could even install trellis or tensioned wires between posts in order to train and support climbing roses, clematis, honeysuckle....  or you could plant a mix of shrubs, including roses and herbaceous perennials to give you year round colour and structure and maybe perfume.

  Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
  

  "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."

  Plato
  

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• Nollie Posts: 7,529

  May 2022

  I would echo all @Omori’sadvice.
  
  My hedge is much uglier, barer and scruffier than yours or Omori’s though so I erected a fence at the back of a raised bed in front of the hedge and left a metre gap behind the fence for access. The raised bed is between 15-30cm high (it’s on a slight slope) and 1.2m deep. Total length is about 11m. I also sunk a root barrier at the back of the fence, nothing fancy, just some timber boards sunk down about 30cm. All that means the roses can get a good head start and get their roots down deep before the conifer roots start to make inroads again. The fence and the depth of the bed did mean I had the opportunity to espalier climbing roses on it and I also planted a mix of shrub roses and perennials in front.
  
  As to the roses you choose, colour is really up to you. I painted the fence a dark anthracite grey and chose a soft yellow, apricot and white theme. Mine is north facing so I wanted the fence and scriffy hedge to disappear and planted shade-tolerant lighter coloured roses to stand out against it. In full sun, you have more choices and the roses don’t have to be restricted to those that are specifically recommended as hedging roses.

  Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

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