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Impulse Buy - Disaster?

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  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I have one. It does produce seedlings but they're easy to pull out when I'm weeding the area.
    I also get lots of silver birch seedlings from the tree across the road so maybe that should also be described as invasive?
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Not as invasive as the ash and oak trees around here … but we don’t want to be without them do we?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited April 2023
    There’s a reference here to the plant’s invasive classification:

     https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/cotoneaster-horizontalis/

    I had it here when I moved in and found it really popular with bees when in flower and blackbirds for the berries later.  The herringbone framework is also attractive over winter.  I removed it recently as it was getting a bit tired and untidy.  The only thing is, as already mentioned, it’s overused in supermarket car parks and becomes an ideal location for litter!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • ChilliBobChilliBob Posts: 98
    Ah well this makes me feel *much* better about getting it now! What I read suggested it only goes to half a meter high, but can spread to 1.8m or so.. if I put it in a narrow border by a fence would I have much chance in encouraging this spread to be 'along' the border as opposed to just bushing out in some massive blob?

    I get the impression it'd grow almost anywhere then? - So on the side I'm struggling to find stuff for, because it's the north fence, perhaps I can put it there... 
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    Put it anywhere.  It will spread by rooting as it goes especiaaly if pegged down (or seeds that can be trans-planted).

    It will grow quite high if it has something to lean against.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • ChilliBobChilliBob Posts: 98
    Pete.8 said:
    I had one outside my lounge for 30ish yrs before I had a extension.
    I loved it - not at all invasive. Occasionally a berry would germinate and I'd get a little seedling now and then but that's all.
    Being just under the lounge window it was great to watch the blackbirds eating the seeds over winter.
    That's got me thinking where else I might put it to look at the birds in winter now. The area outlined above would be a bit hidden from view by other stuff. Perhaps I'll put it in one of my raised beds next to a cherry laurel which is about the height of the house (I jest, but it is about the height of our bedroom windows upstairs), they can fight it out together lol. 
  • ChilliBobChilliBob Posts: 98
    bédé said:
    Put it anywhere.  It will spread by rooting as it goes especiaaly if pegged down (or seeds that can be trans-planted).

    It will grow quite high if it has something to lean against.
    Nice - the fence I had intended it to go against is not ours, and is 6ft + when including the gravel board, would be nice to cover it.

    A name I recognise, from somewhere else ;-) how's the portfolio going?!
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @ChilliBob As mentioned in my last post, next to a fence[18 inches or so away] plant it and cut all forward facing growth. You may need to cut some away at the back too
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    You can prune out branches that grow too far forwards over the bed.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Brilliant for attracting bees and hoverflies. One of the best. And scarlet red autumn colour.
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