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Hedge/Screen suggestions
Happy January all,
I am hoping for some recommendations for some hedge/screen planting to mask a fence and give us a little privacy.
We have been working on our garden for around three years so are relative newbies to the game. We have a 6ft fence that separates us from a neighbour and would like a more natural screen/growth in front of it - something that would grow to approx. 10ft tall and not be too deep. Attractive to wildlife would be a huge bonus. The footprint is approximately 3ft deep by 8ft long. South facing; clay soil.
Thanks in advance!
A
I am hoping for some recommendations for some hedge/screen planting to mask a fence and give us a little privacy.
We have been working on our garden for around three years so are relative newbies to the game. We have a 6ft fence that separates us from a neighbour and would like a more natural screen/growth in front of it - something that would grow to approx. 10ft tall and not be too deep. Attractive to wildlife would be a huge bonus. The footprint is approximately 3ft deep by 8ft long. South facing; clay soil.
Thanks in advance!
A
0
Posts
A word of warning about height. Ours used to be 9-10 ft high and cutting it was a nightmare. Hedge trimmers can be quite heavy, so something nearer to 5-6ft will make life much easier for you. Any hedge of the size you want isn't going to screen out houses that overlook your garden, and we find that seeing a foot or two of fence above the hedge is not that unsightly.
Whatever you go for, don't plant it too near to the fence, or it won't receive enough rain water, and won't get established quickly. Be prepared to water regularly for the first year or so, and keep trimming the front surface for the first few years, to encourage it to reach the height you want. Don't be tempted to spend a lot of money on very mature plants, as they usually don't establish was readily as younger/smaller one. Young plants of about 1 metre tall would probably be best.
When grown as a climber you cut away all the stems that grow forward.You can find them in Garden Centres with even growth throughout the plant. However for this purpose growth to just one side if the plant is useful so that you don't have to start cutting back straight away. Sometimes you can find C Horizontalis that has already been pruned with a wall or fence in mind.
Against a fence with wires, it can carefully be moved so that a rotton panel can be replaced.
I understand that this is one of the Cotoneaster that cannot be planted in the wild but ok in domestic spaces.
A trellis along the top could be an option.
If the fence is not yours or suitable to have anything attached then tall posts with trellis attached could be used although it would add to the cost, a long term solution that with the right climbers would take up less space.
You could use a variety of shrubs as a mixed border.
Cotoneaster franchetii might be a candidate if you want more of a screening to hide the fence.
It will grow fairly upright without support.
It is easy enough to keep quite narrow and I have seen it locally as a 6 foot high hedge kept to around one and a half to two feet width. I am pretty sure it is not more than that.
I understand that it can be allowed to get a bit taller than that though not sure of the width is still self supporting, probably is.
It is semi to sometimes evergreen depending on winter.
I recently bought one to try, and like the slightly grey silvery backed leaves.
And small but nice flowers the bees like and orangey red berries.
And long term maintenance.
It is a bugger trying to keep things trimmed off a fence, Unless as mentioned you are going to grow it against one with support.
And growing it a little further away (from a fence) means that it brings the height towards you a bit so it does not need to be quite so high, if that makes sense, if you are trying to screen other properties and not just hide or disguise the fence.