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How to plant shrubs when near a fence
I have picked up some shrubs which are a good fit for a shady part of my garden:-
Skimmia Kew Green
Sweetbox
Virburnum Davidii
These spread to 1 to 1.5 M.
My question is how close to fence should I plant them?
a) far enough away so that when its reached its hypothetical full size it will just touch the fence. So the virburnum (which would grow to 1.5 M is planted 75 cm away.
b) 40 CM or so from the fence so that it isn't caught by rain shadow, with the assumption that the shrub will happily rest against the fence on one side and grow out 75 cm on the other.
Sorry for the basic question!
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The shrubs will stop when they reach the fence and lose daylight. Most of the growth will then be concentrated on the daylight side and top.
If it helps, there is a rule in Belgium - designed for neighbourly boundary peace - that hedges may not be planted closer than 60cms to one's boundary.
Obviously the closer to the fence will constrict the spread of the shrub and obviously light. Obviously it depends on the depth of your boarders. Personally, I prefer to plant medium sized shrubs as far away from any barrier as they will preform better in the long term
I have been through the same dilemma adrian59 because I'm building a new shrub border. It's so important to get it right isn't it because moving a fully grown shrub would be such a pain in the future. I still worry that I've gone too close together but then I read that the sizes stated on labels and RHS websites etc are under ideal conditions so if you are stretching those conditions at all you might not reach full size.
Also, I quite like the lushness of one growing into another, you don't want to see one shrub on its own then another next to it like puddings (I think that might be an Alan Titchmarsh quote ha ha).
Anyway, back to your question, how close to the fence? Personally I've gone for outside the dry zone so that they'll live. So far enough away that the rain can reach them.
I reckon, and I've found in the past that if it is too close to the fence because the shrub grows deeper than the space you've given it, as long as it is not stronger than your fence you're ok, it will bend. I did once put a potato vine too close to a weak fence and it broke into next doors eventually.
Hope this is helpful.