Hedge advice

kkelly77

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice on a bush to cover the surrounding wall of my garden. I am a complete gardening novice but the bush is needed to deter the local kids from constantly hanging around. So the thickest, sharpest bush is needed.

Just wondering what I should go for and how I go about planting it (as I said, absolute novice ) Thanks for the help.

K.

Fishy1

Hi Kkelly,

I feel your pain! I am by no means an expert, but I would suggest you try pyracantha. It's prickly, evergreen and also produces little red berries. Any of the holly varieties would be good too. You could also try mahonia, though this tends to grow a bit straggly. It has the added bonus of beautifullly scented yellow flowers in winter. If you want an idea of how they look just go into Google Images.
You should try & visit a garden centre to ask for their advice too. As I say, I'm no expert!
Good luck.

The Sweeper

Be warned when buying something prickly and heavy duty that grows like a weed, you will be the one pruning it to try and stop it taking over your garden, which means you'll be the one getting scratched and having to dispose of thorn-covered cuttings.

If the kids start shoving their rubbish - bottles, cans, lunch wrappers - into the bush instead of into the bin, you'll also be the one who'll have the bejesus scratched out of them as you fish out that rubbish.

You want something that grows to say, 6ft sort of height, grows quickly and forms a dense screen - so you don't have to look at the kids but who cares if they're still there.

As Fishy1 says, go to your local garden centre and see what they have in stock. Remember that while you want a hedging plant, you don't want one that'll crucify you in the long run as it runs wild. The plants will have indications on what height they grow to, what width they grow to and what growing conditions they require. Be warned, more mature plants cost more money, and depending on the length of wall or fence you want to plant hedges against, you could end up spending quite an amount.

magicbastarder

you could probably get bare root whitethorn or blackthorn for nice and cheap (a euro or two per plant), but they would be small plants.

kkelly77

Thanks for the advice all. There is a good section of wall to cover. One part is about 20-25 feet, the other is about 6'

Do you have any recommendations for garden centres with decent prices around Kildare/Dublin?

K

sorella

coillte have good buys for black/white thorn and holly, and ship them to you if there is not a depot nearby. Native bushes.

http://www.coilltenurseries.ie/?page=catalog&mask=4

The black and white thorn were a fair size and grow fast; also the dog rose and guelder rose.

kkelly77 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice all. There is a good section of wall to cover. One part is about 20-25 feet, the other is about 6'

Do you have any recommendations for garden centres with decent prices around Kildare/Dublin?

K