How to grow a good thick hedge - FAST

NickyNin

Hi All,

I have a metal fence around the front of my house on a busy road. The are small tree/bushes but I would like to replace them with a good thick hedge. As I will have to remove the trees first I don't want to leave the front of my home with no coverage for too long so I really need something that will grow fast.

Any suggestions.


Thanks in advance

looksee

This is a useful website http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about204.html
Do you have any idea what the shrubs are that you have at present, it may be better to just wait for them than plant new. A good hedge is going to take around 5 years to do anything useful.
I would suggest lonicera (it is very forgiving about clipping), berberis - looks better a bit shaggy I think. Please don't plant laylandii, for any number of reasons. Things with very large leaves, like laurel can look very hacked about if it is not carefully cut, as the large leave get cut in two. Escallonia makes a good hedge in the right situation, it needs to be cut back initially though, to make it thick, otherwise it will just look scruffy.

Ortensia

Fuchsia, Rhodedendron, Gorse - all will grow big and fast. Or a double row of Escallonia. If you dont need evergreen then whitethorn planted densly would be an option. Fantastic color , blossom and fruit for 6 months a year. Indigenous plants way preferable to broad leaf suburban species.

looksee

I suspect Ortensia lives in Kerry! If you also live in the West then those suggestions are fine. Well apart from Gorse - I have an idea it is illegal to plant Gorse, but maybe thats just in the countryside. It would be very difficult to manage though. Rhododendron needs acid soil, and fuchsia could easily die back in a hard winter - it will come on again, but your hedge would look a bit sad and would have to grow from the base again. Whitethorn (hawthorn) is vigorous but as Ortensia says, not evergreen.

Ortensia

Looksee, I just checked out the website in your first post and it is so comprehensive there is little to add. Didn't know Gorse was illegal, though it seems it is also legal to set whole hillsides of it alight around here so clearly the law offers it no protection. Do wish Lelandyi was illegal, a neighbours steals part of my afternoon sun and all of their own

Kristopherus

The fastest growing evergreen hedge that I planted was Grisellinia. Will grow from cuttings to 6 ft in about 4 yrs.

looksee

Ortensia, you might be interested to have a look at this website http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=69&fr=1&sts=&lang=EN
It doesn't actually say it is illegal but it is certainly an invasive pest. I think it is possible that farmers have an obligation to remove gorse (though possibly burning might be frowned on now), maybe a farmer will tell us.
On the other hand it does smell nice!

muggyog

Your planting may be as important as the choice of shrub. By that I mean you could use a technique that is used on the motorways for quick cover. i.e. close spacing and thinning at a later date. Don't go down the Leylandii route!

coyle21

is there a faster growing tree than the Leylandii

Citizenpain

coyle21 wrote: »

is there a faster growing tree than the Leylandii

Willow probably

coyle21

Citizenpain wrote: »

Willow probably

wouldn't evergreen trees be better and faster grower than willow

looksee

coyle21 wrote: »

wouldn't evergreen trees be better and faster grower than willow

No! To give you a short answer :P Willow is very fast growing and roots very easily - many people have found their pea sticks growing when the peas have finished! (its not an ideal hedge though for several reasons) Many evergreen trees are slow growing, while a few, like laylandii, are quick growing, you cannot generalise on that basis.

peckerhead

Unless you have over an acre of gardens and no neighbours, stay away from the Leylandia, FFS, or you will rue the day in 10 years time when you have to hack the fooking thing back every year or live in its shadow as it grows to 100 feet high,leaching the shít out of the soil and ruining anything else growing near them.

It bears repeating. Leylandia are pure evil.

Norfolk Enchants_

peckerhead wrote: »

Unless you have over an acre of gardens and no neighbours, stay away from the Leylandia, FFS, or you will rue the day in 10 years time when you have to hack the fooking thing back every year or live in its shadow as it grows to 100 feet high,leaching the shít out of the soil and ruining anything else growing near them.

It bears repeating. Leylandia are pure evil when poorly and incorrectly maintained.

FYP

wildlifeboy

no one has mentioned privet which is far and away the best option here. and ever green or variegqated

Jack Sawyer

Grisellinia seemed to be especially susceptible to complete and utter whole hedge dieback in the harsh winters around 2010.

I know of a lot of people who lost massive mature hedges and all of their privacy soon after.

Laurel was untouched by this which is why it got my vote.

smacl

Not quite as quick, but hornbeam makes for a lovely hedge. Berberis or whitethorn would be my choice for a hedge that doubles up as a boundary, as they're both natures equivalent of barbed wire. Grisellinia is popular and fast growing, but personally I can't stand it.