What to plant here
Caroline-19
Posts: 23
I have a 6ft by 80cm area, see photo. I need 2 tall tree/shrubs to grow quickly up to at least 6ft tall. I'm looking at cherry laurel or gold leylandii.
Not being an experienced gardener I need something easy to maintain. Any suggestions welcome.
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Posts
Neither. Anything that grows fast quickly gets out of control. Laurel grows like the clappers and needs pruning with secateurs to keep it in shape but then responds by growing even more. They're also a desperately dull dark green all year. Conifers, especially leylandii, are also very dull and soon get out of hand if not regularly trimmed but you have to be careful not to cut into brown wood as they won't regrow leaves form there and they're also susceptible to a new disease that's turning them brown and dead.
If the aim is to cover up that dark brown fence, I would go for an evergreen variegates shrub such as aucuba japonica, or one of the euonymouses with cream or godl variegated leaves or maybe a golden form of choisya ternata to brighten up the brown. You could also consider stretching wires across the fence at 12 to 18 inch intervals and training a climber along them or some pyracantha which will provide spring blossom, green foliage and autumn berries and be a haven for wildlife.
You could also grow a Japanese maple such as acer sango-kaku which will give you lovely coral red stems in winter, fresh golden foliage in spring turning to green for summer and then gold and copper in autumn or an ornamental cherry with burnished copper bark for winter and then spring blossom and autumn foliage colour or one of the smaller rowans such as kashmiriana which will give you pink berries after lovely spring blossom and good foliage. trees can be underplanted with bulbs for spring and then herbaceous perennials or annuals as ground cover for summer and autumn.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Well thank you, that gives me alot to think about. I will look into them all. Fingers crossed I don't mess up.
I have a few allium bulbs to run along the front and a small Jasmine growing in the corner.
I agree I shouldn't have overbearimg trees/shrubs. I do want something tall as our neighbors heads are the right height for popping over the fence! ?
You could put a narrow strip of trellis along the top of the fence to give you extra privacy. Pyracantha has the added advantage of thorns to keep unwanted people out.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
?? Ordered yesterday. Thank you for your help. C