Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

78 watchers

Columba Oct 2021 10:34pm, 5 Oct 2021 21,332 posts	0 Columba Also, almost indestructible (cotoneaster). I had one which apparently perished in a really cold winter. No sign of life, so I cut all the dead branches off, leaving only the stump which was too thick for my loppers and pruning saw. But when we got well into the year, behold - it started regrowing from the stump and is now a flourishing big bush.
Velociraptor Oct 2021 10:49pm, 5 Oct 2021 54,390 posts	0 Velociraptor Griselinia's a good shout My inner five year old wants a mixed hedge but I know it'll look a lot more garden-like if I go for one variety.
Dooogs Oct 2021 11:43pm, 5 Oct 2021 7,438 posts	0 Dooogs We've got a boggy clay lawn in the back garden too - I'm v tempted to get some frits for the lawn to fight off the buttercups. Boggy border plants that worked surprisingly well for us are: * bushy fuschia; * hostas; and * raspberry canes seem happier the shadier and soggier it is.
Columba Oct 2021 9:55pm, 6 Oct 2021 21,333 posts	0 Columba Velo, I would be inclined to let that inner 5-year-old rip. Do you really want a monoculture hedge? Does your garden need to look garden-like? I'm sure the birds and the pollinators would enjoy a mixed hedge.
Hanneke Oct 2021 10:02pm, 6 Oct 2021 80,516 posts	0 Hanneke I agree with Columba! I planted a hedge to edge part of my new entrance to provide privacy in my garden and it us a lovely, loose, mixture of red stemmed dogwood, red leaved hazel, sea buckthorn, guelder rose and spindle berry. This gives a colourful interest year round and a lot of habitat/food for wildlife, i.e. birds and bees and butterflies. On top of that, it gives me great joy! Unconventional, but interesting
Velociraptor Oct 2021 10:04pm, 6 Oct 2021 54,412 posts	0 Velociraptor There are loads of mixed hedgerows within a quarter of a mile of home. I was thinking of a low monoculture hedge with a variety of taller shrubs/small trees just inside it
Hanneke Oct 2021 10:06pm, 6 Oct 2021 80,517 posts	0 Hanneke Ah! I did the same minus the monoculture hedge, i.e..my "hedge" is a collection of favourite shrubs... Planted close, so the will grow into each other, if that makes sense?
jacdaw Oct 2021 11:30am, 7 Oct 2021 3,386 posts	0 jacdaw I have Cotoneaster franchettii (or is it lucidus?) as a hedge; it is ok, but I let it get to 6 or 7 feet. I could have kept it lower, I think. It was quick and easy to establish, colours nicely in autumn, but may keep its leaves in milder spots (I think it is only supposed to lose its leaves in extreme winters if it is franchettii; mine does every year at 200m and in a frost pocket). Flowers are tiny, typical Cotoneaster, and loved by wasps (Cotoneaster horizontalis is loved by bees). It gets a few berries. Would recommend for low maintenance, good privacy, maybe a little dull. I think this is a less invasive Cotoneaster. I also have a very old (20+ years) potentilla hedge, which has lovely flowers, but is mostly hopeless as a hedge.
Dvorak Oct 2021 11:55am, 7 Oct 2021 23,605 posts	0 Dvorak I have old hedges which should be one thing, but aren't. Mainly privet, but with golden privet, holly, beech, hawthorn, conifer. And some annoying elder in bits. There was an organisation where you could buy pretty cheap mixed natural hedging packs (kind of like Hann's) but I can't recall who. When Googling, I found some very not cheap ones instead. Fruit bush hedge? Red and black currants, blueberries and gooseberries? Or blackthorn, maybe mixed with sea buckthorn.
jacdaw Oct 2021 12:04pm, 7 Oct 2021 3,387 posts	0 jacdaw Blackthorn suckers like crazy! And is a vicious brute. I love my blackthorn hedge, but I'm glad it isn't near the house.