Re: A hedge by the sea
Alessandra wrote:
>Then I considered that, given the Ligustrum option, I need not be VERY
>strict and purist and that I can also include non native plants: Hebes,
>Griselinia littoralis, Coprosma, Atriplex halimus...
Several of the Hebes may well be suitable, but those which will grow
well in such locations such as H salicifolia, might become too large
in a relatively short time and need fairly rigorous annual pruning.
Here it runs to 3 metres high and across in about 4-5 years so I
suspect it might be rather faster and larger with you. The shorter
growing types such as Hebe x franciscana 'Blue Gem' would work,
eventually reaching about 1.5 metres high and across, but these do
have that awfully neat, 'urban' look about them for the first few
years.
Atriplex halimus should do the trick although it tends to be partially
deciduous. It is cheap, fast, tolerant of virtually the worst
possible conditions and will make an attractive, shimmering, silvery
hedge to around 2 metres or more in a few years. It doesn't require
much in the way of clipping although left to its own devices, it can
sprawl badly in time, so an annual 'tidy-up' will help it remain
compact especially for the first few years. At least it will look
perfectly natural in whatever guise it eventually takes on.
Griselinia will do either one of two things depending upon whether it
likes the soil. It will either rocket away to 4 or 5 metres and need
clipping twice a year, or sit and sulk making little or no growth.
You could consider Leptospermum if the soil is not too alkaline.
There are many very fine forms and hybrids of L. scoparium and several
excellent doubles with small carnation like flowers. Normally I'm a
bit 'funny' about double flowered forms, but for once these do not
look at all bad. L. 'Sunraysiana' is a double peach coloured form
with a good, vigorous habit to around 2.5 metres or more and is
reasonably dense in time, despite its slender growth and fine leaves.
Unclipped, its branches arch gently, developing into a light, airy,
and elegantly informal hedge.
David Poole
TORQUAY UK Zone 9b
