Hedge or something more exciting

I have cleared a section of raised border out at the back of our garden approx 9m long. It previously had trellis and years of ivy and wild growth through it with a few old shrubs.

Having now exposed the original fence I am looking for some inspiration on what to replant to hide the fence and look good. The rear garden lacks height so I can either go safe and put a hedge in or do something different with trees/shrubs etc. Any ideas welcome. Thanks

 

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Thats a lovely looking garden and my first thoughts would be for flowers/flowering climbers with some evergreen plants, though it really depends on what effect you are after ?

Things like the usual Clematis, Sweetpeas , Roses inc. Shrub Roses , so many to chose from.

If you want something less maintenance but generally all year colour, a row of Golden Private or Red Robin.

 

If possible I'd take the fence down , you've got a really nice view which I would incorporate into the garden ( make the landscape part of your garden ), its depends on whether they have cattle sheep etc. I'd use tall airy plants if you went down this root like grasses and herbaceous perennials. I know its probably not what your asking for but it an option.

Could do with a bit more info Soil conditions ( clay - loam - sandy - free draining - boggy etc ) which way does it face south west etc. How wide is the border ? What style are you think about cottagey or quite formal - mixed shrub with perennials - other ? Looks like you've already got two shrubs there ? holy and a peirs ?

 

Hi Ricky, I didn't really want to go down the hedge route and nor do I like the fence but without anything the cows and sheep would be in the garden. The field at the back takes a lot of runoff water from the hills so stays quite wet.

Perki the border will be completely clear ready to plant, it was a work in progress. Border is about 600mm deep. I would like a couple of mid size trees for dappled shade and height and some evergreens and other seasonal coloured interest but not totally block the view out.

Here are a couple of pics from the other corner that show what that border was like and the general area, it has been heavily redone the last year as there was nothing at the back at all apart from a huge expanse of York stone paving and the raised borders.

 

As you've got such a beautiful rural outlook personally I'd go for a traditional mixed hedge of native species. That would look both lovely and appropriate, and it would be brilliant for wildlife too. If you train it properly (by "laying" it; lots of videos on youtube!) it will eventually form an inpenetrable barrier for livestock but meanwhile put in some wire and posts to keep them out.

Get your skates on and you've still got time to put in bare-root plants which are cheaper and I always think establish better too. Lots of websites offer packs by the metre - I've no experience of these but maybe someone else has and can advise. Here's one just as an example, anyway: Mixed Native Packs

 

I think you are right not to close off the view of the countryside to the back of your garden by planting a solid hedge. I can see an electric pylon to the left in one of the photos so a tree in front of this might be appropriate but I would go for something that might not get very tall like a hawthorne, amelanchier, Persian ironwood or Japanese zelkova. Some evergreen shrubs I would recommend as well would be pittosporum silver queen (and one of the purple leaved varieties I have forgot the name of is looking good currently), penstemmon, abelia, ceanothus and osmanthus. To keep your view open you will need to be careful not to plant too many of the shrubs that will get too tall or be prepared to trim them back. Tamarix is also a nice one to consider as the fethery foliage would not completely block the view behind it. I have also seen a nice winter flowering honeysuckle (lonicera fragrantissima) recently and will be trying to get one of these for my own garden soon and this might be another one worth considering.