Subject: Re: inexpensive bushes to make hedge

From: [email-masked]
Date: 28 Mar 95 14:46:10 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Jude L. Levett) writes:
> 
> I would like to put a hedge around my front lawn for various reasons which I 
> will not go into right now.
> 
> What is fast growing, inexpensive and but won't grow too high?  It is a 
> fairly big area and I would need to put in three sides e.g. left side, front 
> across sidewalk and right side between mine and my neighbour's house.  I live 
> in Hamilton, Ontario Canada and we have severe winters.   Ordinary hedges are 
> kind of tacky to my way of thinking and I would like to put something in that 
> will not make my neighbour angry.  He was kind enough to remove a very large 
> tree from his front lawn which we all hated (him included) so I would not want 
> to spoil his view in any way.  Of course, he would only have to contend with 
> the right side which is between our two lawns.  But I want to keep him happy 
> and my husband happy (he will freak if I suggest spending too much money) and 
> make my front lawn inaccessible to dogs and garbage.

Personally, I detest regimented hedges: all the same species and cultivar,
clipped to an inch of its life.  Since you specifically say you want to 
keep out dogs, I'd suggest a hedge of shrub roses and potentilla, mixed.
There are several cultivars bred especially for hedges of various heights;
Jackson and Perkins catalogs illustrate several of them.  These are
patented roses, which means, to be legal, you can't propagate them.  There
are also many non-patented cultivars that can be gotten:  Plant a few of those
this year, make cuttings and plant your cuttings the next year.  I suspect
the folks on rec.gardens.roses can give you some ideas of what will do well
in your area.

(Another advantage of a "mixed shrub border" like I'm proposing, over
a formal, clipped hedge, is that a scruffy formal hedge looks awful. A
mixed border with a couple of plants that are a little big, or a little
small, or just not doing quite right, just looks like a mixed shrub
border.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Jude L. Levett)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 10:43:51

Any help you can give me would be most appreciated.  It is getting time to 
plant here and I want to start soon.

Jude

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From: [email-masked] (Janet Malowany)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:38:52 GMT

> Hiya Jude!
> 
> 	I live next to Ottawa, so our temperatures are a bit alike. :)  Our
> yard is surrounded by honeysuckle.  It grows quite fast, but you have to
> trim it every year (at least we do).  The honeysuckle can grow quite
> bushy, and so it will keep out dogs and litter.  Our neighbour as a
> well-behaved dog and he never comes to our lawn.  Honeysuckles are fairly
> it expensive and can grow if you stick the "new" part of the bush in the

Sorry, that should have read in expensive :)

> ground.  This is another the reproduce it.  We have had our honeysuckle
> bushes for over 20 years, and they have all survived our harsh winters. ;)
> We even had to cut the bushes down to the stem because they were so big. 
> I hope this helps you!

-Janet

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From: [email-masked] (Janet Malowany)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:21:54 GMT

Hiya Jude!

-Janet

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From: [email-masked] (Michael E. Matthews)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 15:47:27 GMT

I would really be afraid to plant honeysuckle if you don't
want to irritate the neighbors. It is impossible to control,
and considered by many to be a weed, though it does smell nice.

I also do not like privet. You mentioned that you do not
like traditional hedges, which privet is, and I agree with you.

I recommend growing rugosa roses.  They grow very fast after
the first year when they are settling in and come in a variety
of mature sizes. Some kinds, maybe most, are hardy where you
live. Unlike most roses, they are extremely easy care: if you
water them a lot the first year to get them established, you
probably don't have to do anything to them again.  They have
beautiful fragrant flowers and are very bushy and thorny. They
will probably cost about 8 to 10 a plant, and depending on the
variety, can be placed two to five feet apart. In the winter,
though, they are brown and ugly, unless you get a variety that
has nice hips.

If you do consider privet or honeysuckle, check with your
neighbor first.

Michael in central VA

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From: [email-masked] (Peggy Brown)
Date: 30 Mar 1995 11:16 EST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley) writes...
>I don't know if it's hardy that far north, but think about privet. It is 
>available bare root, shears well, etc. BUT.... Only if you can give it full 
>sun.
> 
>Steven

Pussywillows grow like weeds and like wet spots.   We like them because they
grow so fast and can be easily rooted, thus saving $.  The leaves come in
very thick almost to the bottom of the tree, and even in the winter, they
screen a bit.  I don't think they grow hugely tall either.

- Peggy -

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From: helen ruth etters <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 11:41:45 -0500

> keep out dogs, I'd suggest a hedge of shrub roses and potentilla, mixed.

Although I'm not the person who asked the question, I do like your
answer.  And I don't live as far north as the origanal questioner.
I'm in NC, zone 7.  I've always stayed away from roses for two
reason: 1) I understand they're hard to grow w/o lots of chemicals,
and 2) I like winter interest, and so look for evergreen shrubs.
Would roses make an evergreen border?
If not, are there other small shrubs that would?  Flowers are nice
but not required; green all winter is more important.
Thanks.

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From: [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 02:57:51 GMT

Steven

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From: [email-masked] (Janet Malowany)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:38:52 GMT

-Janet

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From: [email-masked] (Janet Malowany)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:21:54 GMT

Hiya Jude!

-Janet

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From: [email-masked] (Michael E. Matthews)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 15:47:27 GMT

Michael in central VA

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From: [email-masked] (Peggy Brown)
Date: 30 Mar 1995 11:16 EST

- Peggy -

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From: helen ruth etters <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 11:41:45 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 02:57:51 GMT

Steven

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From: Susan Sanders <[email-masked]>
Date: 31 Mar 1995 14:33:37 GMT

>Pussywillows grow like weeds and like wet spots.   We like them because
they

But don't put them anywhere near a sewer line!  Their roots (like any
willow's) will seek out any source of water and quickly plug up your
sewer line.  Roto-Rooter will become your best friend!  (for a price . .
. )                  -Sue Sanders

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From: Karen Russell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 12:09:52 -0800

How about osmanthus for an evergreen hedge?  Dark green (unless you get 
the variegated heterophyllus (sp?))  O. delaveyi has very small leaves, 
fragrant white flowers right now in Seattle and kind of an upright 
fountain growth, O.burkwoodii a cross of the above, slightly larger 
leaves, perhaps more upright growth, or O. heterophyllus (again (sp?) it 
means holly-leafed) which also comes variegated.  These will all get 
large over time, but they are not particularly fast growing and only need 
casual pruning - they don't make a good clipped hedge.  And they all have 
fragrant though insignificant white flowers!!
Karen
Seattle, Zone 8

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From: [email-masked] (Brent Barmore)
Date: 4 Apr 1995 01:00:01 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Janet Malowany) says:
>.
Another possibilty is Privet Hedge,Its very fast growing, inexpensive
and can be trimed to any height you desire. Amur Privet is hardy to 
zone 2 or 3. 
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From: Karen Russell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 12:09:52 -0800

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From: [email-masked] (Brent Barmore)
Date: 4 Apr 1995 01:00:01 GMT

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From: Don Martinson <[email-masked]>
Date: 7 Apr 1995 19:13:59 GMT

> and can be trimed to any height you desire. Amur Privet is hardy to 

Here in Wisconsin, the use of privet (Ligustrum amurense) is quite common
for hedges, but they are not totally invincible.  Last winter, when
we had a significant number of -15 to -20 days, many of them suffered
severe die back.

Don Martinson				
[email-masked]

"Existing order thrives upon ignoranceand lies.  
Objective truth and individual reason are feared above all."