Hi Julia,

I do not think roses would be good for screaning the neighbour. You have to answer a few questions before choosing a hedge:
how tall do you want it to be?
Is it only for decorative purpose or would you like to have a hedge from fruit trees?
... like it is done in Italy, France and what I saw (VERY IMPRESSIVE) on Gardening Australia, you can watch a reapeat today at 1pm, where they used quavas in Herenswood gardens.

There are thousands of plants, you just have to know what you want your hedge to do. Than you can also have a look at trees and shrubs forum, and do a search on hedges, I think you will get a number of threads there.

Good luck and let us know how you went. Happy gardening.

Hi Julia,

I agree with Meggs that roses are probably not the way to go. They will not provide the screening you obviously want.

If you want an informal hedge (i.e. not cut to particular shape) then you can mix the plants you have. This has the advantage that if one or more dies, you won't have an ugly hole in your formal hedge. It is very hard to play 'catch up' with hedges once they are established.

Another advantage of the informal hedge is that you won't need to worry about the other side. After all, you can't really expect your non-gardening neighbours to be getting out the hedge trimmers or having to go next door yourself and do the trimming.

If you decide on the sort of look you want, and as Meggs said, when you know what you want your hedge to do, just post again and we will all be only too happy to help.

Some points to ponder are: height, width, foliage colour, flowers (including colour), fruit/berries, speed of growth, work involved to maintain privacy, drought resistance. Just remember that evergreen will give more privacy year round.

Cheers,
Dee.

Thanks for that. I gave you all the information about location and completely forgot to mention what I wanted to do - dopey me. Basically I can have any height from 1m to about 50 metres. I have been out there all week end and am now of the thought I might just make another informal garden and plant it fairly thickly with bushy type plants. That way, I could have the best of both worlds - flowers too. I would love to put a couple of Magnolias in the mix, but it is the windy side of the yard. Does wind affect Magnolias? There is bush out the front, so I don't have the wind problem there. This garden has not been dug yet, so width is not critical either. I am asking for the help before I get stuck. (for once I am showing some sense).
Cheers
Julia

O.K. Julia, here is a list of suitable bushy shrubs as suggestions.
Lillypillies
Grevillea "Robyn Gordon" or other sp.
Viburnum tinus
Pittosporum
Photinia
Camellia
Evergreen types of Hibiscus

Why not try a Magnolia as well. Just remember they come in both evergreen and deciduous types.

Cheers,
Dee.

Dee gave you a list of decorative shrubs, here are some suggestions of fruit trees/shrubs as seen on GA, I watched it again and for evergreen hedges they used:
avocado instead of a camelia hedge for a higher one
guava and feijoa for smaller hedges here is a link if you wish to check it:

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1648147.htm

In Giverny (Monet's garden)I saw apple trees trained as a flowering/fruiting fence but this is decidious naturally, I guess you could use peaches for the same purpose, they would need more prunning.

Thanks for that. Yes, lilly pilly, pineapple and strawberry guavas were amongst my very first thoughts. I haven't even dug the garden yet. Could be any depth x about 100 m long. I think I can have a party planning and planting. I love this bit don't you.
Thanks again - I'm going back to the drawing board.
Regards
Julia

Yes, I love planning and planting and propagating, usually I end up with too many plants so I plant on road verges to make the suburb more beautiful, however my last experiences are discouraging ie plants going missing. I would have happily shared them if the person asked for them as I have plenty sitting in pots, there is no need to steal them, it just ruins my work and leaves a terrible distate to us humans, greedy with no morals or consideration for others.

100metres of hege to plant - I envy you.

Go crazy

PLant some bigger trees so that you can provide some microclimates for really exotic plants - - my thing is tropical food plants - but with the right microclimate you could grow anything

Go ahead and mix them up. I have a hectare of land on the Central Coast and have planted as a hedge along my boundary a mix of natives including Grevilleas, Banksias(my favourite), Harpulias, Lilly-pillies, Hakeas, Persoonias with different Lomandras here and there as well. I have also included Photinias. Be careful that some Viburnums do not become weeds.

I get lots of birds and lots of folk admiring it.

I agree with Robert - mix natives and exotics in a hedge, but try to work in plants that are similar in form and foliage. Its not hard with rainforest plants (usually ..), but you may prefer something along the lines of Leptospermum, Melaleuca and a combination of native and exotic conifers. Hybrid cultivars should give you the ideal combination of dense foliage and mature height Ultimately, it comes down to your own preferences and finding the plants that work in your area.

Good luck,

Artie

On a tangent to the original query: if you're game, you might try pleaching (grafting) your hedging plants--those of the same species. Normal hedges, where individual plants are planted quite closely together, compete with each other for nutrients as they grow. So if one plant sucks more water from the ground, it leaves less for its neighbour, which suffers. However, I've read that if the plants are grafted, they act more like one plant. If one gets more moisture, that moisture is circulated throughout the entire body of grafted plants and helps make them all stronger. Dunno if the theory works in practice, but it might be fun to try. (I intend to try it when my hedglings get large enough for their branches to cross.)

Yes, the art of pleaching was practiced in Britain and early US for hedgerows to keep animals in and unwanted visitors out. The most widely used plant was hawthorn. It was a great habitat for birds and small animals as hawthorn are spiny bushes.

I am thinking of planting berberis on my boundary and doing the same, very spiny plant as well but will cope better with a warmer climate we have here in Perth.

here is a link to 'how to pleach hedges'

http://www.lingfieldreserves.org.uk/laying_hedges_1999.htm

quite an involved process

It doesn't have to be that complicated, not when done on a small scale (see link below)--maybe just one small hedge closer to the house. If you search Google images using just the word 'pleached', you'll find pictures of pleached hedges, including one of a pleached rose hedge. Most of the pictures are European (hornbeams and limes--Tilia species, I assume--are particularly popular), but they'll give you an idea of what's possible.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pleaching hedges

Thanks everyone. Believe me, I have plenty of places for wildlife. I usually have 5 kangaroos in the dam paddock, a heap of wild bunnies in the bush out the front, lots of kookaburras, maggies, currawongs, all kinds of parrots, etc (even some unwanted birdies) and cute possums with their babies. But this garden is just for me. I need my fun too.
Regards
Julia