What type of hedge plant is this pls?

ey143

Hi

I need to patch up some gaps in a shared hedge line as it looks a big ugly.

Can anyone tell what type of hedge this is so that I can buy the correct seeds?

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Thanks.

ey143

Thanks. I inherited the house like this unfortunately. Is this easily repairable i.e. quick growth of new seeds to match the existing?

Any suggestions as to how you would takle this?

Thanks again.

lostinrates

Privet recovers incredibly well. . It will be thick and lush again soon, new growth coming through. We cut ours back by depth buy two thirds two years ago and it looked like a lace curtain this year we are thinking we should've cut it back again this year!

Its a wonderful hedge really. . And the cut back will thicken it up. Might be worth getting at the roots of the intruders while you can though, any brambles and so on.

And I'd re trim for the wispy bits too, get it thickening up.


In fact, I think I'm taking my self into planting some more privet.

gardengull

Second vote for privet hedge. It will sprout again given time, it has been given a severe cut.

You can buy privet as young plants (or take cuttings - much cheaper) but I would not recommend trying to grow the same plants at the base.

Can I suggest trimming the longer stems to encourage bushiness, and giving it a bit of a weed, and then water and then mulch a bit around the roots etc), and it will spout on the sides before you know it.

http://www.britishhardwood.co.uk/ligustrum-ovalifolium-oval-leaved-privet/140/

Mojisola

As the others have said, privet will do very well after a serious pruning.

If you want to fill in any holes, bend some stems to the horizontal across the holes, tie them in place (loosely so the stems can thicken up) and you will get plenty of vertical growth to infill gaps.

ey143

I bought the house last Oct 2013 and it has pretty much been in the same state ever since.

I'm a virgin gardener and dont know my bushes from my trees...although learning. What do you mean getting to the roots of the intruders - you mean the weeds right? I thought they were flowers of some sort! Brambles - what do they look like? When I look at Google images, it shows berries and thorns, but I dont have any of those?

How can trimming the longer stems increase bushiness, surely you're just removing more leaf and creating more gaps?

I'm tempted to spend £25 or so and buy a few plants of ebay and pot them - is that a bad idea? I will try the other suggestions too like bending etc.

lostinrates

Hang on, are you saying it hasn't been trimmed in almost a year and looks like that?

You haven't trimmed it since moving at all?

Removing long stems increases business because sidestems grow out, instead of the long ones just growing longer.

Mojisola

ey143 wrote: »

How can trimming the longer stems increase bushiness, surely you're just removing more leaf and creating more gaps?

When you prune some plants, it makes them grow quickly so instead of having one longer, thin stem, you end up with good bushy growth.

REEN

The brambles are the leaves leaning over the hosepipe in two places in the last photo. They don't look much now, but will be a pain, get rid. My neighbour ignored his for a couple of years and now it's a thicket invading under, over and through my fence. I think the grass in that photo might be the one I've been battling for a while in my garden, carex pendula. It looks nice at first, and behaved well in my brother's garden, but has gone crazy in mine. Both easy to get rid if if you do it soon.

force_ten

if you want to match the hedge then take cuttings and pot them up

find some nice new growth on the hedge about 12 inches long and cut them off the bush, put the cutting on a board and cut the stem clean with a sharp knife or a Stanley knife for a real clean cut, pull of the bottom couple of leaves to give a six inch bare stem

put the cuttings in a pot of potting compost and water and in a couple of months they will have rooted and you can plant them out to fill in the existing hedge and fill the gaps

but as said cut the top to the height you want the hedge trim off any side shoots that are getting long and leggy and then time should bring it back

Davesnave

force_ten wrote: »

if you want to match the hedge then take cuttings and pot them up

find some nice new growth on the hedge about 12 inches long and cut them off the bush, put the cutting on a board and cut the stem clean with a sharp knife or a Stanley knife for a real clean cut, pull of the bottom couple of leaves to give a six inch bare stem

put the cuttings in a pot of potting compost and water and in a couple of months they will have rooted and you can plant them out to fill in the existing hedge and fill the gaps

but as said cut the top to the height you want the hedge trim off any side shoots that are getting long and leggy and then time should bring it back

Yes, all of this, but it's easier to just insert the cuttings in a small area decent soil,out of direct sunshine, keep watered in really dry spells and leave till next spring when they will have rooted, ready for you to use them.

Do twice as many as you think you'll need to allow for losses, or to have a choice of the strongest. Establishing new plants within an existing hedge won't be easy though.