Best screening plants for 4m tall eventual height?

ka7e

Any established hedging will draw a lot of water and nutrients so your border may suffer. You can control the depth, up to a point,  with winter pruning, but it will be the spring/summer growth spurts that may overshadow your plants. I have planted a wildlife-friendly hedge at the bottom of my garden (berries/catkins/nuts) with purple beech interspersed for year-round colour. I know I will lose about a metre of usable garden, but will naturalise some bulbs and shade-loving plants underneath.

benson1980

Thuja Smaragd are a nice looking hedgerow plant in my opinion and might top out at around 4m without ever getting out of control. I've planted them in an old house where I needed instant screening and no issues/thought they looked good.

greensalad

robatwork said:

I expect Cherry Laurel will be a good trade off of price/fast growing/evergreen. Bit boring to look at.

Cherry Laurel is what we already have and it is a bit boring, but I was hoping I could fill the border in front of it with a bit more interesting stuff.

Maybe I could do Cherry Laurel, pleached somewhat (or I just give it a pleached effect myself so to speak by pruning the lower out) and then something like photinia either all round the bottom, or interspaced with it? Hmm... 

onomatopoeia99

As the neighbour of someone with a 3-4m hedge along a 30m long boundary, I'm going to make a plea that whatever you decide, pick something that won't grow onto their land or require them to do any maintenance of a plant they cannot remove.

It may be that they removed all the plants in the garden because they aren't gardeners, don't want to be gardeners, or maybe even (like me) have a disability that limits their ability to do gardening, particularly on hedges of that height.

greensalad

onomatopoeia99 said:

As the neighbour of someone with a 3-4m hedge along a 30m long boundary, I'm going to make a plea that whatever you decide, pick something that won't grow onto their land or require them to do any maintenance of a plant they cannot remove.

It may be that they removed all the plants in the garden because they aren't gardeners, don't want to be gardeners, or maybe even (like me) have a disability that limits their ability to do gardening, particularly on hedges of that height.

Considering they just built a huge gym building at the end of their garden right on the boundary I'm pretty sure they have the time to prune back a hedge once a year.

Bendy_House

greensalad said:

robatwork said:

I expect Cherry Laurel will be a good trade off of price/fast growing/evergreen. Bit boring to look at.

Cherry Laurel is what we already have and it is a bit boring, but I was hoping I could fill the border in front of it with a bit more interesting stuff.

Maybe I could do Cherry Laurel, pleached somewhat (or I just give it a pleached effect myself so to speak by pruning the lower out) and then something like photinia either all round the bottom, or interspaced with it? Hmm... 

I think this sort of idea is a good plan. Something fast and evergreen to get the required screening ( which you are perfectly entitled to), but pleached to allow a nice, more decorative, contrast to be fitted in below.

Eg, Portuguese laurel is generally considered more attractive than Cherry, and you could even fill in using - ooh - a variegated laurel :-)

Something I'd suggest you consider, regardless of the tree/shrub chosen, is to not plant them as a 'hedge', eg the suggested 2' or whatever apart, but much, much wider spaced. By the time these trees reach the required height, they will also be virtually as wide, and dappled screening is soooo much nicer than a dense hedge. I wouldn't have them closer than 6', one per panel, possibly even wider apart. 
Basically, check the spread as well as eventual height of each option, and plan accordingly :-)

If the weird tree suggested by Benson (must check it out) really tops out at 4m, and this is tall enough, then that will certainly save a lot of pruning/topping too.*

(My use of 'pleached' might be wrong. I just mean that the lower branches are removed to leave a trunk. Not that the upper sections are then blended together to make a solid screen.)

* Quite columnar, I see, so would require being close-set to provide a dense hedge. It depends on what you want, Greenslad, but personally I prefer more dappled shade and screening. More natural, rustling, trees, each one displaying its own individual beauty. Rather than an obliteration :-)

Bendy_House

Another consideration is how far from the boundary to plant them. I'd make this at least one metre so that, if/when the neighbs trim their side, you'll have at least 1m spread remaining at the back! I'm sure others more arbo will suggest suitable distances.

By pleaching the trees, you won't eat up too much of your own garden - the space under the trees will be accessible. You might like a wooden bench under one, fo example. A cart wheel. A gnome. A rockery.

getmore4less

greensalad said:

My neighbours have unfortunately been decimating every living thing in their garden for the past few months. What was, when we moved in, a gorgeous selection of mature shrubs on the boundary including very mature acers, rhododendrons and more has been completely removed. The result is instead of the lovely privacy we once had a view directly into the entire of their garden, including into all their house windows. I absolutely hate it and am honestly devastated they've destroyed pretty much the entire of their garden but I guess they are allowed to so...

What can I do to put it back up, on our side? We haven't really done any planting in our garden yet since moving in. I would like something with an eventual height of 4m as this will give us back the old view we had, where all the buildings on that side of the fence are obscured from our garden and we can only see the forest treeline in the distance, which gave the appearance that we were very much "alone" despite having neighbours on this back boundary.

We already have some common laurel down one side, planted by the previous owners. I am considering that again but wondering if there's anything else. We don't want anything too deep, as it would be taking up most of our boundary beds which currently have shrubs in. So looking for something that will give dense coverage without growing too deep. 

When they started ripping out did you not think of asking for them to replant on your side as you u liked them so much, some might have survived.

Maybe they wanted their garden back as they would have been taking up a lot of space..

 

TELLIT01

Whatever you use, make sure you plant it far enough from the boundary line for you to be able to access the rear of the hedge to keep it under control.

Eldi_Dos

Cannot understand why neighbour would do such a thing, a mature border like described is such a asset.

DG Hessayon's , Tree and Shrub Expert is a store of good advice and reference for many types of plants that may suit,useful if you see something that you like when out and about then can look up.

It's a nice stage of home ownership when you start to plan and improve the garden to your liking.