Planting ideas around compost area

Davesnave wrote: »

Hate to disagree, but there are clones that don't do that. Like bamboo, laurels all get tarred with the same brush.

This one, for example, has an AGM:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/99043/Prunus-laurocerasus-Otto-Luyken/Details

There is a place for fast-growing, sound-absorbing, screening evergreens, but I'll admit the wildlife credentials of laurel are pretty poor. Even the lowly leylandii is good for nesting.

Cherry Laurel? That's what takes up the majority of wildlife/ecological trusts' work round here, as it completely crowds out all the useful native species and kills off all the woodland wildflowers. I've felled enough of the blasted things this year and never had so much as a spider come out of them or scuttle across the ground, either - get rid and have native species - Cherry Plum, Holly, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, etc - and you're inundated with happily nesting birds, non poisonous fruit for human and/or wildlife plus critters galore to eat any caterpillars, grubs, moths or spiders and pollinators to ensure the garden is full of life and food.

Davesnave wrote: »

Unfortunately, when one has a noisy, aggressive, slightly unhinged neighbour, the wildlife credentials of what one places on their boundary becomes a secondary consideration.

However, there's 1/2 km of other native stuff, so no worries for the wee animals.

Holly appeals to me in such situations. Or anything else that has big, sharp, pointy bits. No crown lifting there