Here we were asked to replace the old Escallonia hedge with a Griselinia littoralis hedge which a property down the road had just put in. Here we looked at the options would it work out cheaper for the client to have a digger hired to rip these out or the man hours spent sweating trying to dig them out. Being around 30 mature plants, we decided to hire the digger which proved to be the best option as it dug over and prepared the soil after for planting. We got the vast majority out in a morning!
Escallonia will never be my favourite hedging plant. I find if you attempt to cut it too hard one year like conifers it does not recover well. Although in a situation where you can leave them to get large and treat them almost as a wild hedge it is great for pollinating insects.
Griselinia as a maintenance point of view is by far one of my favourite hedging plants. Responds well to pruning. Quick to cut and get a smart finish, although the fleshy leaves do make the waste heavy. One this occasion it really does smarten the house up compared to the remains of what was the Escallonia. The fleshy green leaves that go all the way to the base of the plant make this evergreen a great plant to give privacy to a front garden while giving a nice lime green back drop.
If you were thinking of changing your hedge or introducing a hedge, other hedging plants to look at are the different varieties of Laurel or perhaps an Eleagnus they often produce thorns so extra security at no extra cost!
Are you interested in getting something like the above?
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07454 193161
info@farrgardens.co.uk