fastest growing hedge?

need privacy...
looking for a veryvery fast growing
evergreen hedge. Area needed is
shaded..any suggestions?

Privet. Grows quickly, nice green foliage, and you can dig it up in the woods or edge of woods most places and easily transplant it.

Hello Shoe, maybe this one should be under "dirt" cheap. It's nice you have some wood to go to get stuff like that. I went to the everglades once to dig up plants. Since the everglades is a national park, the legality of that was questionnable. But the park ranger said it was okay for me to take a couple. I Was driving a NIssan 240. Bet he didnt think I could get very many plants into that car. LOL.

Thanks for the suggestion
horseshoe (I like that name.)
I'll have to wait to do any
digging, the ground here is
froze solid right now.
Saw your abe lincoln maters,
took me back to my ole Ky.
home. Picking maters with
a box of salt in the other hand.
they sure make your mouth water
just looking at them.
deller

deller, well maybe nows the time to take a walk in the woods or elsewhere and look for the privet...it should be one of the few green things in the woods this time of year (except for pines/cedars/holly). Then you can remember later where they were.

Yep, them are good maters! (email me if you need seeds).
Stay warm up there! Been cold as cubes here too!

Deller... I got several hundred privet seedlings about 4" tall, from under some privet in a small office park. The park was glad to get rid of them.

Now, after just 3-4 years, the hedge is full and lush but just about 3 feet tall. I let it gain about 6-9 inches a year now, clipping height to insure fullness as it grows taller.

I planted the seedlings fairly close together in a band about 6" wide to make a fuller hedge. I lost a few, for sure, but the majority survived, and they were free!

There are a few plants that I just don't like: croton (clashing colors on the same leaf) and privet (they are so common, and get so scraggly)come to mind. So - another plant you may consider is Abelia xgrandifolia, known as Glossy Abelia. It's in the Dave's Garden plants database and the USDA database. It is fast growing, evergreen, suitable for hedges, and has nice flowers for an extended period.

I agree, Ewald. Abelia is a nice evergreen. I see lots of them being used around shopping centers and such. Pretty white flowers (altho a bit small) but fairly fast growing. (Hmmm...wonder if I can take some cuttings from some of those shopping center bushes for rooting!)

Shoe, with you anything might be possible! LOL

;~D

LimeyLisa Kay

Why thank you!...anything is possible I reckon, or should I say probable? Hey! Just got an idea!

I can try to cross Privet with Abelia and get a nice evergreen called "Prabelia"?

Deller, I need to look up the hardiness zones but I think a ceanonthus hedge would be beautiful. They are very fast growers, evergreen, drought tolerant and have a beautiful blue flower like a miniature bottlebrush. Maybe a visit to the PDB would give us a hardiness rating.

Privet is a nasty plant that takes over and doesn't let the native plants grow. Around here we have major service projects to go into the parks and dig the stuff out. I'm forever pulling it out of my yard and I don't grow it.

If you want a fast growing shrub, try leland cypress. You can cut it to whatever size you want. Ours are 30' tall because we need it to keep out the view of the houses up the hill from us. If you want it to stay at 4-5' you just have to cut it once or twice a summer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HORSESHOE
AND A HAPPY YEAR AHEAD.
deller

thanks deller, How'd you find out!?? ;>)

(I'm elated!)

I tried to look up two of the mentioned plants:

"Ceanonthus" should be Ceanothus, there are several species listed in the Dave's Garden Plants Database and in the USDA database.

"Leland Cypress" is probably Cupressocyparis leylandii, this is not in the DG database, but is in the USDA database, at http://plants.usda.gov

Oops! - I had to edit this to correct my spelling of the Genus.

This message was edited Jan 26, 2004 11:57 AM

This message was edited Jan 26, 2004 11:59 AM