It's a good time now to plant hedges. I planted one of my homegrown Griselina hedges this morning. It's about thirty feet long and cost me absolutely nothing to grow.
Griselina is also called New Zealand Privet and Kapuka. It's very easy to grow from cuttings.
You can grow it in containers full of water to get them to root or you can take cuttings in around September. Apply rooting powder and stick them in the ground. The warm late summer rains will water them and you will have your own hedge next spring. They grow about a foot a year so if you leave them in the plot for two years you will have a very strong hedge.
Anyone else grow their own hedges? You could even lift them and sell them in the local newspaper or at a carboot sale. Gardening need not be expensive if you propagate your own plants.
I've never heard of the plant but it sounds great for a hedge. Fast growing and free!! I presume it doesn't shed leaves and flowers like our jasmine. How about trimming? How high does it grow
ReplyDeleteWe call it 'broadleaf' at home. You will have seen hedges of it. Our school had broadleaf hedges.
DeleteI am surprised you haven't heard of it Linda. It originates in New Zealand like the Phormiums and Hebes. It's also called New Zealand Privet. Rather like the Privet hedges you would see on housing estates in England. If you allow it to grow it will grow up to ten feet. It doesn't seem to mind living on the coast or the salt laden rains. It always seems to need trimming. Living on the Gulf Stream I trim our hedges at least 5 times a year. You give yourself a job for life when you plant an hedge. I like hedges though they soften boundaries and fences.
ReplyDeleteGriselina like to be near the sea I believe and are very tolerant of sea air.Their growth is pretty impressive.Hope they do well.Barbarax
ReplyDeleteYes it is a good seaside hedge Barbara like Rugosa is. Some get a fungus that kills the plant. Usually if you get very wet Irish summers. Laurel is easy also to propagate but prefers to be in land away from salt water. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have a big gappy area of hedge that I plan to lay some hazel over to fill a few gaps then plant in a few willow (as it's very wet) from cuttings. Should be simple enough and llike you said cost very little. I've just spent two days hedge laying and all our posts and binders have come from the hedge, only costing us our time and energy (and a bit of fuel for the chainsaw).
ReplyDeleteYou have all the countryside craft skills Kev. I also propagate Cornus or Dogwood. They are like willow very easy to root. I cut pencil length cuttings and place them in half a bucket of water and they soon root.
DeleteMore evidence that you should have your own gardening programme on Irish TV.... "Hello and welcome. It's me Dave O'Northsider coming to you from The Sheep's Head Peninsula here in West Cork..." Cue theme music "Miracles Out of Nowhere" by Kansas.
ReplyDeleteI would rather be on Kansas TV YP. The blog suffices and I would write a book if any publishers approached me. I have got the face for radio.
DeleteIn Kansas, the show would have to have subtitles.
DeleteToo many Anglo Saxon derived swear words YP and lots of nowts and summats. At least I say fym and farmyard manure these days. There's no flies on me. Just my muck heap.
DeletePrivet is one of my allergy triggers so I'll stay away from that. I have a sort of hedge, a row of jade plants (Crassula) along the front edge of my patch with a couple of gaps to I can get to the tap for watering. They are about four feet tall now.
ReplyDeleteIt's like Privet but not the same River. Olearia is another good seaside hedge with leathery leaves and doesn't mind the salt. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteStrangely Dave you don't see much of it in the wild in NZ because it's like prosecco and chocolate for deer (which are introduced species) and anywhere there are deer they will eat the Broadleaf (as we call it) first, exclusively, entirely... until it is all gone. I hope you have no deer around your rural idyll.
ReplyDeleteYes Tigger you see the odd small deer around the Cork and Kerry mountains areas. Deer were introduced to New Zealand in 1851 according to Wikipedia. The Norman's introduced Hares to Ireland.
DeleteI want to run a row of lilacs along the back of our property. Like a hedge, I guess but more of a back drop. I'll dig the runners and pot them in the green house to grow for a time to give them a better chance against the deer. You are right. Gardening does not have to be an expensive project. One of my nicest gardens was simply wild flowers that I dug up and planted in my own yard.
ReplyDeleteHi Debby. I like cultivated plant species,and I don't mind wild ones in the garden like primroses, dandelion, daidy, celandine and montbretia. Lilac is said to be a good deer deterrent and so is anything with a fragrance.
ReplyDelete