Q.     I wish to plant a hedge around my new garden what plants do you advise?

A.     The traditional plant for hedging is the Hawthorn, nice white or pink flowers in the spring followed by red berries in autumn to feed the birds. Snags are nasty thorns that the children might not like and rampant outward growth when established.

A popular hedging plant is the common Beech; this has green leaves in summer, which turn reddish in autumn and remain on the plant well into winter. Golden and Green Privet were once very popular both are evergreen but lacking thorns do not deter children and dogs.

Hornbeam is another quick growing traditional plant. Berberis 'Stenophylla' with lovely yellow flowers has thorns and is evergreen. Also evergreen varieties of Cotoneaster with their red winter berries make a pleasing show.

Three more attractive but sadly more expensive plants are dwarf laurel 'Prunus Otto Lutjens', with lovely perfumed white flowers the spotted laurel 'Aucuba' with large red berries in winter and the English Yew (Taxus baccata).

There are many more varieties to numerous to mention here. When planting any type of hedge try to dig in some food for the plants (compost or farm yard manure) and plant about 50 cm apart.

Q.     Could you please give my some suggestions on what type of shade tree to plant in a small backyard that gets the afternoon sun? From the edge of my patio to the fence line is about 20 feet.

Also please help me with this dilemma. I have a privacy fence but my neighbour has built a patio and a swimming pool that sits very high the privacy fence doesn't do us much good anymore. In order to get some privacy what type of tall evergreen can I plant on the side of my fence for privacy, that would work in a small backyard and yet not look overpowering. I would appreciate your help

Thank you.

A.     You are best asking your local garden centre which shade trees are best suited in your area. Berberis Stenophylla is a good evergreen hedge plant with yellow flowers in summer. Laurel is also a good evergreen. Western red cedar is also good. A good thorny hedge plant is pyracantha, with lovely orange or red berries. If you plant a hedge on your side of the fence, make sure your neighbours don't push the fence down and claim your hedge as the boundary.

Q.     Thanks for this forum. We have a privet hedge that has done beautifully for over 30 years, even after enduring two auto accidents when the hedge was run through by cars. This summer has been in drought condition and the hedge is not doing well.

We came home from a short trip to find two wide areas that are dark brown, looking almost as if someone had sprayed it with some sort of liquid. I should also note that it is at the side of a rather heavily travelled road, including some large trucks that require shifting as they go by due to an intersection across the street. Any ideas?

Barb and Bob, Cape Cod MA

A.     Privet does not live for ever and its always been a problem that when one plant dies the whole lot seem to follow suit. Your hedge was probably planted with plants all of the same age. Try giving garden lime and a mineral feed, privet are gross feeders and could have totally exhausted the soil.

I cannot totally rule out your highway problems, but you say that the problem is sudden. A good alternative to fill in any gaps is Berberis Stenophylla, a yellow flowered evergreen that makes a perfect hedge.

Q.     We have recently purchased a property that has a high conifer hedge (our side) at the front, which the neighbours would like cut by around a 3rd of the height.

They want to cut it back within the next week - will the hedge survive being cut back so much at this time of year or what time of year is it best to cut it? Also in the back garden I would like to plant some hedging that is beautiful to look at and will grow to about 6ft high - what would you recommend. Thank you for your help.

Debbie & Tim, Woking

A.     Your conifer hedge will survive being cut back, but unless you are very careful, it will look a mess for a while. The way to do it is to cut out the centre and leave the outer branches higher than the centre cut. Recommended alternative hedging plants. Common beech; Aucuba japonica; Berberis Stenophylla; Common laurel; Holly: Hornbeam; Hawthorn.

Q.     Hi I am lucky enough to have an enormous outdoor space in Manhattan, NYC. The IVY from next door is over the fence and choking the plants I have along the chain link fence (hydrangea, magnolia, rose of Sharon, trumpet vine and clematis, to name a few)

Is there any way to control this, or do I just have to be militant about cutting it back? I don't want to get rid of it all, because it provides a beautiful lush green blanket up the back cement wall which also provides "sound baffling".

Any tips you can offer would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks Nancy

A.     You are entering a vast legal minefield when you start to attack a plant belonging to your neighbour, I have no legal training so can not advise you on this subject. One piece of advice is to talk to your neighbour about the problem.

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Q.     I've recently trimmed my Leylandii conifers and it now seems that some of them are dying. They are going brown at the bottom and the leaves are turning brown and dropping. It's not affected them all though which is where I'm confused.

I did notice that there was some traces of a black dry looking tarry substance on the lower branches before I cut them but didn't think anything of this.

A.     Feed with a high nitrogen fertiliser to encourage leaf growth, and apply a generous dressing of horticultural lime, this will sweeten the soil and is needed to keep the gold colour. The tarry deposits you mention should clear up with the application of lime.

Q.     Dear Sirs, We wish to remove a privet hedge, which is approx. 3 feet 6 inches, and replace it with a Golden Yew hedge. We really would like to have 15ft of screening from this hedge.

Would it be feasible to buy Yew plants of approx 3ft to start with, or is this not the right way to go about establishing a hedge. We are novices, but particularly would like Yew.

If this were possible, how much would it cost? In total we need 92 ft coverage. Of that 35ft we would like to establish to the max height as quickly as possible whereas the rest we would be happy with slower growth. We look forward to hearing from you.

A.     You can buy yew trees of any height from specialist nurseries, yew trees are fairly slow growing and larger specimens are very expensive, I am sorry but I cannot quote a price. There are nurseries, advertising both online and in magazines that specialise in hedging plants.

Recommended spacing is 2 ft to 3 ft apart, water well for the first year. After privet the soil will be in very poor condition, so a good dressing of farmyard manure, if you can obtain it, or a good general fertiliser is highly recommended. Also a dressing of horticultural lime will be needed to sweeten the soil. Dig both in well before planting.

Q.     Last summer I planted about 100 privet hedge seedlings of heights ranging from 1 foot to 2 feet. I spaced them approximately 1 foot apart. The deer got a couple but the rest have come back this year very well. However, the size disparities have increased. Can you tell me what is the proper way to trim privet hedges so as to make them fill out and when is the proper time of year to do so?

Thanks, Paul

A.     When trimming, put a string line at your required height and trim only those plants that are higher than your line. Prune late summer until frost. Only trim lightly until well established. Lightly trimming the sides encourages new growth at the base of the plant so filling out the hedge.

Q.     I have a row of golden Leylandii at the bottom of my garden that I am trying to trim into a neat shape. However I have noticed that a lot of the ''leaves / branches'' are turning brown, as if they are dying. Can I stop this or rescue these trees or does it mean pulling them up and replacing them. They are about 4 years old and about 8 feet tall and I am trimming the tops to stop them growing taller.

A.     Golden Leylandii need hydrated lime to keep the colour and to stay healthy. Horticultural lime is available at garden outlets.

Q.     I want to replace my wax leaf shrub hedge with Encore Azaleas. I would like to completely remove the wax leaf stumps/roots to prevent re-growth; they grew to be some 20 feet tall. The stumps are far too large and the roots very close to sensitive utility lines making it impossible to dig them out. Is there a product available that will rot the stumps and roots without needing to burn them, but at the same time will not harm the soil for the newly growing azaleas?

Thanks for your help.

A.     Yes, you can buy products to destroy tree stumps, ask at your local garden outlet. The practice is to drill a few vertical holes in the top of the stump, pour the concentrate in and seal the holes against rain.

Q.     I would appreciate your advice please. I live in Kent and have a (mainly) privet hedge (with a small amount of lonicera) bordering my front garden. Approximately two-thirds of the privet has died over the last 18 months/2 years. We have consulted a number of "experts" but no one can agree what the problem is.

Some say it is honey fungus, although I cannot see any signs of the "black bootlaces" below the surface. There is an old tree stump on the grass verge outside our house, which has had some light brown fungus growing on it. Others have said it might be weed killer or poison of some sort, which has floated in the air, others don't know.

If it is honey fungus, then I have been told we have to remove the whole hedge, sterilise the soil and replant with something else.

My problem is that it is going to be very expensive to remove, sterilise and replant the whole hedge and I don't want to do this unless it is entirely necessary. Also, I don't want to buy more hedge plants and then find they too die.

Do you have any suggestions and, if we do have to replant, what are the best hedge plants to use? I look forward to your reply. Virginia.

A.     Privet does not live for ever and its always been a problem that when one plant dies the whole lot seem to follow suit. Your hedge was probably planted with plants all of the same age. Try giving garden lime and a mineral feed, privet are gross feeders and could have totally exhausted the soil.

Recommended alternative hedging plants are, Common beech; Aucuba japonica; Berberis Stenophylla; Common laurel; Holly; Hornbeam; Hawthorn.

Q.     Hi There, a quick question that we are hoping you can help us out with is in relation to our English Box Hedges!

They have been planted for a year now and some are doing quite poor, looking lifeless and different in colour to those that are flourishing and clearly multiplying and getting thicker. We have a newly built home and have a lot of clay, however some of the hedges appear to be doing 'ok' compared to others in similar soil. Is it a sunlight factor, soil factor, or are some English Boxes better that others?

We are quite concerned, as we have planted about 500 around the perimeter of our garden front and back hoping to create borders/hedges. The front garden we are hoping to grow quite big so that it appears to act as a fence. Can you please help us with some suggestions/common problems etc? Thanks

A.     I would suggest spreading lots of peat around your plants. This will feed the plants and also make the soil more humus. Box has fine roots and may have trouble establishing themselves in clay. A light application of agricultural lime will help to break up the clay by chemical action. If some of the box is good and healthy, disease would seem not to be the problem. Valecroft.

Q.     I have an 8-foot high privet hedge running the length of the southwest side of my garden. Due to the presence of the privet and the fact it eliminates direct sunlight for much of the day I cannot get anything to grow next to it. I would like to put some sort of flower border there. Any suggestions as to what plants might grow there?

Thanks Richard

A.     Perennials; Trollius; aquilegia; peony; lily of the valley; corydalis; forget me nots; Spanish bluebell; vinca; viola; campanula isophelia; hardy cyclamen; asparagus fern; hardy fuchsia.

Shrubs: Hypericum Rose of Sharon; Spirea Anthony Waterer: Cotoneaster; Dwarf Rhododendron.

Privet is a notoriously greedy plant and if you wish to grow plants near a privet hedge you need to feed and water accordingly. You can sink containers into the ground and plant your chosen plants in the containers so isolating them from the privet roots. Valecroft Nurseries

Q.     I am about to replant a hedge with Leylandii conifers, I note that there are green and golden varieties which is the best?

A.     Firstly, if you want to avoid future trouble don't plant Leylandii. With their rapid growth to great heights (see main picture) they are the curse of modern gardening. Here at the nursery we refuse to sell them, have done for the past 20 years. However if you must plant them, both are about the same. But if you plant the golden, to keep the gold colour you must feed with hydrated lime every so often.

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