Red Robin hedge advice

robin3

hi,
I'm contemplating planting a red robin hedge along the front /roadside of my house. Its a rural setting, we have put up a fence last year and intend to plant outside/roadside of the fence. Want it to grow about 5ft and would like to encourage it to be bushy and full. Should I but 2-3ft plants or 20-30cm plants advertised. Would like it to be big quick but not at a cost to fullness.
Will be planting other hedge /trees at side and back not sure what, next door has a copper beech hedge and mixed planting.
Don't want to regret planting it in several years. will it look ok?

Sonnenblumen

robin3 wrote: »

hi,
I'm contemplating planting a red robin hedge along the front /roadside of my house. Its a rural setting, we have put up a fence last year and intend to plant outside/roadside of the fence. Want it to grow about 5ft and would like to encourage it to be bushy and full. Should I but 2-3ft plants or 20-30cm plants advertised. Would like it to be big quick but not at a cost to fullness.
Will be planting other hedge /trees at side and back not sure what, next door has a copper beech hedge and mixed planting.
Don't want to regret planting it in several years. will it look ok?

Good choice - Red Robin (Photinia) makes a lovely hedge.

You could plant either size, shouldn't be a significant cost difference for the plants as these are relatively small and young. If initial height is not important, young RR plants do settle down quickly. To encourage a bushy growth from base, regular light trimming of leader stems and some of the lateral shoots will ensure good full and dense growth but also more new shoots which provide the red colouring.

Prepare ground well and add plenty of organic material and fertiliser.

Antiquo

robin3 wrote: »

hi,
I'm contemplating planting a red robin hedge along the front /roadside of my house. Its a rural setting, we have put up a fence last year and intend to plant outside/roadside of the fence. Want it to grow about 5ft and would like to encourage it to be bushy and full. Should I but 2-3ft plants or 20-30cm plants advertised. Would like it to be big quick but not at a cost to fullness.
Will be planting other hedge /trees at side and back not sure what, next door has a copper beech hedge and mixed planting.
Don't want to regret planting it in several years. will it look ok?

The thing with Photinia's is they make a good feature or ornamental hedge in the right location but I wouldn't consider it strong enough to be a utility hedge, i.e. kids bouncing balls of it, stopping dogs, etc. I know this isn't the situation you are looking to place it in but it will be at the roadside exposed to wind turbulence from road traffic (the volume of traffic I don't know so it may be fine).
They don't like wind, frost or cold and they absolutely hate wet heavy clay. Slightly shaded or sunny areas no real issue but but I've seen plants put in lightly shaded West facing locations do poorly as its too cool. They have to be pruned regulary to prevent them getting leggy so your expected 5' eventual height cannot be reached quickly.

Just re-reading this and it sounds a bit negative and I do like this plant which in the right location, soil, etc . is a brilliant plant. However in your case there is no point going down this road with Photinia if it can't be given everything it needs they are a bit of a wimp compared to many other hedging plants which survive on the most basic of soils and climate conditions.

robin3

Thanks for your replies.
Was out and about today and saw some red robin bushes and I just love the unusual colouring and the shiny leaves, so would love to plant my hedge in this.

To be honest Antiquo I'd be fairly happy that it wouldn't be abused by kids/animals/traffic and that the position is south facing and would be plenty sunny and yet it would have shelter.

But you mentioned soil, and this concerning me most, how do I know what type of soil I have? I'd describe it as clay and stony but don't know how accurate that'd be in gardening terms.

Also, The lawn and fence are on a slightly higher level than where I want to plant the hedge think i'll have to upload a pic to explain this properly but basically its level at one end and gradually rises to leave the lawn about 12-15 inches over the ground level on the outside, there is nothing holding the lawn in, its just a small sloping piece of ground and this is where I want to plant the hedge in. will this be okay or will it cause problems for the plants?

Finally, I can get 100 photinia for under €200 at 20-30cm in 9l pots or 2-3ft ones at bout €3.50/4, will the big ones get bushy? will it take an ages for the small ones to grow?

robin3

This might give you some idea of what I mean, it'd be like the bit outside the fence but not as high at the end and less the big rocks obviously and inside the fence is just a flat lawn, hope this helps or rather helps you help me;)

Sonnenblumen

Antiquo wrote: »

The thing with Photinia's is they make a good feature or ornamental hedge in the right location but I wouldn't consider it strong enough to be a utility hedge, i.e. kids bouncing balls of it, stopping dogs, etc. I know this isn't the situation you are looking to place it in but it will be at the roadside exposed to wind turbulence from road traffic (the volume of traffic I don't know so it may be fine).
They don't like wind, frost or cold and they absolutely hate wet heavy clay. Slightly shaded or sunny areas no real issue but but I've seen plants put in lightly shaded West facing locations do poorly as its too cool. They have to be pruned regulary to prevent them getting leggy so your expected 5' eventual height cannot be reached quickly.

Just re-reading this and it sounds a bit negative and I do like this plant which in the right location, soil, etc . is a brilliant plant. However in your case there is no point going down this road with Photinia if it can't be given everything it needs they are a bit of a wimp compared to many other hedging plants which survive on the most basic of soils and climate conditions.

Very few hedging plants will thrive in exposed sites, that said, Photinia is common throughout the countryside as a front hedge/specimen shrub. I seriously doubt traffic will cause any problems, and if Kildare is anything to go by, Photinia does appear to do very well on road frontage sites. Even when grown as standards.

Regular light pruning is preferred, unlike many of the more common/basic hedges which will tolerate heavy cutting.

Photinia does not like deep cutting/pruning. A fast grower which will do well in most soils, ie reasonably draining soils, not persistent damp/wet areas.

Antiquo

robin3 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.
Was out and about today and saw some red robin bushes and I just love the unusual colouring and the shiny leaves, so would love to plant my hedge in this.

To be honest Antiquo I'd be fairly happy that it wouldn't be abused by kids/animals/traffic and that the position is south facing and would be plenty sunny and yet it would have shelter.

But you mentioned soil, and this concerning me most, how do I know what type of soil I have? I'd describe it as clay and stony but don't know how accurate that'd be in gardening terms.

Also, The lawn and fence are on a slightly higher level than where I want to plant the hedge think i'll have to upload a pic to explain this properly but basically its level at one end and gradually rises to leave the lawn about 12-15 inches over the ground level on the outside, there is nothing holding the lawn in, its just a small sloping piece of ground and this is where I want to plant the hedge in. will this be okay or will it cause problems for the plants?

Finally, I can get 100 photinia for under €200 at 20-30cm in 9l pots or 2-3ft ones at bout €3.50/4, will the big ones get bushy? will it take an ages for the small ones to grow?

Like I said robin3 I love this plant and they are particualrly uplifting especially at this time of year. I'm not trying to put you off Photinia just making you aware they (like any other plant) have their likes and dislikes.

The position sounds ideal and I only mentioned traffic as they would get hammered on a busy wet road in the winter.

The soil and moisture retention are really the only issues which may cause issues.

Heavy clay soil is extremely sticky and fine textured with little or no organic matter and few stones. It holds a lot of water in the winter and won't let it drain though but has a tendancy to dry out rock hard in the summer if sufficienly drained. If the water table is quite high or water tends to drain into this area in summer the soil will remain very wet and heavy.

However from what I can gather of your situation as long as you give the planting trench a good digging to break up the soil, add plenty of compost and fertilizer it will be fine. Very important you do this for any hedge as it is going to be there for a long time.

Only concern is that does the lawn (your front garden) slope down to the road and as the proposed hedge line will be lower than the lawn does water drain from your front garden into the road. Would this area be wet/soggy underfoot (other than middle of winter when everything is wet)? If not then I'd say you've got a home for Photinia.

As for the size of plants to purchase it depends on how the larger bushes have been grown so far, i.e. have they been well pruned so they have multiple stems and branches or are they 90cm of straggly branches that will have to be cut back to 30cm? If the larger bush has been well pruned and there are multiple healthy stems (looks like a mini hedge) then you're saving maybe 2-3 years over buying the smaller bushes. Otherwise go for the young plants just make sure (check a few) they have a well formed root system so they will quickly establish.

The thing with any hedge is patience its a case of two steps forward an one back. The best hedges are tight multi stemmed and covered with foliage. To achieve this you need to constantly prune new growth back to encourage side shooting if you don't it will reach for the sky as quick as it can and the plant will be a straggly bush not a hedge. Young Photinia is pruned in early summer only until its well established say 2 years then light prune early, mid and late summer ongoing.

A Photinia bush left to its own devices and pruned once in a blue moon will reach 5' in about 5-6 years. It will be tall but straggly not what you want for a hedge. A good tight hedge could take 10 or more years to achieve this height because you are constantly pruning it to produce side shoots and thicken it.

robin3

Thanks for the replies I appreciate hearing all advice as I want to know what I'm getting myself into and not just pick something pretty and regret it later.
Think I'll get started on the organic material and a bit of sand/gravel dug in deeply in the next few weeks to help drainage, with a view to planting round Easter(Late April).

Just one final question, would you say its ok to plant on the kind of slope I mentioned? would it make for wetter conditions for the hedge. Hubby is thinking of putting up a low wall but I can't see the point if the hedge will be bushy from the bottom

Antiquo

robin3 wrote: »

Just one final question, would you say its ok to plant on the kind of slope I mentioned? would it make for wetter conditions for the hedge. Hubby is thinking of putting up a low wall but I can't see the point if the hedge will be bushy from the bottom

Slope is fine how would it make it wetter? Not understanding the wall as it wiil only block light from hedge and as you say hedge when pruned will be bushy from the bottom.

robin3

Yea very true it'd block light.
Wetter as water from the lawn may run down there, don't know if that'd actually happen, but its hubby's argument. Also he's afraid that the soil will crumble and fall away from the roots, or base of the plants.
We're just talking really the only way to know what it like is to get out there and give it a dig! here's hoping for a dry day

hbonbr

I want to screen my garden, to prevent overlooking. I'm leaning towards this plant. I need the screen to be 10 ft high. Would it be possible to buy plants this size, if so, where?

lazybones32

hbonbr wrote: »

I want to screen my garden, to prevent overlooking. I'm leaning towards this plant. I need the screen to be 10 ft high. Would it be possible to buy plants this size, if so, where?

I planted a 5ft Photinia a few weeks ago and it had a E78 price tag.