Very low hedge/shrubs

km79

I am looking for ideas on hedges /shrubs to plant around septic tank lids. They are raised off the ground about a foot and are very unsightly ! I still have to be able to access them but would like to block them out with a low hedge/shrubs of some description . Preferably evergreen .
Any suggestions ?

paddy147

km79 wrote: »

I am looking for ideas on hedges /shrubs to plant around septic tank lids. They are raised off the ground about a foot and are very unsightly ! I still have to be able to access them but would like to block them out with a low hedge/shrubs of some description . Preferably evergreen .
Any suggestions ?

Box hedging perhaps

km79

paddy147 wrote: »

Box hedging perhaps

That's what I had been thinking. Gonna price it. Seems east enough to maintain.
Alternatively I had been thinking red robin for winter colour but it may not be as easy to keep low ?

Sgt Pepper 64

Lavenders grow quite low. Smell nice too!
Low maintaince.
Then you have the low form of ceanthus californican lilac
Euonymus fortunei
all quite easy

km79

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Lavenders grow quite low. Smell nice too!
Low maintaince.
Then you have the low form of ceanthus californican lilac
Euonymus fortunei
all quite easy

Are they evergreen ?

Sgt Pepper 64

km79 wrote: »

Are they evergreen ?

yes, all of those are

madmaggie

My neighbours planted cornus around their septic, even though they are not evergreen, the red and yellow stems looks lovely in the winter.

jameshayes

http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/ have a good deal on Box hedging at the moment; 10 euro a (+/-)meter

http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/box-hedging--buxus-sempervirens/buxus_packpd.aspx

km79

jameshayes wrote: »

http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/ have a good deal on Box hedging at the moment; 10 euro a (+/-)meter

http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/box-hedging--buxus-sempervirens/buxus_packpd.aspx

That looks like a very good website thanks.
They have lavender too which may be a good idea for the smell .....do they make for a neat enough hedge as well ? A bit of colour would be nice.
I should also say the back garden is exposed to the south and west and I noticed buxus needs shelter ?

rje66

km79 wrote: »

I am looking for ideas on hedges /shrubs to plant around septic tank lids. They are raised off the ground about a foot and are very unsightly ! I still have to be able to access them but would like to block them out with a low hedge/shrubs of some description . Preferably evergreen .
Any suggestions ?

Hebes, no pruning no clipping. They are also evergreen. Stay compact and look good.
Cornus-dogwoods get to 2m tall.they are good for certain jobs but not for what you have in mind.

Oldtree

broom, but needs to be pruned back after flowering to shape

km79

rje66 wrote: »

Hebes, no pruning no clipping. They are also evergreen. Stay compact and look good.
Cornus-dogwoods get to 2m tall.they are good for certain jobs but not for what you have in mind.

What's the common name for hebes ?

Sgt Pepper 64

km79 wrote: »

What's the common name for hebes ?

Hebes can be struck down by frost btw

comon name is "hebe"

km79

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Hebes can be struck down by frost btw

comon name is "hebe"

Not going to chance them so.
Buxus seem ideal shape and height wise just a littler worried about wind.i would rather the colour and scent of the lavender too ....... Are they fairly tidy ?
Red robin also under consideration but I'd say they are too big to be honest

Sgt Pepper 64

km79 wrote: »

Not going to chance them so.
Buxus seem ideal shape and height wise just a littler worried about wind.i would rather the colour and scent of the lavender too ....... Are they fairly tidy ?
Red robin also under consideration but I'd say they are too big to be honest

if you get the right variety of Lavender then yes, they do small and compact ones alright, the big ones can look scruffy and flop in the middle

paddy147

Box ball hedging used as a border,and then underplanted with Winter Savory.

Had a good look at this,earlier this morning,and it looked and smelled fantastic..:)

km79

Having had a good think on it outside this evening and read up on all the suggestion I think in gonna go for a mixture of a few of them rather than a formal hedge !
Definitely looking at a few Dogwood (assuming their roots don't pose any risk of damage ) and lavender. Not sure about the Buxus now. Don't think the soil here will suit. Any others to throw into the mix ?

paddy147

km79 wrote: »

Having had a good think on it outside this evening and read up on all the suggestion I think in gonna go for a mixture of a few of them rather than a formal hedge !
Definitely looking at a few Dogwood (assuming their roots don't pose any risk of damage ) and lavender. Not sure about the Buxus now. Don't think the soil here will suit. Any others to throw into the mix ?

Dogwood wont be evergreen...but it does have lovely red and green branches/stems in wintertime,that can be very striking indeed.

km79

paddy147 wrote: »

Dogwood wont be evergreen...but it does have lovely red and green branches/stems in wintertime,that can be very striking indeed.

That's what I'm hoping . There is something nagging me in the back of my mind about them though. Are their roots invasive or am I mixing them up with something else(I know Wilow are too)

km79

jameshayes wrote: »

http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/ have a good deal on Box hedging at the moment; 10 euro a (+/-)meter

http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/box-hedging--buxus-sempervirens/buxus_packpd.aspx

I'm looking at these again now.
They are only 10cm tall though . Is that the standard size potted buxus is sold as ?

parseeker

hi just a few suggestions

If the tank covers are a foot over ground then lavendar would be a poor choice, sure it will look great and provice some cover for a few months but when you traim it back after flowering it will be just about the right height to "show off" the tank covers ... it is beautiful though and i'd use it somewhere else.

The last thing you want to do is grow a rectangular hedge enclosure around the covers ... have seen this done and it looks poor, unless maybe you plant a couple of Standard Bays or something with some height around the ends to brerakit up a bit. Even then this is a more formal look and may not siit well with the rest of the garden.

Maybe a more informal curved area with various grasses etc... With these providing height you could thenj add some lavendar etc

km79

parseeker wrote: »

hi just a few suggestions

If the tank covers are a foot over ground then lavendar would be a poor choice, sure it will look great and provice some cover for a few months but when you traim it back after flowering it will be just about the right height to "show off" the tank covers ... it is beautiful though and i'd use it somewhere else.

The last thing you want to do is grow a rectangular hedge enclosure around the covers ... have seen this done and it looks poor, unless maybe you plant a couple of Standard Bays or something with some height around the ends to brerakit up a bit. Even then this is a more formal look and may not siit well with the rest of the garden.

Maybe a more informal curved area with various grasses etc... With these providing height you could thenj add some lavendar etc

I may yet go with a few different Dogwoods around it and few other shrubs including lavender.
I get what you are saying about the foal box hedge. In effect I'd be making it a feature when I want to do the opposite

parseeker

cool,
i dont like dogwoods myself, probably because the councils use them en masse for roadsides in our area.

i love conifer beds with a mix of tall and groundcover plants and maybe some heathers ... a bit expensive though they look great when well thought out .. and tough as hell for children football / pets etc

https://www.google.ie/search?q=conifer+bed&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&hs=GEU&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=zZLJUeLFH8ay0QXw74C4CQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=793