A small hedge

I need to create an interface between new concrete pad (holding one of the new water tanks and where the BBQ area will be) and the grass. The grassed area is narrow but a little higher than the pad. I had been thinking along the lines of a retain wall about a besser block high...but Kerrie suggested a small hedge of Sheena's Gold. I like the hedge idea and can easily deal with differing heights...but not keen on Sheena's gold. Thought about mock orange but not excited there either. Would like a low growing hedge, full sun...tight and colourful. Any ideas?

Something smelly would be nice, I cant really help as I would put roses that can be hedged

I hate Sheenas Gold every man and his dog has it except me...

Do you still have any of the cutting I grew for you of this Acalypha




It makes a lovely colourful hedge..

Possibly Mary-Anne...I will have to go for a walk and see if I can see it. I only want it to be about a foot high and very tight - does that plant thicken up that much?

Two I've got that work well are Murraya Min-a-Min and Lillypilli Tiny Trev.

Not exactly a hedge but Philadendron Xanadu is very useful and tough as.



Just read the foot high comment. That might be asking a bit much.

Mary-Anne wrote:

I hate Sheenas Gold every man and his dog has it except me...

Ditto. I feel the same way about a lot of the common palms around Bris as well.

It depends how high you want the hedge. If you only want it 30cm high you will be forever trimming it to keep it neat if you plant things like sheenas gold and murraya (mock orange) or other similar shrubs. They'll be ok if you want one 75cm or 1m or so high. There are several small lilypilly plants that are great for hedging... ones like Tiny Trev which only grow to about .5m over a couple of years, maybe max of 1m eventually... there are also several others of different heights - check them out at a bigger nursery.

If you wanted something you didn't need to trim regularly have you thought about something like liriope - a grassy type of plant that gets spikes of pretty pink or purple flowers. the larger one will grow to .5m high or a smaller one to about 20cm. This is one of our liriopes and a close-up of the flower. I haven't got a pic of all of ours which we are using as an edging but will take one later if you want to see it.



Also something like daylilies, agapanthus, dietes, lomandra - all the same look from .5 to 1m or so and don't require much care except for deadheading. May need splitting up every few years but easier than trimming every couple of months. I'll think of a couple of others too and let you know.

That looks like a great option Gail...now I need to source some liriope...good sized ones would be good...but they will grow. They do look nice; I have a couple around the front but quite young yet.

How long an area do you want for a hedge? If it isn't too long, I have some I could send you. They wouldn't be that big but only take 12mths to fill out.

Thank you for the offer, but I guess it is about 10M or so...from memory Gail.

Hmmm, thinking cap on ... you will need a plant about every 30cm. I'll have a look and see how many I can split up... some are getting rather thick so should be able to do it. PM me your address, I can post some early next week... I'm not going into town until later this week and prefer to post plants early in the week to make sure you get them before a weekend... or if you're heading to M'borough and are going past drop in... or I could meet you in town near the Tin Can Bay road... whatever is easiest for you.

I will PM, Gail. Thanks.

The Art Society gallery here is right on the main street,A narrow garden bed lies between building and footpath . They have had all types of plants there but were too difficult to get people to keep weeds down and water them.
The area has now been planted with miniature Ixora. need no attention once established.Maybe a little prune once every 2 years .The person who choose them picked 3 colours and alternated the
colours when planting.

Now that is a pretty plant Gwen I can imagine them there too what a sight..