Lee Burkhill: Award Winning Designer & BBC 1's Garden Rescue Presenters Official Blog
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Quote from BrieCheezy on 27th February 2025, 12:17 pm
Dear all,
Hoping to get some advice from some experienced gardeners on this forum. I have two bushes in the front garden which I am trying to develop to provide proper screening. I bought the house 8 years ago and at that time the previous owners had bushes for ornamental purposes only. Since I've had the house, I've replaced some hedges with laurels and let others grow up.
The first of the two bushes I would like advice on (I think it is a honeysuckle and has little white flowers in the spring?) is very straggly, thinning and has collapsed on one side (see photos from inside and outside the front garden) and is also being choked by ground ivy which I am gradually removing. Should I remove dead branches and prune back the hedge before spring (today it is the 27th of February) or should I do anything else? Please help.
The second hedge is, I think, a Portuguese Laurel which is very mature and is more like a tree now and because of this, there's no screening at the bottom part of it. I have planted an offshoot of that bush in the hopes it will grow and fill the space but is there anything else I can and should do? I’d rather try and save both bushes than replace them because of cost and the fact they are mature, but they have to provide good screening.. eventually at the least. Thank you very much in advance for your advice!
Dear all,
Hoping to get some advice from some experienced gardeners on this forum. I have two bushes in the front garden which I am trying to develop to provide proper screening. I bought the house 8 years ago and at that time the previous owners had bushes for ornamental purposes only. Since I've had the house, I've replaced some hedges with laurels and let others grow up.
The first of the two bushes I would like advice on (I think it is a honeysuckle and has little white flowers in the spring?) is very straggly, thinning and has collapsed on one side (see photos from inside and outside the front garden) and is also being choked by ground ivy which I am gradually removing. Should I remove dead branches and prune back the hedge before spring (today it is the 27th of February) or should I do anything else? Please help.
The second hedge is, I think, a Portuguese Laurel which is very mature and is more like a tree now and because of this, there's no screening at the bottom part of it. I have planted an offshoot of that bush in the hopes it will grow and fill the space but is there anything else I can and should do? I’d rather try and save both bushes than replace them because of cost and the fact they are mature, but they have to provide good screening.. eventually at the least. Thank you very much in advance for your advice!
Firstly thanks for considering wildlife by creating this privacy hedge in your front garden, whats a great idea! It helps not only wildlife, but slows down rainfall and can help capture pollution too, all of which a fence or brick wall cannot do!
The two plants you have are 1) Choisya ternata (white flowered shrub) and 2) Photinia x fraseri (Red Robin).
The bad news is the Choisya will need a severe hard prune to get it back to a more closed shrub form, there's no easy way to get it to regrow further down as it really needs a hard prune for that.
https://youtu.be/a6kz7ou_32c
The other news is that the Photinia has been grown and probably pruned more as a tree. The dark brown bits are dead and so that entire shoot and trunk needs to come off sadly.
One option is to plant dry shade loving perennials beneath them to try and close the gap or remove the two shrubs and plant a more suitable hedge plant alternative.
Firstly thanks for considering wildlife by creating this privacy hedge in your front garden, whats a great idea! It helps not only wildlife, but slows down rainfall and can help capture pollution too, all of which a fence or brick wall cannot do!
The two plants you have are 1) Choisya ternata (white flowered shrub) and 2) Photinia x fraseri (Red Robin).
The bad news is the Choisya will need a severe hard prune to get it back to a more closed shrub form, there's no easy way to get it to regrow further down as it really needs a hard prune for that.
The other news is that the Photinia has been grown and probably pruned more as a tree. The dark brown bits are dead and so that entire shoot and trunk needs to come off sadly.
One option is to plant dry shade loving perennials beneath them to try and close the gap or remove the two shrubs and plant a more suitable hedge plant alternative.
Lee Burkhill: Award Winning Designer & BBC 1's Garden Rescue Presenters Official Blog
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