What is the fastest growing conifer for my garden?
Question:I already have 4 conifers at the bottom of my garden and wish to plant some more to give privacy at the back of my garden, so i would like to know what are the fastest and how long they will take to grow?
Thanks
Answers:
Leylandii. Think hard before you plant them though, cos they grow at least one or two feet a year, even when newly planted and they get HUGE. They take a lot of water and nutrients from the soil and they make lots of shade so nothing much grows in your garden.
Maybe you could plant bamboo instead - its quick growing, spreads like wild fire and gets pretty tall for screening.
Leylandiae
Leylandii-plant with caution. They have to be carefully managed, otherwise they grow way too big. They're the biggest cause of neighbour grievances, resulting often in costly court cases!
Thuja Green Giant, Leyland Cypress, Murray Cypress, Cryptomeria, Nellie R Stevens Holly, Carolina Sapphire, & the new Blue Ice Cypress are hardy, fast growing evergreen trees, ideal for making an attractive privacy hedge. http://www.quicktrees.com/
Selecting Landscape Plants: Conifers http://www.conifer.com.au/cupressus_larg...
Evergreen Conifers http://www.bamboopipeline.com/resourcesl...
Conifers are usually large pine trees (Pinaceae family). Their are literally thousands of species. A fast growing conifer would be a mondell or afghan pine. It is an excellent privacy tree, and drought tolerant but will grow much faster if watered almost daily during the 1st year after planting.
These trees do require lots of maintenance, as they will drop numerous pine needles and pine cones. Other good choices would be the Aleppo and Italian stone pine trees.
i agree with KB: there are much nicer things to grow than leylandii which can quickly become unmanageable. there are a number of bamboos which look much nicer and grow almost as fast.
if you want a very fast screen then grow cleome (spider flower) or sorghum. although these are only annuals, they can in one season grow to about 5 feet (cleome) or as much as 8-10 feet (sorghum) and provide great temporary hedges/screens. however, for long term i would grow bamboo: my choice would be Phyllostachys nigra (Black bamboo) which has pretty emerald green leaves and canes that are jet black when they are mature. it grows fast and planted thickly will make a superb hedge. can reach 10-20 feet so should be ideal. in UK, you can get it from garden centres including B&Q and from the "Crocus" website. if you're overseas then do a web search for suppliers.
Leylandii are certainly the fastest growing, but I think you would regret planting them for all the reasons already given.
Perhaps you could consider hebes - these also grow very quickly, they are evergreen and they flower all sumer. You can get white, pink or purple flowering varieties and they attract bees and butterflies. They are easy to trim and keep to the height you are happy with and they make a good dense hedge, growing from 18ins high to a 5 ft hedge in 3 - 4 years.
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