British Columbia: What hedging is best for success in Surrey BC

Hi,
I would like to plant a privacy hedge about 80' long in a sunny location of my yard. I want to keep the hedge prunded in a box shape to a maximum height of 5' and width of 2'. I would like to know what plant would be best suited for this. I was thinking maybe of using emerald cedar or photinia. My personal preference is photinia robusta since I've heard that there can be many problems associated with trying to grow cedar hedges successfully. I don't mind having the work of pruning one or twice a year. I was also wondering if the photinia will provide me with enough privacy since the spaces between the foliage are more open than with cedar hedging. Hoping someone could offer a good suggestion.

Thanks.

 

Yew or box. Slower-growing than many popular hedge species, but they trim very neatly, and re-grow readily even after any very hard pruning.

 

Photinia are being spoiled by leaf spot now.

 

Thank you .

How long do you think it would take to grow a boxed yew hedge to 5' height if I start out with small plants? Plants to be evenly spaced at about 33 cm.

 

If you want quick you will have to use something other than box or yew. How it works is that quick hedges like photinia grow big and rank, higher quality one like box, holly and yew have a sometimes quite extended waiting period.

 

Photinia have a few major pest issues (particularly leaf spot as Ron mentioned) and their growth rate can overwhelm you quickly.
With budget, availability, good looks, reasonable pest resistance and a moderate growth rate as criteria, my pick would be Choisya ternata.

 

I'd stay away from the cedars, unless you're ok with having a bit of a dead zone underneath and the immediate vicinity. The bits that fall off acidify the soil, and the shrubs themselves suck the earth dry of nutrients.

 

Thanks for all your replies.

I've decided that I'm going with Hicks yew. It's going to be several years before I get the hedge I'm after but I think in the long run it's worth the wait. Can anyone tell me how much to water and fertilize? Also want to know the best time of year to prune. I will only be pruning on the sides for the first few years until I get the height that I want.

Thanks again to all.

 

City of Vancouver Urban Forestry recommendations:

"Trees respond best when the water is applied slowly over the root ball at a rate of about 20L (5 gals) per watering, twice per week. Water restrictions do not apply to the watering of new landscape trees."

Re: Fertilizing, most new stock comes so hopped up on fert from the nursery that you're likely to see responses to excesses rather than deficiencies. Without an idea of your existing soils via analysis, I would not recommend further fertilizing.

 

Thanx for the watering info. Any idea on when to prune?

 

Define thresholds in size requirements, and trim when necessary to maintain those thresholds. Prune dead and dying tissue as you see it.

 

Watering frequency and quantity varies with each situation, as does fertilization. Much stock at outlets here shows severe nutrient deficiencies; retailers are often loathe to fertilize unless they are also growers. Stock arrives from growers often having been given consistent fertilization, to suddenly then not get any. Yet heavy watering like that experienced in production operation needed to keep stock alive. Result: sometimes rapid onset of heavy leaching of soil minerals.

Plants can look okay and still have significant deficiencies, when they look as pale as much stock offered here they are really hungry. Plants in poor condition do not establish readily, may even fail completely to grow into satisfactory specimens on final planting site.

 

Normal type yew would be better - fastigiate plants don't trim very neatly, as the erect shoots tend to get the bark stripped off one side by the trimmer, leaving ugly white lines in the hedge. Plants with normal ± horizontal shoots give a much neater trim.

 

Thanks Michael for the tip about fastigiate hicks yew. I will definitely be using a different variety. Can you please recommend an appropriate variety suitable for formal hedge. I'm also having a difficult time finding a nursery that carries yews. There doesn't seem to be much demand for yew. Do you know of any nurseries in the lower mainland that have yew? I've located a grower out in Aldergrove but they don't seem to be very knowledgable about their stock. They actually recommended that I use hicks yew for my formal hedge. Now I know better.

 

The type species Taxus baccata will be fine if you can find some. No need for any named varieties. No need to space closer than 45cm.

One thing to look out for is to buy young plants that have never been topped. If the original leader is intact you may expect annual vertical growth of 15-30cm, if the leader has been cut there will be more lateral growth at the expense of much slower vertical growth (exactly what you want once it has reached the desired height).

 

Typical, unselected wild-type Taxus baccata is effectively non-existent in commerce here.

When searched for "taxus" this shows there being wholesale production of yews by multiple companies in BC.

http://www.canadanursery.com/Page.asp?PageID=122&ContentID=769