2-3 m Screening with planters for on top of a stone wall

[outtathelefteyei]

Hello there

Does anyone have any recommendations for a problem we are facing regarding trying to screen our property?

We live on a steep hill, bordered on one side by an old 2.5 m high 20 m long stone wall which acts as a terrace for the land up the hill. The area is relatively sheltered from wind etc.

I need to create a screen along this wall which will effectively reach another 2-3 metres above the height of the wall and unfortunately I need it fast (this year) and for the entire length of the wall. :S

Initially we thought of planting pleached trees at the bottom of the wall but the time frame and cost was not doable from my initial investigations.

So I'm trying to investigate the idea of installing planters on top of the wall with some sort of plant/tree/shrub that will form an effective screen that isn't £££.

I've also seen some places selling living ivy screens in planters, but again whether this is the most effective and economical solution I'm not sure.

So what I'm struggling with is
-is this way of screening to the height we need even possible?
-if so what sort of plants should I be looking at?
-is this a major ££££ undertaking?

Thanks in advance!

At the risk of making a horrible pun, that's a tall order. Anything you put in a planter will need regular watering and, if the planters are on top of a wall 2.5m high, that's not an easy task. Could you go to a local garden centre and ask advice? It sounds expensive...

Thanks Knitted, I know, it is looking expensive and also tricky....

this in front of the wall?

I’d suggest Laurel, it is fast growing, but can be pruned to any desired shape/ height. I have it on a sloping boundary and give it a spring and summer prune to keep it in shape. I also grow clematis through it foe more interest.

Thank you all for your thoughts and sorry for the late reply. We wanted to avoid bamboo/laurel if possible as the house is an old Georgian rural property. We are also in a conservation area and would like to aim for something that complements all the native stuff around.

OK NEW PLAN!

We are thinking of planting a row of established 6m Hornbeams in front of the wall to provide the screening. Does anyone have any thought on this?

Looking at:
6m Hornbeam

Would go for pleached but it looks £££ and can't get 6m high so probably just fastigata(?)

My main concern is that they are deciduous: although they hang on to their leaves when juvenile, I've read that when they get to maturity as trees they have a tendency to drop which would obviously compromise the screening (unlike a hedge with hornbeam)

Also worried that even a 6m tree might take a couple of years to get established enough to form a screen?

Not too worried about the wall as apparently the roots for hornbeams are OK for that.

Any thoughts very gratefully received

Darn sorry I should have mentioned that the 6-10 tree solution would just be for a 12 metre stretch of the wall most overlooked, so quite closely spaced

Some of my hornbeans are 20 years old and don't lose all their leavea

Thank you Daisy x

I'll try for a picture in the morning, however we have kept ours at about 6-7 feet - next doors is about 10-12 feet. All planted by the builders so not a lot of TLC, in a mixture of soil and concrete, but we have improved the soil.

Thanks Daisy, a photo would be brilliant if you get the chance

Hopefully this works
For scale DS is 6 feet tall. One is our hedge, one is next doors which they have let grow taller. We have tried to thicken ours before letting it grow up and we are now taking it up taller. It didn't do very well to start but a few years ago we dug it out, replaced some builder's rubble with compost and replanted with a mixture of old plants and new bare rooted plants. The leaves do die in the autumn but we find the leaves stay on the hedge- despite the recent high winds ( and we are on the top of what passes for a hill in East Anglia)

Thanks so much Daisy, really helpful and I think we will go for this option

:D at your East Anglian hills

Thanks again x

We have row of standard laurels I.e. bare stemmed. The variety is causcausnia, so not as in your face as standard laurel.

Hee Hee. trouble with lack of hills in East Anglia is there aren't any decent mountains beteen us and the Arctic!!!! It can be cold.

I suppose you'd need to concider watering, especially if you were planting large specimens? The base of a wall could be dry and in a rain shadow. An irrigation system may need budgeting for?

I suggest Portuguese laurel, its tough, can tolerate poor soil and wind/cold and is pretty fast growing. But it is expensive to buy in large sizes, as are all evergreens.

Tricky I think that is what we have. I posted a picture earlier. Ours are 10 years old now, but I think we paid £115 per tree then, and they were about 4 metres tall, bare root stock. They are brilliant screening, even before they busted out together they still broke up the view of the house behind.

Nigella the one you have is a form of Cherry laurel which isnt quite the same, though it does look very similar to Portuguese laurel.
Large evergreens are always expensive sadly!

Many many thanks for the advice all, we're going to mull it all over for the next couple of days and see where we're at - I never knew gardening/landscaping was this tricky! :D

Thanks again x