Cost effective plants to get privacy

[newgardener12]

Hi

About 3 years ago I planted laurels to get a privacy shield from the property overlooking our garden - as the photo below - but these laurels have hardly grown at all. Anything below the fence height - about 1.8m - barely gets any sun which may be why the laurels have barely grown beyond 1.5m high.

1. What are good plants/trees that I can plant? I am looking for a height of 2.8-3m and to cover a width of 5m.
2. How easy is it to relocate the laurels to another part of the garden?

Thanks

How small were your Laurels when you planted them? I can hardly keep up with the pruning of mine. If they were very small they probably needed 3 years to get established. Photinia ( red robin) grows quite fast, but again you’d need mature plants to reach above the fence in the short term. I’d persevere with the laurels, maybe plant a couple of Photinia in between for interest.
In the meantime a temporary wooden screen structure would screen your sitting area.

big plants often spend the first 2 years growing strong roots. Give them plenty of plant food and water and they will get going. If you move them and put something else in, you’ll just have to wait another 2 years.

It might be the nearby trees that they have to compete with that’s causing them to grow slowly. Feed them and water them regularly -they are just about to reach over the wall and into the sun so might take off.

Laurels take 3 years to really get going. Do you water and manure them? They would appreciate that. I’d think about planting a couple of silver birch trees a little further into the lawn too

Bamboo? Eucalyptus?

Have you factored in how deep a laurel hedge gets? You’ll have no garden left!
Photinia is fast growing and easy to maintain. More open than dense though, depends what you’re looking for.
Hawthorn grows quickly and provides good habitat for birds but needs clipping twice a year to be neat.

Not bamboo, made the mistake of planting one clump, no problem for a long time then started taking over the garden, runners everywhere, ok if in a restricted pot but not in the open garden

Definitely not bamboo it’ll go everywhere and I think it may even impact foundations of houses but I’m not sure on that

Not bamboo or eucalyptus - they'll over run your garden. Leave the laurels to grow - water and improve the soil round them to give them a headstart.

Then plant things closer to your seating area - if you are usually only in the garden in spring summer plant a cherry tree and a small birch maybe as it doesn't matter if they lose their leaves in winter - and they'll be dappled shade in summer.

Put up a pergola and put a climber over it. Evergreen jasmine could work well if you want evergreen.

That will give you privacy as you are sat down in the seating area.

I’d feed and water your laurel. I bet they’re about to get going. I’ve just looked at street view at our old house and they went from this to this in six years.

Photos didn’t seem to add. Try again.

You can prune it into a hedge shape though.

Cherry laurels (not sure about other laurels) have a compound which they release which makes it harder for other plants to grow so if you move them, you might have to dig some of the soil out? Or at least mulch it heavily so the stuff breaks down? I would leave them as other have said and given them a good feed and a water.

thanks for all the responses so far - they are great!

1. I planted all the laurels 3 years ago. You will see the ones in the red circle are quite a bit shorted than the ones in the blue circle, despite being the same height when planted (approx 4ft). I suspect that may be because of poor sunlight and/or a palm tree close to the laurels in red.
2. I haven't given the laurels any plant food and, other than the first 1-2 months of planting them back in spring 2022, I have not watered them and just let the good old British weather give them rainwater!
3. Does it still make sense to give them plant food (compost?) and water (and not rely solely on the British rain)? I'm just slightly worried that after 3 years the growth of the laurels has been so poor...could they be bad laurels etc?
4. Another thing I have noticed is there is a build up of dead and un decomposed leaves from other trees on the base of the laurels. Not sure if that hinders growth of the laurels or should be good because it acts as mulch?
5. The main trees in the picture - are they dead because I don't see any leaves etc on them which is presumably strange for April? If so maybe I should have them removed and put something in their place / give more space for the existing laurels?

I'm too scared of planting bamboo / eucalyptus!!!

thanks again for all the excellent comments.

If there is no rain for a week (as now in London) then give them an intense soak with a hose. 3 mins per plant and time it to give enough.

the other trees may still come into leaf because it is still quite early in the year so do nothing now.

The slow growth is probably lack of food and lack of water. all plants will grow better with plant food - I normally get the little pellets that you scatter under some mulch and they slowly release the food over weeks.

We planted laurels, and I watered them every single day for a year (neighbours helped when we were on holiday). They didn’t do much that first year, busy growing the roots I expect, but over the next few years they grew massive, and we now have a fabulous healthy hedge. I mulch them well in late winter with home made compost.