the times Saturday April 9 202218 Outside
MODESTE HERWIG, HEATHER EDWARDS, ERNIE JANES/GAP PHOTOS; ALAMYHard-to-kill
evergreens for
tricky spots
These are perfect for filling difficult areas
of the garden where less-hardy plants
would struggle, writes Stephen Anderton
I
t’s a rare garden that doesn’t have
some really difficult spots, some gaps,
where you don’t want to do anything
fancy but simply get something to
grow. You have tried this and you
have tried that and everything died.
All you’re asking for is something
that will fill the hole and survive in such
difficult conditions. This is where the
trusty evergreens come in.
Difficult conditions include anything
from miserable dark shade under lime
trees where aphids drop their sticky
excreta on to anything that dares to halt, to
root-riddled powdery soil at the back of an
old shrubbery worn out by endless seasons
of drought and no one ever adding any
organic matter, and the wind tunnel that
roars down the side of the house past
the bins.Surely something would grow here. And
in an ideal world it would be an evergreen,
so the gap is closed for 12 months of the
year. Gaps can have as much to do with
summer privacy as winter protection, and
a plant that quietly does its job year-round
in such extreme conditions has got to be
a good thing.
Fortunately there are a few evergreens
that will cope with such extremes,
although the choice is small, but not
surprisingly you will have to make a real
effort to establish them first — a generous
planting hole with lots of compost, a can of
water when it’s dry during that first year —
because remember, only a few months
back that potful was just a feeble cutting
under plastic. It requires a bit of looking
after, but the lack of bare patches and the
results are worth it.Stephen’s top evergreens
Q We have just moved
house and the previous
owner has trimmed all
the garden shrubs into
rather unattractive
“lollipop” shapes. Is
there any pruning
advice that you can
give to create a more
natural shape for them?
P SmithA You could just let them
grow away of course, but
you’d always see that
hedgehog core inside
when the shrubs were
leafless, so no, what
you’ll have to do is some
serious rejuvenative
pruning next winter. For
that you will need to
identify exactly what the
shrubs are in the course
of this summer, so you
can read up which will
accept hard pruning and
which won’t, where to
be gentle and where you
can be severe. Once
you’ve pruned hard
and removed the
hedgehoggery, you will
then be able to select the
best new stems to form
the branchwork of your
remade shrubs.Q We have a dead crab
apple tree in our garden.
It is about 7ft high with
four branches. We do
not want to cut it down
because we hang our
bird feeders on it.
What creeper could we
grow on it?
M FiggA I’d plant something
quite slight that won’t
smother the branches so
you can see the birds
well. Maybe a variety
of early clematis led
upwards on chicken wire,
such as Clematis alpina or
macropetala, which have
small, nodding flowers.
The leaves are small
and fine, and won’t
conspicuously shoulder
the inevitable cargo of
droppings and nut cases.
You might try the
perennial pea Lathyrus
latifolius, which comes in
dark or pale pink, and
white. A big male fern
beside the trunk would
stop the dead tree
looking so lonely if it’s in
grass but its feathery
foliage would not show
the fallout. The shrubby
evergreen Euphorbia
characias would do the
same job.
Send your questions
to stephen.anderton@
thetimes.co.ukQuestion
time
Cherry laurel
(Prunus laurocerasus)
Height 1.5-5m
The wonder of laurel is that its
large reflective leaves bring
light and glitter to the gloom
under trees, which is a rare
quality. It’s cheap to buy, and
in early spring you can get it
bare-rooted in volume as
hedging plants if that’s useful.
However, it’s fast growing, so
be prepared to prune regularly.
Drought and moisture tolerant,
but it turns yellow in too much
lime. The flowers in April
have a sweet coconut scent.Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
Height 2-6m
Ordinary green holly is great
for filling root-riddled gaps
such as the bottoms of old
hedges, but you have to plant it
small for it to thrive (30-60cm);
large plants over 70cm put into
difficult conditions will sit and
sulk. If you are using it as a
dark-gap filler, don’t expect
berries even if it’s a female and
you have male varieties nearby
to pollinate it; better to buy
cheap plants of unknown sex.
Note, variegated varieties lack
chlorophyll and are not strong
enough for difficult conditions.Yew (Taxus baccata)
Height 2-10m
Yew will survive most horrors
except waterlogging (it
succumbs to the fungus
phytophthora) but only once
it’s established; if you want it to
do well fast, spoil it for a year
or two until it’s clearly growing
away. Thereafter will come
your dense, dark green,
shade-tolerant wall, which you
can prune and thicken to your
heart’s content. It is just as
happy in sun, however. It will
survive fierce winds, if stunted,
but its needle foliage may
burn a little and look brown.Portugal laurel
(Prunus lusitanica)
Height 2.5-4m
If cherry laurel is the poor
man’s laurel, this is the classy
version and much less familiar.
Its leaves are smaller and
darker than that all things to
all people green of cherry
laurel, and the leaf stalks are
red. The whole thing is denser,
so much so that people use it
for topiary shapes. It’s not
really a shade-lover, though
tolerant, but in the sun it
makes a wonderful rich
bolster of dark racing green.Laurustinus
(Viburnum tinus)
Height 1-4m
What a plant! It will grow and
flower from the shores of the
Mediterranean all the way to
northern Europe. It’s a star.
Lightly clipped or pruned,
you can keep it chest-high,
although left alone it will reach
more than 3m. Its leaves are
not that glossy but it’s rarely
entirely out of flower. Shade,
which it tolerates, makes it less
dense, as it does most
evergreens. ‘Eve Price’ has
pinky flowers instead of white.Portugal laurel (Prunus lusitanica)