The hedge

I love hedges!

I have filed plenty of inspirational pictures to my pinterest, and I just can't go past a good green hedge.

Yes, very inspirational....

I love how a hedge can create some order and symmetry to a garden.

I know, I know, they are super high maintenance!

I decided that I would start a small hedge and see how it goes. Our hot summers are going to be the litmus test for my aspirational hedge. Unfortunately, a hedge is fairly expensive to establish, especially if you use larger plants. Japanese box is the only type of hedge that will have a chance of survival where I am, and it is really, really slow to get going.

This is good in a way, as the hedge isn't going to be sprouting off every week and it will be easier to clip. But the downside is that it can take years to grow a great hedge that is a nice shape and dense too.

I bought a few plants (12) and as I had not measured the space, I had no idea how many I would need.

I planted 6 on each side and I saw that this would not be adequate. So I went back and bought the rest that were in the nursery. I am going to need more, but the others there were a lot smaller than mine.

My new Japanese Box hedge

The plan is to have a hedge running the length of my paved area, and then take the hedge in an L shape to the pool gateway. Please ignore the weeds and the old rosebushes that desperately need a prune! I tend to ignore weeds and get excited about planting new plants instead.

I had a helper today. He loves watering the plants for me. My other helpers like putting the sugar cane mulch out.

Where I put the sugar cane is the plants I planted first. I just put the rest in this afternoon and I must go and mulch them too.

I really should be painting my pergola instead of planting hedges. I am also ignoring the house painting that I should be getting on with too!

At the same time as I bought the hedge I found these beauties in the nursery. They were only $15 each and are the most massive plants I have ever seen!

They are "Queen Mum" Agapanthus. They are supposed to be purple and white when flowering. It was a bargain, as some of the other aggies for sale were a third of the size for the same price.

I think they will do well now, because they were really pot-bound. I had to cut one of the pots off as the pots were so jam-packed with roots.



Queen Mum Agapanthus

Hopefully they go well and I will grow some baby aggies too. I want a mass planting of aggies with my roses bordered with my hedge.

And then.....

Once I finish painting the pergola I will plant a wisteria on it.

Eventually.......