GARDEN
POPULATE YOUR BOUNDARY LINE USING TREES AND PLANTS WITH A SPLASH OF COLOUR AND HEIGHT
Need to sort out your boundary lines? Leave it to the evergreens!
This month’s big job was to dispatch five massive Camphor trees growing along our western boundary.
The satisfaction of getting rid of the bloody things, which have been blocking the evening sun for years, was surpassed only by the funereal fragrance of murdered Camphor, which is still lingering around the property as we speak.
When I was a child, my parents had a camphorwood chest and it may have been memories of its scent − as well as my fascination with the ornate carving on top – that led me to plant these trees in the first place. That and complete ignorance of the fact that they would bolt up to 12 metres high and then replace whatever we trimmed off them by lunchtime.
We were lucky, actually. Camphor trees can grow up to 30 metres tall and spill trillions of seeds all over your property, potentially growing more Camphor trees that will grow 30 metres tall and block your sun.
I was busy worrying about what we would plant in their place to reinstate our privacy when the last one fell, and the landscape was revealed. Growing up amongst the Camphors had been two stands of now very tall cabbage trees, a terminally ill Pohutukawa and a healthy crop of rogue cherry trees. The Pohutukawa and the cherries joined the Camphors in heaven, but the cabbage trees were saved.
The appearance of the almost naked boundary line sent me running to auntie Google to select replacement trees which would adhere to our rules:
• Evergreen
• Fast growing
• Easy to care for
• With an eventual height no taller than three metres
• Coloured bright to mid-green to match the cabbage trees.
We decided that we wanted more than one kind of tree in this border, so the race was on to compile the “five most excellent evergreen trees and shrubs for our boundary” list.
Griselinia was the Partner’s first pick. He’s a major Griselinia fan, and although I don’t love them, I now acknowledge their usefulness in a big, casual garden. The variety for this border is Griselina Littoralis “Canterbury”, which has finer foliage than its brothers and sisters, as well as attractive, dark red stems. It’ll handle a range of soil and climatic conditions and grow at a fair clip to three to five metres. Yes, I know we said three but hey, we’re prepared to be a bit flexible.
Not too many of us rave over evergreen trees and shrubs, probably because it’s much harder to get excited by foliage than it is by flowers. But they can be as standout as a flowering shrub as long as they’re planted, nurtured and trimmed with love and skill. Set your boundaries! Lee Ann Bramwell GARDEN EDITOR
Cordyline was my top pick because I realised the five survivors standing out against the sky looked fantastic – strong, sculptural and dramatic. I’m going for “Green Goddess”, it’s an arching, green-foliaged form with scented white flowers in summer, and should grow to about three metres in full sun or part shade.
For some reason the understory plants were easier to choose than the trees. He picked flax. Again, I don’t love flax but I could immediately see how well they’d fit into a landscape design dominated by Cordylines. Phormium Cookianum “Emerald Green” sounded like our baby and indeed it fit the bill − a compact, upright flax with narrow emerald-green leaves forming a bushy clump. It’s smaller than P Cookianum, which always looks to me as if it’s about to savage anything that’s in its way, and it grows well in most well-drained positions.
I wanted a contrast to the strappy leaves of the Cordylines and flaxes, so I suggested Fatsia japonica. It’s a tropical-looking thing with big shapely leaves and it grows in full sun or semi-shade or, in our garden, complete shade. It likes rich soil but survives in poor, and will grow to around three metres.
He suggested we also try a couple of slightly less stroppylooking plants, so the lovely arching grass Lomandra Longifolia “Eve” was added to the list. It’s a fine leaf Lomandra with really dense foliage and will do sun or semi-shade. Most of ours are a couple of years old and are about 80cm tall and the same in width. We might also slip in a few Murraya Paniculata for a bit of light relief – they conform to the colour palette, they’re easy care and their fragrance is fabulous. Yes, better than dying Camphor.