Is it a Hedge or a Tree?
Laura Matter; Manager, Natural Soil Building program at Seattle Tilth
Did you know that most of the plants we use as hedges for privacy in our gardens are actually small trees? We don't think of them that way usually, but when we don't get around to pruning them, that's when we see their true nature emerge!
Take Photinia x fraseri for instance. This broadleaf evergreen plant is a common substitute for laurel; used for its showy flush of new red leaves on the tips of the branches. It looks nice when it is kept trimmed and to the size desired but consider this; Photinia can grow to become a 15 foot tall tree, with a trunk and radiating branches that you can sit under! This is of course one way to grow this plant doing means you have to give it enough space in the garden, space you could devote to a plant with better features as a tree. Growing as a tree, Photinia is messy. It drops leaves all year long and the broadleaf evergreen nature of the plant makes these leaves persistent in the landscape unless picked up.
To keep this plant working as a hedge for you means paying attention to pruning throughout the year. This is not a plant that you should cut back hard all at once unless you seriously need to renovate an overgrown plant. Doing so stresses it and adds to the possibility of infection with Entomosporium, a fungal disease commonly seen on Photinia. What works best is to let the new shoots grow to about a foot length and then cut back halfway to retain the new red color. As the shoots mature the red leaf becomes green. The plant will continue to grow throughout the season and you should continue to do the detail pruning to keep it in shape and keep some red growth for the longest period possible. Not being vigilant about pruning will net you an increasingly woody stemmed plant that ultimately evolves into a tree in your yard.
If this is an overwhelming task to consider because you have a fifty foot long hedge of Photinia, it might be best to consider another plant for a hedge of that size. Photinia needs full sun and good air circulation. Having a very large hedge of it can create conditions that encourage fungal problems by blocking light and air and making it hard to clean up the fallen leaves underneath it. Instead of a long running hedge, use this plant as a foil for other plants in the garden, as a background shrub kept pruned to a manageable size that can highlight the plants around it. It can be used as a screen by careful placement in the yard. Place the plants individually instead of in a row and stagger them in the bed to provide depth to the planting. This will still be an effective screen while accenting the other plants in the bed and its evergreen nature makes this work all year long!
For more information please contact the Garden Hotline at 206-633-0224 or email help@gardenhotline.org. The Garden Hotline is a program managed by Seattle Tilth and sponsored by the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program of King County, The Saving Water Partnership and Seattle Public Utilities.
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