Good Evening!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post this evening.

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy" during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality - these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants, only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your help.

Regards


Alex
Glasgow, Scotland

In article ,
AlexBG wrote:

Good Evening!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post this evening.

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I
want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to
plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived
in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy"
during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually
improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening
trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these
at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality
- these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in
the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants,
only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be
greatly appreciated!

Weeping willows grow fast and like it wet.

In article
,
Amos Nomore wrote:

In article ,
AlexBG wrote:

Good Evening!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post this evening.

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I
want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to
plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived
in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy"
during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually
improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening
trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these
at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality
- these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in
the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants,
only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be
greatly appreciated!

Weeping willows grow fast and like it wet.

Birch trees I believe can handle wet feet.

--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden

"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." - Anon

In article ,
Bill who putters wrote:

In article
,
Amos Nomore wrote:

In article ,
AlexBG wrote:

Good Evening!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post this evening.

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I
want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to
plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived
in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy"
during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually
improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening
trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these
at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality
- these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in
the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants,
only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be
greatly appreciated!

Weeping willows grow fast and like it wet.

Birch trees I believe can handle wet feet.

Boggy mat be too wet.

http://www.birch-tree.com/1-birch-tree.htm

--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden

"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." - Anon

AlexBG wrote:

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I
want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to
plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived
in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy"
during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually
improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening
trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these
at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality
- these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in
the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants,
only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be
greatly appreciated!

I'd consider building a berm and then plant atop that.
http://www.sustland.umn.edu/implement/soil_berms.html

No, leyland won't work in boggy ground (fortunately).

There are actually plenty of kinds of willow that will, it is an extraordinarily diverse group of trees. Plenty for you to research there. Several kinds are suitable for hedging.

Alders are another thing happy with wet feet, and again there are a few kinds. Willows and alders are the characteristic plants of carr landforms in Britain, ie, treed boggy places, so those are your main native options.

If you want a conifer, most of them hate swamps (regardless of Scotland appearing to be a huge bog covered in conifers). But there is something called swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum), which I think is pretty hardy but you might need to check. Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn redwood) is another hardy conifer also tolerant of such conditions.

But do you know how Scotlands bogs managed to be covered with Sitka spruce? The answer is that to plant them they have to raise a ridge of soil about 50cm above the surrounding boggy ground, and plant the trees in that. This raised ridge is well drained, and the trees can then start growing in the ridge, and as they reach down into the boggy ground they lower the water table and increase the amount of soil sufficiently dry to grow in. So that is a possibility for you if you wish to increase the range of options. Trees such as birch that commonly grow close by bogs would then become a possibility.

On Apr 10, 2:05*pm, AlexBG wrote:
Good Evening!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post this evening.

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I
want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to
plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived
in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy"
during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually
improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening
trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these
at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality
- these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in
the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants,
only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be
greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Alex
Glasgow, Scotland

--
AlexBG

I would go with echinosum's suggestion on the willows for fast
growers. That is the plan here in the USA's Pac Northewest for stream
recovery. You can propragate them quickly. However it seems you do
have some options if you want some color it seems.
What height and colors yu looking for?
http://www.native-scottish-trees.org.uk/

Gunner wrote:

AlexBG wrote:

My wife and I are doing major overhaul of our garden - one aspect that I
want to change is to give us a bit of privacy, so I am really wanting to
plant some fast growing trees around the edge of my property.

The only problem is that my soil is not of the best quality - I've lived
in this house for over 10 year now, and the soil is really "boggy"
during the winter & when it rains heavily, however it does eventually
improve during the warmer months. Is there any fast growing screening
trees that would survive in my particular soil type?

I was considering purchasing some Leylandii trees - I have some of these
at the front of the house where the soil seems to be of a better quality
- these are really flourishing at the moment, would these be suitable in
the boggy soil? I really don't want to go and spend a fortune on plants,
only for these to die when they are planted - so any advice would be
greatly appreciated!

I would go with echinosum's suggestion on the willows for fast
growers.

Willows are deciduous so they won't offer privacy. Due to their
extremely rapid growth willows are very difficult to maintain, and
their roots wreak havoc, not to mention they make a mess with dropping
limbs.... willows of any typle are probably the worst of all possible
choices.

Brooklyn1 wrote:
....
Willows are deciduous so they won't offer privacy. Due to their
extremely rapid growth willows are very difficult to maintain, and
their roots wreak havoc, not to mention they make a mess with dropping
limbs.... willows of any typle are probably the worst of all possible
choices.

i agree with this, they are good for
wild fields or along rivers where you
don't have to mow or keep neat. otherwise
i'd avoid willows.


songbird

On the basis of these comments I think you are both unaware of the variety of willow species which are available, and how different they can look if maintained into a hedge rather than allowed to grow free. There are also shrubby kinds of willow. Yes, they are deciduous. But consider plants such as beech, hornbeam and hawthorn, and these make dense hedges which offer privacy even in the winter - there are varieties of willow which will do just that, and are commonly used in that way in parts of northern Europe.