Eddy wrote:

Well, I'm certainly to consider rhodos on the other side of the fence,
but on the side in the photo there are only two planting strips. One
is the long channel about 4" wide between the fence and the
weatherboard barrier beneath it, dry, riddled with roots of the hedge
on the other side of the fence, so best used for tumbling things like
aubreitia - except that we've got enough of that elsewhere. The
other strip, at the base of the weatherboard barrier, is actually
council property, i.e. it's the verge between our land and the tarmac
of the road, so something natural would be best in there. (When we
arrived it was all thistles and nettles.)

If they'll stand the cold, what about Ceanothus (particularly
impressus or thyrsiflorus)? There are various Sarcococca that would
also fit the bill. An added bonus would be scented flowers in winter.

Ceanothus: a big big and bushy for the two strips above. Sarcococca
hookeriana looks like it could be a good natural-looking evergreen
groundcover for the roadside strip - except that likes shade.

According to the RHS Dictionary of Gardening, "Sarcococca grows best in
partial shade, but will tolerate full sun provided there is sufficient
moisture in the soil". It also days that they flourish in a neutral to
alkaline, humus-rich soil, although frequently tolerating a dry, calcareous
soil. I grow mine in a 12" pot in partial shade, and it does very well.


If shrubs aren't what you want, and you are in a very cold winter
area, then I seem to remember a thread on hardy evergreen climbers a
few months ago (try Google groups for this newsgroup). I think the
conclusion was that only Hedera would stand most situations, and
even that might suffer with a severe frost.

Indeed! Hedera would be fine provided it didn't start clasping itself
to the weatherboard barrier and creeping upwards. . . is there a
sub-species that can resist the temptation? :-)

Not sure, but Hedera comes in so many forms there must be something! What
about an Ilex? Something like the crenata cultivars can be pretty dwarf, or
at least slow growing. Even bog-standard holly can be kept in bounds by
trimming it.

I doubt the council would be too concerned about plants in their space
provided they represented no danger, and they didn't have to do any
maintenance (I'd be more worried about spray drift if they used weedkillers
to keep the pathside growth down).


--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

Jeff Layman wrote:
Sarcococca
hookeriana looks like it could be a good natural-looking evergreen
groundcover for the roadside strip - except that likes shade.

According to the RHS Dictionary of Gardening, "Sarcococca grows best in
partial shade, but will tolerate full sun provided there is sufficient
moisture in the soil". It also days that they flourish in a neutral to
alkaline, humus-rich soil, although frequently tolerating a dry, calcareous
soil. I grow mine in a 12" pot in partial shade, and it does very well.

Thanks for this, clarifying Sarcococca. I know the soil is more acid
than alkaline, so it might have a tough time, but if it tolerates dry
soil then it would look good. I think I'll keep this in reserve, should
whatever I choose fail.

Not sure, but Hedera comes in so many forms there must be something! What
about an Ilex? Something like the crenata cultivars can be pretty dwarf, or
at least slow growing. Even bog-standard holly can be kept in bounds by
trimming it.

With something tumbling from the top of the fence, I'ld like as much of
the tumbling to be visible as possible, so the lower plant really needs
to be more of a ground-hugger, rather than only ground-cover.

I doubt the council would be too concerned about plants in their space
provided they represented no danger, and they didn't have to do any
maintenance (I'd be more worried about spray drift if they used weedkillers
to keep the pathside growth down).

Given me a fright there, Jeff! I thought I would be the only one using
glyphosate in and around our front gate! But way out here, in the back
of beyond, lost in the sticks, an absolute spider-web of lanes, I don't
think they bother. And I think there'd be an outcry if they did. The
verges are full of snowdrops at the moment, the honeysuckle is beginning
to leaf, tiny violets appear later, as well as numerous other dainty
little flowers.

Eddy.

On Sat, 8 Mar 2008 18:08:22 +0000, Eddy wrote
(in article ):

Jeff Layman wrote:

snip

I doubt the council would be too concerned about plants in their space
provided they represented no danger, and they didn't have to do any
maintenance (I'd be more worried about spray drift if they used weedkillers
to keep the pathside growth down).

Given me a fright there, Jeff! I thought I would be the only one using
glyphosate in and around our front gate! But way out here, in the back
of beyond, lost in the sticks, an absolute spider-web of lanes, I don't
think they bother. And I think there'd be an outcry if they did. The
verges are full of snowdrops at the moment, the honeysuckle is beginning
to leaf, tiny violets appear later, as well as numerous other dainty
little flowers.

Yeah - ain't Shropshire wonderful! Ssshhh - you don't want everyone else to
find out, do youg



--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

Eddy wrote:

Thanks for this, clarifying Sarcococca. I know the soil is more acid
than alkaline, so it might have a tough time, but if it tolerates dry
soil then it would look good. I think I'll keep this in reserve,
should whatever I choose fail.

Not sure, but Hedera comes in so many forms there must be something!
What about an Ilex? Something like the crenata cultivars can be
pretty dwarf, or at least slow growing. Even bog-standard holly can
be kept in bounds by trimming it.

With something tumbling from the top of the fence, I'ld like as much
of the tumbling to be visible as possible, so the lower plant really
needs to be more of a ground-hugger, rather than only ground-cover.

Other thoughts - Cotoneaster dammeri, Daphne laureola, Euonymus fortunei,
Hypericum calycinum, Waldsteinia ternata.

The verges are full of snowdrops at the moment, the
honeysuckle is beginning to leaf, tiny violets appear later, as well
as numerous other dainty little flowers.

Enjoy!

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

Sally Thompson wrote:
Yeah - ain't Shropshire wonderful! Ssshhh - you don't want everyone else to
find out, do youg

Hee, hee. No, not particularly, Sally! On the other hand, I know for a
fact 99.9% of people couldn't tolerate the isolation we suffer out here!
And what with the price of petrol going endlessly up, those trips to
the nearest supermarket, 30 mins away, have to be very well planned for,
don't they!

Eddy.

Jeff Layman wrote:

Other thoughts - Cotoneaster dammeri, Daphne laureola, Euonymus fortunei,
Hypericum calycinum, Waldsteinia ternata.

Jeff, thanks! The Euonymus fortunei and the Waldsteinia ternata look
just like what's needed. The hypericum calycinum is good too but I know
it well and one of its negatives was the way it starts appearing from
crevices in walls etc. Whether its roots would travel under the
adjacent soil-retaining fence and then begin to appear between the
planks, I'm not sure, but I don't think I'll chance it! Love the
luscious denseness of the Waldsteinia ternata!

Eddy.

In article ,
Eddy writes:
| Sally Thompson wrote:
| Yeah - ain't Shropshire wonderful! Ssshhh - you don't want everyone else to
| find out, do youg
|
| Hee, hee. No, not particularly, Sally! On the other hand, I know for a
| fact 99.9% of people couldn't tolerate the isolation we suffer out here!
| And what with the price of petrol going endlessly up, those trips to
| the nearest supermarket, 30 mins away, have to be very well planned for,
| don't they!

Isolation? In Shropshire? Needing 30 minutes trips to be "very well
planned"?

The mind boggles!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
Isolation? In Shropshire? Needing 30 minutes trips to be "very well
planned"?
The mind boggles!

Yup, believe it! (The very south-western pocket is much neglected.
Quite a different kettle of fish from north Shrops.)

Eddy.

In article ,
Eddy writes:
|
| Isolation? In Shropshire? Needing 30 minutes trips to be "very well
| planned"?
|
| The mind boggles!
|
| Yup, believe it! (The very south-western pocket is much neglected.
| Quite a different kettle of fish from north Shrops.)

The mind, indeed, boggles - but not at the fact that part of Shropshire
is marginally less suburban than the rest of England. That could well
be true. God alone knows what you would think if you had lived where
I have.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Sun, 9 Mar 2008 14:29:11 +0000, Nick Maclaren wrote
(in article ):


In article ,
Eddy writes:
Sally Thompson wrote:
Yeah - ain't Shropshire wonderful! Ssshhh - you don't want everyone else
to
find out, do youg

Hee, hee. No, not particularly, Sally! On the other hand, I know for a
fact 99.9% of people couldn't tolerate the isolation we suffer out here!
And what with the price of petrol going endlessly up, those trips to
the nearest supermarket, 30 mins away, have to be very well planned for,
don't they!

Isolation? In Shropshire? Needing 30 minutes trips to be "very well
planned"?

The mind boggles!

You'd be surprised (or perhaps you wouldn't) at the people who think that
it's a hardship if there isn't a corner shop open 24 hours a day. We were
once asked when the bus came, and said, truthfully, "next Friday" g. One
of the great pleasures of living a bit out in the sticks is to see the stars
against a velvety black sky, but some people are really lost without street
lights, shops and public transport.

I don't personally consider it that isolated when we have electricity, phones
and cars - but it's a sort of comfortable isolation. I don't knock it!


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
Give free rice to hungry people by playing a simple word game

In article et,
Sally Thompson writes:
|
| You'd be surprised (or perhaps you wouldn't) at the people who think that
| it's a hardship if there isn't a corner shop open 24 hours a day. We were
| once asked when the bus came, and said, truthfully, "next Friday" g. One
| of the great pleasures of living a bit out in the sticks is to see the stars
| against a velvety black sky, but some people are really lost without street
| lights, shops and public transport.

No, I am not :-( But, to regard the lack of such things (or the need
for a mere 30 minute trip to - heaven help me - a supermarket) as
"isolation"! I lived (briefly) at Mansa (then Fort Rosebery) in about
1950 - which was a little bit isolated, but not extremely so.

Sorry, Eddy, but we live on different planets! :-)

| I don't personally consider it that isolated when we have electricity, phones
| and cars - but it's a sort of comfortable isolation. I don't knock it!

Isolation, it ain't, except for people with no access to private motor
transport! The word implies that you are functionally separated, and
there is no way that is so anywhere in England or even in the vast
majority of Scotland.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:


In article et,
Sally Thompson writes:
|
| You'd be surprised (or perhaps you wouldn't) at the people who think that
| it's a hardship if there isn't a corner shop open 24 hours a day. We were
| once asked when the bus came, and said, truthfully, "next Friday" g. One
| of the great pleasures of living a bit out in the sticks is to see the stars
| against a velvety black sky, but some people are really lost without street
| lights, shops and public transport.

No, I am not :-( But, to regard the lack of such things (or the need
for a mere 30 minute trip to - heaven help me - a supermarket) as
"isolation"! I lived (briefly) at Mansa (then Fort Rosebery) in about
1950 - which was a little bit isolated, but not extremely so.

Sorry, Eddy, but we live on different planets! :-)

I think you may be right there, Nick! You're not a TopGear man, are
you, by any chance? :-) No, calm down, I didn't say "a petrol-head"!

| I don't personally consider it that isolated when we have electricity, phones
| and cars - but it's a sort of comfortable isolation. I don't knock it!

Isolation, it ain't, except for people with no access to private motor
transport! The word implies that you are functionally separated, and
there is no way that is so anywhere in England or even in the vast
majority of Scotland.

We and all our neighbours are isolated. When we use that word we don't
necessarily utter it with a whine! Isolation has its positive sides.
However, we have before lived bang-smack in the centre of cities, i.e. 1
minute down the stairwell to the Chinese takeaway, the stationer, the
dry-cleaner, M&S, cinemas, theatres, bookshops, whatever you want, and
so on and so on. Now that's NOT isolated. We've also lived on the
edge of Snowdonia, in wild West Wales, and THERE believe it or not we
were not as "isolated" from the above amenities, services, and pleasures
as we are now that we are back in England! That supermarket that is
30-minute drive away from this house, frankly it's crap. Horrible
bloody place. Don't be thinking I'm talking about your Sainsbury's,
Tescos, Morrison's or the like! They are much further afield!

Isn't it funny that some people only take on board new knowledge by
aggressively challenging that which they are unfamiliar with! There's
no need.

Eddy.

In article ,
Eddy writes:
|
| No, I am not :-( But, to regard the lack of such things (or the need
| for a mere 30 minute trip to - heaven help me - a supermarket) as
| "isolation"! I lived (briefly) at Mansa (then Fort Rosebery) in about
| 1950 - which was a little bit isolated, but not extremely so.
|
| Sorry, Eddy, but we live on different planets! :-)
|
| I think you may be right there, Nick! You're not a TopGear man, are
| you, by any chance? :-) No, calm down, I didn't say "a petrol-head"!

Ye gods, NO! That ******** Clarkson! I am a genuine colonial from
the days of the British Empire, over which the sun never set :-)

Look up Mansa in an atlas, and remember that there was no airport
and only a strip road to it when I was there. 50 years before I
was there, the area 50 miles to the west was marked Terra Incognita
on the maps ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Eddy writes:
|
| No, I am not :-( But, to regard the lack of such things (or the need
| for a mere 30 minute trip to - heaven help me - a supermarket) as
| "isolation"! I lived (briefly) at Mansa (then Fort Rosebery) in about
| 1950 - which was a little bit isolated, but not extremely so.
|
| Sorry, Eddy, but we live on different planets! :-)
|
| I think you may be right there, Nick! You're not a TopGear man, are
| you, by any chance? :-) No, calm down, I didn't say "a petrol-head"!

Ye gods, NO! That ******** Clarkson! I am a genuine colonial from
the days of the British Empire, over which the sun never set :-)

Hmmm. THAT'S interesting.

Look up Mansa in an atlas, and remember that there was no airport
and only a strip road to it when I was there. 50 years before I
was there, the area 50 miles to the west was marked Terra Incognita
on the maps ....

Doesn't look very isolated to me, Nick! :-)
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Mans...L_enGB252GB253

:-)

Eddy.

In article ,
Eddy writes:
|
| Look up Mansa in an atlas, and remember that there was no airport
| and only a strip road to it when I was there. 50 years before I
| was there, the area 50 miles to the west was marked Terra Incognita
| on the maps ....
|
| Doesn't look very isolated to me, Nick! :-)
| http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Mans...L_enGB252GB253
|
| :-)

!!!

You see where relying on Google Maps gets you :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.