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Fri, Oct 8, 10 at 0:49
| We need a 80 foot long hedge bordering our street in Santa Barbara, CA. I want to start it small and grow it to be 5ft. and impenetrable. Our landscaper is a strong proponent of Osmanthus Frangrans but from what I read that may not provide a nicely shearable hedge. Most hedges in this area are squared, I think either boxwood or eugenia. My choices after Osmanthus would be Buxus Japonica (harlandi) or Buxus (Green Mountain).
Any experience with sheared Osmanthus hedges in California?
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by butterfly4u 8 (My Page) on Fri, Oct 8, 10 at 12:50
| I live in South Carolina, but I have quite a few Sweet tea olives, I wouldn't think of shearing them into a formal hedge, which is what you seem to want. Yes, the fragrance would be overpowering, if it bloomed at all. You would be shearing off new growth in the summer months to shape it, right? They don't grow as fast as regular shrubs, especially when they get older. They are also bee magnets, they are blooming now and they attract bees by the dozen. Also research green pittosporum, and Variegated pittosporum, which is common for hedges where you live. They bloom in spring with white fragrant flowers, grow really fast, (I just planted 5 small green ones out in front of my home for privacy) and they can be sheared frequently all summer after they bloom in March-April. Just a thought. Sweet tea olives are technically trees and grow slowly to 20 feet tall, but their trunks get to be large around. I don't know how dense they would be after 10 years, I have never seen a "hedge" made from them. |
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| Dear ron in sb CA, I agree with butterfly4u 8 that _Osmanthus fragrans_ would be a poor choice for a sheared formal hedge; however, _Osmanthus fragrans_ would make an excellent hedge if it were allowed to grow freely without any shearing whatsoever. I disagree with butterfly4u 8's opinion that the fragrance of tea olive is overpowering. To me, tea olive has an exceedingly pleasant, desirable fragrance. It is not cloying like _Camellia sasanqua_; nor is is sensuous like jasmine. It's somewhere between those two fragrances. We have two tea olives planted between the wrap-around porch and a pathway; both are covered with blooms, and the air is sweet but not overpoweringly so. We planted them shortly after my house was completed in 2001; and within almost ten years, they've grown nearly twelve feet tall and six to eight feet wide and have never been sheared. This summer, one of them produced a variegated shoot, with leaves half white and half green. I agree with butterfly4u 8's recommendation of _Pittosporum tobira_ for hedge work. You may also find some of the eucalypts to your liking. |
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| The Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle has crisp (and dark) formal hedges made from plantings of Osmanthus delavayi. |
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- Posted by dave_in_nova VA zone 7a (My Page) on Tue, Oct 12, 10 at 9:36
| There are other osthmanthuses, but I do not know how they do in your area. Osmanthus heterophyllus would require less shearing. It is a common hedge plant here. Spiny leaves. Osmanthus x fortunei gets larger and needs more shearing. Fragrant in late fall. |
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