By Whit
County Durham,
United Kingdom 
i have had a six foot by thirty foot north facing fence erected, gravel garden in front, moderate clay ish soil under the gravel,i have planted various ever green shrubs a couple of slow growing conifers and a climbing hydrangea. in one corner near next doors horrible dead leylandai iwant to put in a chang nian hong ever red loropetalum to help cover them up, i am not in good health so once it`s growing will it take much looking after? thanks for all answers ,i guess it won`t be any use for what i want
18 Mar, 2013
Answers
Yep, I just checked this variety also and it is mostly listed in the US and the more common varieties are not hardy in this country especially on a north facing aspect. As your soil is clay then I would suggest that a climbing rose or better still a fanned Chaenomeles would stand up to the north facing aspect.
18 Mar, 2013
Couple of things - although this shrub is listed on American websites as hardy in Zones 7-9, and we're Zone 8, it is on the tender side, and needs a very sheltered, warm spot in the garden. It also only reaches about 6 feet, and is very slow growing, and may lose its leaves in a severe winter. Given the height its likely to achieve, and its growth habit of being a low shrubby plant, I'm not sure how useful it will be for covering up a dead leylandii. As for care, doesn't seem to require much of anything special.
18 Mar, 2013