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tercol

By Tercol

Norfolk, United Kingdom

Still trying to cover my embankment, have purchased a large vinca with loads of trailing stems which I have put into small pots (layering) to get more plants, been there a week and fresh shoots showing on the stems, is this the best way to get plants as I dont seem to have success in taking cuttings. PS anyone in the Norwich area got any cuttings they would like to sell if this fail?




Answers

 

Oh my word, I don't know whether I should say this or not... oh for heaven's sake, I'll say it anyway and you can ignore it if you want to!

I went back in your questions and found the one about your embankment - personally, I wouldn't give Vinca house room, never mind garden room. Unless you pull all the stems up in the air every year after flowering and chop them off about 2 inches from the ground, you'll end up with lots of sprawly stems with big gaps of bare soil in between, into which many weeds will root. Maybe you're quite happy to do that, I don't know.

If your embankment gets some sun, I'd recommend Campanula portenschlagiana (also known as C. muralis) but not C. carpatica, Cotoneaster Queen of Carpets or Cotoneaster dammerii, and maybe some Vinca towards the bottom, so you can get at it more easily, if you really want some Vinca. If it gets a lot of sun, then the range of plants you can use increases dramatically - have a look at Iberis sempervirens, Helianthemums (particularly the 'Ben' series such as Ben More, etc) Aubretia, Arabis fernandi-coburgii (also sold as Arabis procurrens variegata), Ophiopogon nigrescens, Silene schafta for later flowering. The Cotoneaster is an evergreen shrub, but all the others are perennial evergreens, barring Silene schafta which is semi evergreen - all spread quite widely, without gaps in the growth, and most will be available at the garden centre in March in the small perennial section, which makes it much cheaper.

Oregano aureum is worth considering - spreads widely and remains evergreen, but it does need the flowering stems cut down at the end of the season.

18 Feb, 2015

 

I repeat my previous suggestion of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi.

I think you need to plan the whole thing properly - you were talking before about planting trees on the top of this structure. Well, trees wil change the environment of the embankment and what might grow on the slope now probably won't grow when all the moisture and light are being sucked up by the trees.

Given the size of this thing you would do well to look at how the highways and railways deal with their embankments.

18 Feb, 2015

 

Thank you both for your replies, the embankment gets full sun all day in the summer months and the only reason I may plant trees on the top is because I overlook fields but they are trying to get permission to build a housing estate on what is behind my embankment hence I will be completely overlooked by bedroom windows. If I plant trees on the top they will be about 15ft from my fence, hence if I wanted conifers I could as it would not be a boundary fence this is the only reason for putting an embankment in but I would like to look at something pretty and yes as you say little weeding

18 Feb, 2015

 

I'm not sure that bring 15ft from the boundary has anything to do with it. I don't recall that that the high hedges legislation specifies boundary hedges - rather it is a line of two or more evergreens that affects your neighbours' right to enjoy their property. So your future potential evergreens on top of your embankment won't have to grow very high before they are a potential problem.
What are you doing on the other side - the side of this embankment that you don't see every day but which will be your neighbours' view.

18 Feb, 2015

 

I've never recommended blackthorn before but on the top of your bank it might be useful. It makes a very good hedge and up there you shouldn't be bothered too much by suckers except on the bank itself. You get early spring blossom, sloes in autumn and the sparrows in particular love it. Honeysuckly and ivy are natural partners growing througn it and you can either keep it trimmed or let it get up to about 10 feet or even more if you want to. Or if the suckering puts you off - and it could be difficult if you are planting the embankment, you could use hawthorn with most of the same advantages. It would be nice interspersed with some Rosa rugosa - big pink flowers and lovely hips in autumn. A thick hedge doesn't need to be evergreen for privacy.

18 Feb, 2015

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