By Katya
Kent,
United Kingdom 
Does anyone know where one can get reasonably large, possibly mature evergreens for container planting? We have recently made changes to the front basement area of our (listed) 1830s house and we now need to plant appropriately in containers to provide screening from the pavement. The pots would stand on the c. 2'2" ledge visible in the photo and could therefore be c. 2' x 2', and the plants should provide cover for our living room window, ie. they would need to be about 6 feet tall from the level of the pavement, so we are looking at trees rather than shrubs. To serve our purpose they should be evergreen, and because of the period of the house, they should be formal in appearance. In addition, as we back onto the sea, the terrace can be very windy so they also need to be hardy. Most suggestions for container planting specify rather small cultivars, but we need something quite tall whose growth would then be restricted by the container. Any ideas?
7 Sep, 2010
Answers
Hi, thanks for that. Actually I live in Kent. I've just put that into my profile. I've tried our local Notcutts. They only had two things with any sort of height (and they say their other outlets will have pretty much the same stock) - Skyrocket, which was very ragged as well as thin, and a pair of standard eleagnus, which I did consider as the foliage was at about the right height, but they looked like an open invitation to garden theft. Principally, they weren't able to give much advice which is why I've come to GOY.
8 Sep, 2010
Previous question
Don't know where you live Katya. If it is in MidLothian then there is/was a tree nursery just behind Dobbies in Lasswade that sells conifers of any size you can imagine. I was looking at some of their stuff delivered to a local distillery and was amazed at the size of them. Sorry, but I can't remember the name.
7 Sep, 2010