Griselinia littoralis 'Ardmore Emerald'

graemec25, Oct 2, 12:28pm
Hi, has anyone here used this as a low hedge? Am wanting to use it for a hedge of about 80cm in height, is this a good choice?

jphs, Oct 2, 6:35pm
I don't think that Griselinia make good hedges at all.
Leaves too large and have to be cut in half when you trim them back making them unattractive to look at.
As the tree gets older the hedge becomes more twiggy and open so less use as a hedge.
They suffer from water borne fungal diseases like Phytopthera so can suffer badly from die back. In a hedge this can be a disaster as the die back will spread along the line of bushes. Replacing like with like isn't much help either as the new ones will get the same disease.
Around our home I have seen many hedges of this sp. come and go being replaced a few years down the line.
The best hedges you see in mature gardens almost always have small leaves so Griselinia isn't a good choice in my opinion. They are marketed heavily but I think aren't the ideal tree to use in a hedge.

dibble35, Oct 2, 7:12pm
I do agree, but also because it would be difficult to keep it as low as that. I mean it can grow 5-6m in the garden, 10m in the bush. You'd be better off using a corokia, coprosma, lophomyrtus, lonicera, teucrium, or box hedging.

graemec25, Oct 3, 1:49am
Thanks for the advice, appreciate it. I know loincera grows quite quickly, which is what we want, but how do coprosma, lophomrytus, & teucrium compare? I understand buxus can take a 3 years to form a hedge? Ideally we'd like something quicker.

koru67, Oct 3, 2:30pm
I do not agree that all Griselinias become open and twiggy. There are so many newer varieties available now. We have Griselinia Whenuapai planted as a hedge and it is fabulous. It has not gone woody like littoralis (which we also have), it grows upright and compact. However I would not like to try and limit it to 80cm tall, ours is probably 3m+ but that is how we want it to be.

dibble35, Oct 3, 11:54pm
Lonicera would be the fastest, then teucrium, coprosma , lophomyrtus and yes finally buxus, I wouldnt plant buxus anyway, far to slow and there is the box blight disease which seems to becoming more and more common. Makes a real mess of your buxus and hard to get rid of it. It all depends what look you are after. I love the colours of some of the lophomyrtus now a days, red dragon and kathryn are both really lovely. but I've always liked that burgundy colour.

jphs, Oct 5, 7:24pm
I guess it depends on what you want your hedge should look like doesn't it?
If you want that european Buxus look, you might look at Korokias as they have a little leaf and clip nicely.
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=corokia+hedge&espv=2&biw=1137&bih=741&tbm=isch&imgil=ib7aGa_PBpz79M%253A%253BaG-yhL_heaEdqM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.oratianatives.co.nz%25252Fcatalogue_extras.php%25253Fphoto_id%2525253D1021&source=iu&pf=m&fir=ib7aGa_PBpz79M%
253A%252CaG-yhL_heaEdqM%252C_&dpr=0.9&usg=__Ei1EMTC5
Vj0JYrDQu-LcRPpjcTQ%3D&ved=0CCcQyjdqFQoTCIXu-MqHqsgCFUgi
pgodgxUGBw&ei=MMIRVoWWNcjEmAWDq5g4#imgrc=x8zaE47Wapn4kM%
3A&usg=__Ei1EMTC5Vj0JYrDQu-LcRPpjcTQ%3D

I would avoid Buxus as Dibble35 said, the Buxus Blight is a real problem internationlly now. Add to that misery, there is also a Buxus caterpiller annihilating old Buxus gardens throughout Britain and Europe as well. Google it and see what's happening. The blight and caterpiller are bringing an end to some very very old gardens in Britain and it is probably not stoppable now.

jphs, Oct 5, 7:29pm
Lophomyrtus produce a lovely lush hedge esp. if you like a blushed red colouring as well. They have small shiny leaves and are very pretty and hardy too I think.
I am not a fan of Lonicera as they want to go bananas and you need to clip them all the time. I found they went twiggy and open inside the bush and where we are got spider mites when it was hot and dry so maybe they have water issues that stresses them out - hence the pest problem.

koru67, Oct 5, 10:11pm
At our local garden centre on the weekend I noticed their beautiful corokia hedge. Probably about the height you are wanting and very dense and attractive.

dibble35, Oct 6, 2:53am
It comes in some really neat colours too. Brown, bronze, grey-greens, greens, yellow. Not everyone likes it but i think they look neat. I especially like Corokia 'little prince' and C.'gray fox' - this one may be to low for you though.

mousiemousie, Oct 6, 2:59am
I've just brought Griselinia "Broardway Mint" to plant for a hedgerow. Wondering now weather I should plant something else. It sounded and looked like it would be perfect for what I wanted.

graemec25, Sep 9, 9:46am
Am leaning towards corokia geentys green, although we would like something that was a darker green? Any ideas?