Hi, first time gardener here. Im looking at growing some lilly pilly backyard bliss in the highlighted section up against the fence for a little added privacy.
The space is only 200mm wide, I'm wondering if the hedges with regular pruning will still be able to grow in this section or if there is another plant I should be looking at instead.
FYI this soil is all hard clay, although I'm digging a lot of it up I chose lilly pilly because of it's resilience and privacy.
by -AttenseFX-
7 Comments
With that tiny space you might be better with some sort of climber on a trelis/mesh
You could probably do straight and narrows on a 50cm space. Doesn’t look like the grass is much used anyway.
Instead of digging the soil up, add compost to it. Once you’ve planted, heavily mulch with something like Who Flung Dung.
There is one slender Lilly Pilly, Straight and Narrow, but I’d be inclined to widen the garden bed or at the very least plant right at the front of the bed as far away from the fence as possible.
You have jasmine climbing over from your neighbor – could try that on the fence.
Use hardenbergia as a climber unless you live 200m or closer to bushland.
Syzygium Paniculatum ‘Backyard Bliss’ is a compact and dense Lilly Pilly variety, perfect for creating low to medium-sized screens or hedges. It reaches a height of 3-4 meters and a width of 1.5 meters. Placing against fence is unfair on neighbors. You could plant 8ocm in from the fence and maintain a hedged front inside your property.
200mm is way too narrow for Lilly Pilly, those roots and trunks need at least 600mm+ to establish properly. You’d be better off building a raised planter along the fence or choosing a slimline hedge option in pots/trellis like bamboo, star jasmine, or even espalier fruit trees for that tight space. I usually use [Gardenly](https://gardenly.app/) to visualize my ideas. Maybe you could give that a try to see what other options you might like?