Using Photinia plants as a hedge to enhance your garden

The Photinia Red Robin. Now available from Evergreen Growers.

As the promise of warmer days starts to turn into reality, many gardeners are beginning to think of updating, or re-planning, the look of their garden. This may include the addition of an attractive hedge as a privacy screen or just to enhance the existing trees, shrubs and flower beds.One of the best shrubs for this purpose are the versatile and colourful photinia plants.

Originating from the warm, temperature of Asia, photinia plants are hardy, with medium water usage and enjoy a semi to full sun position. Photinia plants are a wide ranging genus of 40-60 shrubs or small trees some of which can grow as high as 15 metres. However if smaller, more compact varieties are chosen, planted together (and trimmed regularly) the plant makes a great hedge feature for any garden.

Close up of the beautiful photinia. Check the stunning colour!

At Evergreen Growers we recommend the smaller leaved Photinia Red Robin ” Photinia x fraseri” and have a number of this photinia plant available for purchase as tube stock. The plant, also known as the Christmas berry because it produces colourful fruit towards the end of the year, has become a favourite in Australian gardens. This is partly because the shrub is more manageable ” growing only to the height of a shrub or small tree ” but also because its small leaf makes the trimmed hedge denser and more colourful.

It is an attractive hedge with small white flowers appearing at the end of spring. We supply the Photinia Red Robin as a tube stock plant which will arrive at your place around in 50mm pots around 10 - 15 cm tall. This particular variety of photinia plant can grow to about 3 - 4m high and 3m wide, however regular pruning will control this.

We recommend pruning the photinia Red Robin throughout the year for best results. Pruning should be done during the growing season when the foliage turns bronze to ensure further growth. The hedge will benefit from regular pruning as it grows older.

Do you have any further questions about the stunning photinia plants? Or need ideas of other species best suited to hedging? Please don't hesitate to contact us at Evergreen Growers main page or over at our Facebook page.