Red Robin Letter
Fashion is no stranger to landscape and garden design. How many of us have fallen for the vibrant charms of Hot Lips (Salvia mycrophylla ‘Hot Lips’), only to find that she (he?) likes her/his drink and is not quite the low maintenance date you hoped for, if she/he is to flaunt her/his charms in the drier garden.
But there is, I suggest, a difference between following and enjoying a horticultural trend or fashion, and mere imitation, due to a lack of imagination, skill, or perhaps the will to fight for something a little more appropriate, exciting or original.
As I blog from an area of housing shortage, there are currently a number of local residential building sites or, interestingly, conversions of offices to residential use. Every one of them seems to be sprouting copious and identical linear plantings of Photinia x fraseri, aka Red Robin, and not a lot else. The occasional Red Robin in garden, park, public space, or housing estate car park, is a delight, glowing like fiery embers amidst a range of other foliage. But the latest trend for Red Robin hedging along the front and side of every new build is becoming a hideous and predictable rash.
Wondering if this personal rant was making me see red, even when no Photinia x Fraseri was actually present, I decided to take a quick survey of the local, residential new builds/conversions. Was I exagerating? I limited the survey to developments which had been completed in the last 18 months, and twelve sites qualified, within a corridor approximately 9 km long by 1 km wide. Of course the sample is far too small to be meaningful, but here are the results, for what they are worth.
Office block conversion: one or two bedroom flats on busy main road in urban area; road frontage planted entirely with Red Robin.
New build on edge of urban area; development of a former garden centre site: mainly 3 bedroom houses. Bedraggled Red Robin on road frontages.
New build infill in existing residential area: two large, three storey houses; Red Robin hedge on road frontage behind brick and flint wall (architecture makes a nod to local building materials); behind the Red Robin hedge there is a heavy dependence on pyracantha and privet. How nostalgic.
Terraced retirement properties in medium density urban area: road frontage a bit retro as Portugal laurel used all the way along.
New build of small houses on outskirts of village: despite solar panels, the landscape is a classic example of how not to do it, but at least it is a Red Robin free zone.
New build terraced houses on brown field site in large village; minimal area for planting - back to the laurels.
New build estate on former garden centre (yes, another one): large houses, and landscape majors on beech hedging throughout, but with an above average number of ornamental species in public realm.
Large area of ‘executive’ housing on grounds of former charitable establishment; a varied planting scheme used for the public realm, although, to me, it smacked of the sort of planting which developers employ for up market housing estates far from public transport or the town centre. After extensive survey work, two Red Robin bushes were tracked down adjacent to a front door in the higher density end of the development. They looked lovely but the resident will need a machete to get in and out if the things aren’t trimmed in the very near future. Note the privet… .
New build terrace housing on village brown field site; attractive planting along house frontages including cordyline, lonicera, camellia, pittosporum and just one Red Robin. As a visitor, this would be my favourite planting scheme, providing a varied, intriguing and currently low level (in the height sense) welcome. Unfortunately, the residents currently look out over this onto a bleak expanse of tarmac. Apologies for lack of photograph; blame the weather and lockdown.
Mixed new build of two houses and numerous flats on busy main road: very little ‘residents’ realm’ but car park and house front gardens heavily dependent on - privet.
New build flats on urban brown field site, garages integral with the building, and very limited soft landscape areas. Not a Red Robin in site however, and even a slight architectural nod to the local townscape of Edwardian terraces (sadly not visible in the photo).
New build houses (probably four or five bedroom jobs) on former residential site. Heavy dependence on cherry laurel hedges, particularly for those fronting onto a busy main road, but retention of some former garden planting and hedging around periphery was a real plus
Town centre office conversion to studio flats: the picture says it all - not even a ram raid planter
And my conclusions? Well, I have to admit that only 25% of the sites were wrapped up in Photinia x fraseri. But if you include old faithfuls such as the laurels and privet, then the percentage of what I consider to be uninspiring planting schemes rises to nearly 60%. Who knew that privet was back in fashion? And if you include the ‘no hopers’ on the design front, the percentage of unexciting or unoriginal schemes runs to 75%.
So what have I got against the extensive use of Red Robin, laurels and privet?
I find mass planting of any single species to be uninspiring in terms of both design and biodiversity. Well designed, mixed block planting of single species, well, yes. SIngle species mass planting, no.
But my bêtes noires come with other, very specific, problems too. They grow quickly, which is probably why developers love them, and to enormous size (after the developers have left). Photinia x fraseri has to be trimmed to keep its contrasting red foliage. Most householders feel an irresistible urge to cut back their hedges during spring, which is also the bird nesting season; not a great idea if you are a nesting bird and is also illegal in most circumstances. If you trim your hedges in autumn, you may remove berries and fruits of both beauty and wildlife value. If you don’t trim your hedges in February, and also honour the bird nesting close season, then hedges can be enormous by the time you can get your shears out. Neighbours complain! If you keep your privets well pruned, they can’t flower; great for those with hay fever, not so for pollinators. And cherry laurels leaves are the very devil to keep trim.
So: suggestions and examples please for beautiful and bidoverse hedge and other linear planing, suitable for residential areas, in particular where where bird nesting related legislation may be a closed book.