Pyracantha In North Vancouver - how well does it grow?

Discussion in 'Garden Design and Plant Suggestions' started by joZ, Aug 23, 2009.

  1. joZ

    joZ Active Member

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    Location:
    North Vancouver, BC
    Any comments on how Pyracantha (soleil d'or) might grow in the central Lonsdale area of North Vancouver? I would like to use it as a privacy hedge between neighbours. It must grow at least 9 feet high in order for the privacy to take affect.

    I would place it on the west side of the house in partial shade (ivy and hostas grow well there, but all the ivy died in this year's harsh winter). There is a fence, then the bed - which is only be about 2 1/2 feet wide, then a walkway and then the house. So I am concerned there is not much room for spread (towards the walkway). Will it be too thorny?

    I look forward to your thoughts.
     
  2. Katalina25

    Katalina25 New Member

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    Location:
    Lancashire , England
    I hope you know its not 'child friendly'!

    Its a lovely plant, if its the same one. But it hides a dangerous weapon in thorns longer than roses. As a barrier for theieves its great.

    It grows well here but I am in England.

    Great for birds.
     
  3. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    All forms produce smelly flowers and stiff, thorny growths. Hardiness is an issue with many here, as is scab susceptibility. If the particular variety asked about is hardy and disease-resistant, and you can work with the odor and the growth habit, the fruit display can be a nice feature.
     
  4. joZ

    joZ Active Member

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    Wow. Thank you. I saw a sample at a Garden Centre recently but I didn't see any thorns. I read in a post (made many years ago) that someone was poked by a thorn and it caused illness and/or was hard to heal. I have a not-so-wide walkway and would hate to be attacked by one during a time when I was slow/lazy to prune. The odor? Well... since it is close to my kitchen window, perhaps I should go smell one first before I invest in a large one. Thank you both for your thoughts. It has been an eye-opener.
     
  5. janetdoyle

    janetdoyle Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    It is just gorgeous espaliered carefully [perfectly flat pruning, training the many branches into a pattern, usually geometric, along a wall or fence...]. But our Strata is having trouble with runaway pyracantha which the more elderly residents can't keep pruned, and the landscaper is forever being asked to cope with it and the thorns!
     
  6. Katalina25

    Katalina25 New Member

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    I can
    't say about the smell. Maybe because they were young plants I looked at in the garden centre.

    Pity if thats the case. Nature is wonderful lol gives you beautiful flowers, edible lovely red berries, but stings you with razer like thorns.

    I think if where I lived was torrid for burglars, theives etc I would use it. If the thorns were that bad they would ban it. If you know how to handle a thorn ridden tree/hedge/shrub then its fine to have.

    With roses etc I tend to handle them between the thorns.Mind you lol I have had some real scratches in my time then worried in case I get tetanus.
     
  7. kaspian

    kaspian Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Maine coast, USA, zone 5
    Yes, that's my experience with pyracantha -- that it does best when trained to a trellis or a wall, and regularly clipped to keep it in bounds. I don't think the look needs to be formal -- the nature of the plant wars against that, to some extent. On the other hand, too much clipping inhibits blooming and berry-production by removing the branches that would otherwise flower.

    These days I'm growing a hardy variety called 'Gnome' which does very well here in Maine but is said to grow only to about 6 feet. (I'm a little skeptical of this because it seems pretty vigorous so far.)
     
  8. dt-van

    dt-van Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    We have a yellow berried pyracantha which we keep as a barrier planting between us and our neighbours. It is a single plant kept espaliered at about 5' high by 6' wide by 18" deep. The berries are very attractive to us (and to the birds once winter comes and they freeze) and we don't find the flowers too smelly, though they do attract bees. We love it and so do our neighbours, but it is a lot of work. Pyracantha is extremely thorny and takes lots of pruning to keep it in good health and shapely, especially if you need to keep it in a narrow espaliered form. I prune mine 3 or 4 times a year, cutting back individual branches as I feel shearing gives an unnatural and unattractive look with too many stubby ends. Pruning it is a painful process and even though I wear gloves and rarely reach into the middle of the bush I always get several painful stab wounds. They have never gotten infected and don't hurt for more than 15 minutes or so. If you want it to be 9' high you will need to be pruning it with a ladder, which will be even more work.
    Pyracanthas need reasonable light in order to berry well and good air circulation to avoid fungal problems like black spot so growing it in a shady location against a fence may not work out too well, unless the fence is chain link type. Why do you need such a high dense screen?
     
  9. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Placement against surfaces resulting in poor air circulation and increased fungal infestation is a myth, probably based mostly on increased mildew resulting from the dry soils near concrete foundations. In fact, a solid surface may be more drafty than open ground near it, air being compressed by fences and walls and rushing along them - as it does when penetrated by airplane wings.
     

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