Micshief, oh, windbreak! Drought tolerant? Easy to live with? Elaeagnus! It's invincible, drought tolerant, disease tolerant. The old growth has thorns, but I never get that far. I get lots of clippings off of it for composting. It's evergreen. I have one called silverberry. It can get (3.5 meters) 10 feet if you let it, but I keep it easily at 2 meters..gif ":)")
"Life flows on within you and without you"...George Harrison
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Coastal California, USA, Mediterranean climate - no summer rain, a little frost mid-winter
Hi Charlie,
your comment made me remember this....
A friend of mine had just visited someone who had all these exotic plants growing in her garden- things we just cant get into the country.
The secret to this garden was that this person often holidays overseas in Asia and when she finds a fruit etc... she likes, she eats shit loads of them the morning before her flight then follows up with lots of white bread which makes her constipated.
When she gets home she collects her poo and gets the seeds out which then get sown and planted in her garden.
sneaky and perfectly legal,haha.
but not coppicing.
@Sweetpea,
I'll check that one out-not too keen on the thorns bit tho,I have enough trouble with mums fav roses that are still in 'her' garden under the apple tree which have to come out next year.
Most fruit trees will coppice and the wood does scent the room when it burns in an open fire, not too good for tomato stakes as I discovered.
It's only a mistake if you don't learn from it...
www.photoblog.com/mischief
mischief, I know the thorns sound creepy, but the only time I've come in contact with them is if I've let the hedge go crazy and I had to back if off by 3.5 meters. But they're not like rose thorns, they are the occasional spike along the woody stem. If animals are involved, they won't try to push through it.
Another possibility is the bottle brush tree if you have a mild winter. Spring and summer it is covered with red "bottle brush" flowers that the bees love, so it's good for them. It can be cut back unmercifully and it will spring forth again. It has woody cuttings, and so the composting of it would need some extra nitrogen. But the leaves it drops all year are good for its own mulch and for composting.
"Life flows on within you and without you"...George Harrison
~~~~~~
Coastal California, USA, Mediterranean climate - no summer rain, a little frost mid-winter
hey mischief
your friend is always welcome to visit
more should be made of this topic
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