Quote:
Originally Posted by pbenjamin
We have a ficus hedge and I hate the damned thing. It looks great most of the time, but every two or three winters we get a frost that deduces it to ugly sticks for about a season.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by PHX31
For noise: get a fountain of some type to drown the noise. Trees will never be much of a sound barrier.
For a hedge, I'd highly recommend against ficus nitida. They're no doubt one of the best looking and pretty fast growing, but they're susceptible to freezing. I've twice grown an awesome ficus hedge, only to have it die back to the ground. Maybe if you're ok worrying about the winter freeze every few years, and are prepared to do anything it takes to protect it from the freeze, go ahead with the ficus.
|
How mature are your ficus trees? I've never had this happen on mine but all of my trees are 15+ years old. That being said, I've only lived in this house for the last 3 winters and I don't think there have been any really harsh freezes.
Another concern with ficus is they take so much work. If you want to keep them in a hedge you have to constantly trim them, and no matter what, they are always dropping leaves.
I also plan on getting a fountain. That's a great way to create white noise to drown anything out.