Security......Bushes!

[Jonzjob]

Yucca? Not exactly what I would have thought, but very pretty and perhaps anybody with owt worth knicking wouldn't have one? Lots around here, but not for security http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca

Holly is OK if you have a couple of decades and agave, once again a local to us, but not usually for keeping thugs out? I always knew it as 'mother-in-laws tounge'? Nasty bit of growth, but grows in lumps? Not sure about the U.K. weather either?

 

[Steve Jones]

Another option could be Aralia spinosa or commonly known as Devil's Walking Stick

Steve

 

[Doris]

Yucca? Not exactly what I would have thought, but very pretty and perhaps anybody with owt worth knicking wouldn't have one? Lots around here, but not for security

Holly is OK if you have a couple of decades and agave, once again a local to us, but not usually for keeping thugs out? I always knew it as 'mother-in-laws tounge'? Nasty bit of growth, but grows in lumps? Not sure about the U.K. weather either?

Yucca's leaves have large points at the end of each of them, which that wikipedia page doesn't seem to mention. If you plant them in a clump I think they would work quite well. The points give off quite a prick too, much more than a mahonia would. I think I remember Ray Mears using a yucca leaf point as a sewing needle on one of his bushcraft programmes.

 

[Jonzjob]

They grow wild here but I would think that they would be VERY expensive in the U.K.? The points ARE vicious and as one wot backed into one in shorts can tell, they are very sharp! The yucca wasn't in shorts, before some smartass quips, I was :shock:

 

[Benchwayze]

Mahonia sheds it leaves all the year long. They get into every nook and cranny. If you try to remove them, without wearing gloves, the spines break off in your skin, The thorns are so fine you can't get them out unless you dig away with a needle. If you leave them, they fester, or turn septic.

Mahonia looks fine in Garden Centres. My advice is to leave it where you see it. I speak from personal experience.

Pyrocantha is the wickedest of the wicked. Any tree surgeon will tell you that, and they often charge more for its removal. You need a suit of armour when you prune too. But it's the one I'd choose.


Be my guest!

 

[Benchwayze]

Yucca? Not exactly what I would have thought, but very pretty and perhaps anybody with owt worth knicking wouldn't have one? Lots around here, but not for security

Holly is OK if you have a couple of decades and agave, once again a local to us, but not usually for keeping thugs out? I always knew it as 'mother-in-laws tounge'? Nasty bit of growth, but grows in lumps? Not sure about the U.K. weather either?

Yucca's leaves have large points at the end of each of them, which that wikipedia page doesn't seem to mention. If you plant them in a clump I think they would work quite well. The points give off quite a prick too, much more than a mahonia would. I think I remember Ray Mears using a yucca leaf point as a sewing needle on one of his bushcraft programmes.

Obviously too tight to buy needles. :mrgreen: Or so incompetent, as a survivalist, he forgot to carry any! :lol:

 

[Jonzjob]

Sounds like a job for one of my emergency sewing kits? :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I can very well understand why tree surgeons charge more for pyrocanther. I have a very heavy and long pair of gauntlets I wear when I'm doing ours. I also have to collect every scrap cut for fear of our dog treading on it. That would be agony for her!

 

[jim123]

Bit of an update on this.......

I've ordered 5 pyracantha for the back but lo and behold, at 4.15am this morning some clown was trying to get in at the front as the dog barked and then the front gate slammed so.........as well as securing the back with a PIR security light and the nasty hedge, has anyone got any ingenious ideas on setting a small alarm up on the front gate? I'm wary about locking it up completely at night because, believe it or not, i caught someone nicking gear out of the wifes motor a few weeks back so, if i've got to do my best Usain Bolt impression i don't want the gate slowing me down.....! I've seen the shed ones but they're a bit bulky and obvious. I've looked at the cat scarer type things as well that emit a high pitched signal but i'm looking for something a bit louder!!

We're not even in the 'orrible part of East London either....a nice little cottage opposite the forest......and i always look/am skint so if all else fails, it's landmines all the way.

Cheers Gents!

 

[Digit]

What about a PIR focused on the gate?

Roy.

 

[stevebuk]

you could always use Rosa Rugosa, the wild rose bush. Many spines on this beast but topped by the most gorgeous smelling roses in the summer and beautiful red rose hips in the autumn/winter. They come in white and pink.