I think Photinia would get too large and unruly for planters on top of the walls. They need managing otherwise they get very large and have a very loose form. Personally I'd opt for something that is more consistent in form and shape without too much upkeep and provides an attractive green backdrop to your beautiful house rather than competing with it for attention! Something like Buxus or Japanese box (Euonymus Green Rocket) as alternative to avoid issues with Box blight. Alternatively Privet is a good reliable evergreen hedger particular well suited to urban situations as they tolerate pollution. Either way its worth adding some water retaining granules and slow release fertiliser to the soils to give them a boost. At least you're planting at a good time to avoid stressing them in the dry summer months. Good luck!

Nice job on the house. Looks very smart:) Personally I prefer to see a hedge in a front garden but with a low wall in front to prevent soil/debris from spilling out on the pavement. Griselinia littoralis has beautiful evergreen apple green foliage that would look lovely against the house, fast growing and can kept trimmed to about eyelevel and 2ft thick. Plus there are many other plants that can be used as hedging depending on your requirements. Yew and privet are also good choices as these can be kept neat and tidy, although privet requires more regular trimming. Your cheapest option however is probably going to be fencing as this will require less ground work. A low wall approx 1ft high will not need much foundation work so also reducing cost. Hedges will need a certain amount of soil preparation but this is something that can easily be done by yourself. I’d ask a few local landscape gardeners to give you a few rough ideas on cost.

Hi. I was going to suggest to try posting on the gardeners world forum and just checked and see that you already have so hopefully you’ll get some more expert advice. I d seen similar dilemmas to this and general consensus is to cut them back by about a third, keep watering during dry weather, and add a layer of fresh compost to retain moisture. No real need to feed now but a light sprinkle of fish blood and bone won’t hurt I think. The roots need time to settle in so the less energy they use on keeping leaves green will help them to establish. Laurels are quite vigorous plants, I accidentally left a cutting on the lawn after trimming and it rooted in the grass within weeks.

Good questions/comments! On the railings: my preference would have been to restore the brick wall and add low railings then do a planting behind, but there clearly isn’t enough space for that. The reason I lean towards planting over railings is simply that our end of the street is so grey. Probably for reasons of space. At the other end there is a bit more space between the house and the pavement and they’ve got a variety of plantings. Most of the brick walls (except ours) are modern replacements using modern bricks so there’s no continuity either. On the space/bamboo: I’ve seen bamboo and privet (not together) in front of various houses in the area. I think the bamboo (especially the black kind) looks nice but it often gets too tall too quickly (>1m in a season) and suckers. Not that it would have many places to go in front of our house. And I find privet both dull and not massively wildlife friendly. I have been thinking a lot about the space though. If you mean in terms of space to grow out then I think the plus of Hawthorn is that it fills in and seems to respond fairly well to being kept pruned compared to some of the other species that would go into a traditional hedge. I have seen (after much searching) photos of urban hawthorn hedges and I think it will look good (if it thrives). I am planning to angle grind out more than I’d originally thought: I found the gas pipe and cable TV connection so feel more confident now. I was thinking that I could expand up to 30cm, giving me 30cm wide and almost 40cm deep. I was thinking of climbing and/or tall plants on either side of the bay window though! Hadn’t thought of putting them up front: Jasmine would be lovely, need to look up the others! Going to think on this some more!