On Tue, 04 May 2004 02:36:53 -0700, aj wrote:

Hello
I'd like to put a hedge at the bottom of my garden, approx 25ft wide.
It would be nice to use native British species, that I could eat,
drink or use.
I was thinking about using hazel and elder.

Hazel grows rather slowly, and is gobbled up by hares as it grows.

Neither hazel nor elder are used in fences over here, probably because
they can't take the regular cutting a hedge would need.

Why not go for hawthorn (Crataegus)? You can use the berries in juice and
jelly, but they are rather dry. I use berries and flowering twig in herbal
medicine. Then again, hawthorn flowers on last year's twig, and you cut
that last summer, in a hedge...

Some people make juice and jelly of the pyracantha, too; I haven't tried
that myself. I've seen pyracantha in hedges, though. Pretty pretty.

Another border plant (but not a hedge plant) is barberry (Berberis). It
has edible (but extremely sour, if you're lucky) berries, too. I use the
root in herbal medicine; the juice of the sour berries can be used instead
of lemon juice, or vinegar.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG * * * * * * * * * * *Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed