In article ,
echinosum writes:
|
| None of beech, ash or willow are good against wind (dwarf
| willows excepted, and they are too small). Look up Inverewe and see
| what was done there.
|
| You can do better than dwarf willows. I have not imagined the willow
| hedges that are grown all over the inhabited parts of Iceland as
| windbreaks, although it appears that the possibility is not well known in
| this country. ...
| The difficulty I am having is finding out exactly which species they use.
| After a bit of further searching, I'm beginning to wonder if it is S.
| caprea which PFAF notes is grown as windbreaks in places with maritime
| exposure, and is very hardy.

I was thinking about other species, I agree - a lot of them lose
branches badly in wind. S. alba, for example. S. caprea might well
do better.

| Birches are also common in Iceland and northern parts of Norway. They
| tend to be stockier than birches seen in thi scountry. Maybe they are a
| suitable species, or maybe they just grow that way if grown in windy
| conditions.

Probably the latter. Their shape depends very much on whether the
soil is rich or poor, and I can believe that the wind also makes a
major difference. The birches of southern suburbia and the Highlands
are very different in shape.

| A lot of plants which do grow well in windy places don't
| actually grow so well in Britain because it isn't regularly windy enough
| (yes even in much of Scotland) - the lack of regular wind in Britian
| means they grow lanky and then blow over.

Some of that is other factors - birches grow fast and large and lose
branches on the fertile soils of the south of England more readily
than on the poor ones of the uplands.

But tell that to Californians - they think that a force 7 is a howling
gale :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.