Martin Brown
wibbled on Tuesday 20 April 2010 16:05

Tim Watts wrote:
Hi,

I've got good topsoil (6-12") on top of heavy clay (Sussex), reasonable
drainage. Having just chopped a 10' hawthorn hedge down to 3' for now[1],
I'm looking to start planting a new hedge between the hawthorn trunks and
take the hawthorn out when the new plants start to establish.

Are there likely to be any problems with my top 3 choices so far:

Box,

The prunings of box are an irritant after a short while fermenting.

Hmm.

Yew,

Yew is poisonous in all parts. Not a good choice on a field boundary.
Both of the above are rather slow growing.

Just to clarify - this is a garden, not a field, so I don't anticipate
anything eating it. The kids are bright enough not to eat random things
(I've already lecturered then on mushrooms and berries).

Beech.

Nice appearance and the golden brown leaves stay on in the winter. It is
a slight martyr to whitefly in some years.

You should also consider cotoneaster (deciduous) but fairly dense.
Loicera nitida is fairly well behaved as a hedge.

Thanks - I'll check those out on the web shortly.

I'd also have holly and pyracantha if I was starting from scratch, but
you say you don't like spiky things. I'd also be tempted to put crab
apple, rosa rugosa and blackthorn in as well.

I have a blackthorn and a holly tree. The blackthorn is at least high enough
that it doesn't splat me in the face (or the pedestrians - I was getting
complaints via the Parish Council about my 10' hawthorn, having just taken
over the property - it had to come down, total pain to trim). I did keep
one bit of hawthorn at the other end that's also more of a tree - thought
they'd be a feature - one tree at each end of the hedge plus the
blackthorn.

Actually, I don't mind holly - it prickles but doesn't slash your skin to
bits. It's rose, hawthorn and blackthorn I find have objectionable spikes.


I might plant a hybrid hedge - I rather fancy crafting an arch in the
coming years over a pedestrian gate and I heard yew is good for that. Bit
of beech might make for some colour. May not bother with the box.

Any thoughts most welcome

Chunks of the same plant for about 6-8 feet look good

That sounds like a plan.

Thanks

Tim

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.