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Janet · 04-04-2011, 04:27 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
says...

The bottom of my 90? garden is bordered by a ditch fed from an upstream
spring. One of the effects of this is that it is quite damp with the water
table barely 2? below ground level. There is no fence ? it borders
directly with the edge of the long garden of a property around the corner..

So, I was thinking about planting a row of willow at the bottom to provide
a screen and some interest when looking down the garden from the house.
What I was planning was two parallel rows which could be coppiced
alternate winters so that there would always be a screen. The garden faces
south-east so the willow will be shaded from the morning sun by shrubs in
the other garden. But will get some late afternoon and evening sun before
it disappears behind the house.

Hm, willows can be iffy. Years back I used willows as a temporary,
coppice "nurse crop" in an exposed tree plantation, expecting to take them
out after 4 or 5 years when they had done the job ( sheltering the
permanent planting while it established). However, they proved so
suscesptible to disease that when their job was done most of them were
dead or dying.(I used a selected pussy willow, and a purple stemmed one,
for looks) .Since then, I've seen the same die-back problem all over the
place in adult willows.. native willows here (Scotland) have been
suffering some very disfiguring blight or infestation for several years.

I would seriously consider using groups of (different) coloured-stem
cornus for your screen; IME they are much more robust, stand coppicing
very well, and look particularly good when the leaves are off in winter.

pics at

http://www.thegardener.btinternet.co.uk/diaryjan04.html

(scroll down)

Janet