On 31/07/2012 17:35, Tim Watts wrote:
Hi,

I have a long length of hawthorn, which was 12' tall until a neighbour
helped me take it back to around 4' last year - it is doing well now.

It also contains several self planted holly bushes which I am nuturing and
one or two other random things - a real hybrid.

The only problem is the lack of screening in the winter months (we live in a
bungalow and the bedrooms are on the ground floor). Plus there are a couple
of places where entire hawthorns must have died years ago as there are big
(3-4') gaps. Rest of the hawthorns are around 18-24" spacing between trunks.

I'd like to add something else this autumn, at least into the gaps and if it
is tolerant enough, perhaps in between hawthorns in a few other points where
I'd like the hedge to be more consistently opaque/solid.

The possibility to cut out a few more hawthorn trunks either now or later
when the other plants take, is possible.

What would the panel :- recommend as a possible plant that would live in a
hybrid hawthorn hedge but assist with the visible screening? Could be an
evergreen, or whatever else keeps its leaves alive or dead over winter.

Another possibility might be some sort of climber that would mix in with the
hawthorn. Ideally I'd like to achieve screening improvements in 12-24 months
after planting.

I could just chop it down and shove a well managed leylandii kept to 4-5'
in, but it would be a shame to lose the old hybrid - it suits the character
of the village and the wildlife seems to like it.

Cheers for any ideas

Tim

I've inter planted with Lonicera nitida, if you can get a load of
cuttings 12 to 18 inches long in the Autumn and just stick them in; 6
inches or so deep; amongst the hawthorn they should root over the
winter, and there you are, in a couple of years they will have blended
in to give you a good winter screen, and also a good nesting site for
some of the Tits.