On 31/07/2012 17:59, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-31 17:35:36 +0100, Tim Watts said:

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.
snip

How about looking at hornbeam and beech planted as bare root hedging in
autumn? Or how about just planting some more holly, making sure you
have male and female plants to get the berries?

I'd add Lonicera nitida (sp?) which is ever green and available in green
and paler yellow cultivars (slightly less vigorous). My hedge also
includes honeysuckle, cotoneaster and wild rose but they lose their
leaves in winter and so don't meet your requirements. Pyracantha
provided you don't mind the vicious spines and yew provided you don't
mind the dangerous toxicity.

I would probably avoid anything else in the rosaceae family in case the
gaps in the hedge are caused by disease - the soil will also be depleted
in the nutrients that family require.

Please don't plant C.
leylandii because, while you may look after it, if you sell your house,
those who come after you may not be so conscientious. It really isn't a
'neighbourly' tree. And it is a tree, not a hedging shrub!

Even some of the things we have suggested will run away if you do not
keep on top of them - but not to the same extent as Leylandii.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown