On 08/12/2013 21:14, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 8 Dec 2013 20:21:22 -0000, Janet wrote:

Has anyone mentioned blackthorn?

Not yet, are you going to?

I will, another forgotten one (I did say I'm not the gardener...).

Very slow to grow here, I think the largest bush of Blackthorn we
have is no more than a few feet high and a couple wide, very open and
10 years old.

Damn it, what trees/shrubs did we put in? In order of "doing well":

Sycamore
Rowan
Larch
Birch
Ash
Scots Pine (they all got hit this/last year along with most other
similar pines around here with something that killed all the previous
years needles, this years growth looks OK so far...)
Blackthorn (slow)
Dog Rose (just a couple, slow)
Yew (only a couple, just clings on, the wind burns the leaves).

Some English Oaks have recently been put in they seem to survive.
Some gorse has also gone in but that is tiny about 6" across... Time
will tell, there is no wild gorse around here.

Upland woods around here are a mixture of oak and birch, with holly as
the principal component of the shrub layer, so perhaps holly would do as
well. Rowan is a minor component, and bramble and bilberry contribute to
the ground-cover layer.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley