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Hi,

I have recently moved into a house where there is a 30m beech hedge along the road frontage. Between the hedge and the road is a fence. I am proposing to remove the fence but at present there are no leaves on the fence side of the hedge.

If I were to remove the fence, would the bare side of the hedge 'leaf up' in time?

On Oct 9, 10:05*am, Baytreecott Baytreecott.
wrote:
Hi,

I have recently moved into a house where there is a 30m beech hedge
along the road frontage. Between the hedge and the road is a fence. I
am proposing to remove the fence but at present there are no leaves on
the fence side of the hedge.

If I were to remove the fence, would the bare side of the hedge 'leaf
up' in time?

--
Baytreecott

What is the spacing between the hedge and the fence? 6", 12", 10' ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baytreecott (Post 866634)

Yes. It would. You might have to cut some of the leafless branches back to stimulate growth but beech will regrow from old wood. If it was mine I would treat it as if I wanted to restore the hedge. You can find good notes on how to bring old beech hedging back to life at http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Beech-Hedge-Renovation

Good luck

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hedgeman (Post 867147)

Great info, thanks! Would the same hold true for hornbeam please?

I just planted bare-root hornbeam whips. I need to put in a fence to keep my kids off the road and indeed to remove the temptation to be going through the growing hedge.

I am thinking of a 3 ft high picket fence, but I can't leave much gap (maybe an inch) between the pickets to avoid the kids climbing over using the rails. When the hedge matures and closes over, I would ideally like to remove the pickets to save maintenance and show off the hedge itself.

My question is, if I have such a fence, will it stop the growth of side branches on that side? And when I remove the pickets, will the bottom of the hedge develop side branches / leaves?

If not, I might have to rethink the whole picket fence idea.

Wondered what your thoughts are please?

IN the end, I planted hornbeam whips, and put windbreak on both sides. Lucky as we had a scourging wind in april that killed a lot of plants.

Do you think I should top the whips before next year, to bush them out a bit?