In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
|
| I'm surprised that anyone would actually want elderberry as
| a hedge. I've always treated it as a "hedge weed" and
| chopped them out of existing hawthorn hedges at every
| opportunity. Perhaps that attitude comes from my farming
| background where elderflower is just too flimsy to make a
| barrier against cattle in hedging and is literally a waste
| of space. It also tends to self seed everywhere. Awful
| stuff. In view of the small garden I'd definitely go for
| trellis and climbing plants... lots of choice of clematis
| etc.

Yes, all of that is true, but I like elder. It is decorative
in flower and fruit, both can be used in cooking (though I don't
like the berries much), and you can make peashooters from it ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
|
| I'm surprised that anyone would actually want elderberry as
| a hedge. I've always treated it as a "hedge weed" and
| chopped them out of existing hawthorn hedges at every
| opportunity. Perhaps that attitude comes from my farming
| background where elderflower is just too flimsy to make a
| barrier against cattle in hedging and is literally a waste
| of space. It also tends to self seed everywhere. Awful
| stuff. In view of the small garden I'd definitely go for
| trellis and climbing plants... lots of choice of clematis
| etc.

Yes, all of that is true, but I like elder. It is decorative
in flower and fruit, both can be used in cooking (though I don't
like the berries much), and you can make peashooters from it ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

.... and the birds love it

In article , says...

"Mr X"wrote
My garden is 7 metres by 2 metres, its the 7 metre length that I want to
hedge. I dont want my hedge thicker than 60cm if possible. I did think of
planting sunflowers as there is plenty of light but they are annuals and
therefore harder work

At 2 metres wide I'd use a fence, or trellis for plants to grow up, to save
space.
Talking of climbing plants...over to you Charlie. :-)


Funnily enough I would suggest something we don't sell! Euonymous the
tall evergreen variegated leaf types they look fantastic woven through
the netting as nick described and you can get an evergreen screen just 6"
wide.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Anne Jackson says...
The message from "Mr X" contains these words:

Well I'm not much of a gardener but I thought Id get a quick screen from
elderberry and I love elderberry juice. I would be interested in any better
suggestions. I just need a bit of fast growing privacy in my tiny gardern.

I have a mixture of beech, hawthorn and blackthorn. Not exactly
rapid-growing, but I intend to be around for quite a while yet,
and I love sloe gin! ;-)

I have difficulty getting rid of the elderberry trees in my garden,
and _yes_ they do grow that tall!



They tend to self set in situations where they are
difficult to get rid of e.g. between a shed and a wall.

I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now, between a shed
and his garage in a gap of less than one foot. Virtually
inaccessible hence impossible to dig up. It has finally won
and is now growing through the rotten shed floor and out of
the broken shed windows! The branches have also damaged the
garage roof where they keep rubbing in the wind.

I've seen them growing and wreaking havoc in similar narrow
gaps all over the country.
--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

On 22/3/08 13:56, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

Anne Jackson says...
The message from "Mr X" contains these words:

Well I'm not much of a gardener but I thought Id get a quick screen from
elderberry and I love elderberry juice. I would be interested in any better
suggestions. I just need a bit of fast growing privacy in my tiny gardern.

I have a mixture of beech, hawthorn and blackthorn. Not exactly
rapid-growing, but I intend to be around for quite a while yet,
and I love sloe gin! ;-)

I have difficulty getting rid of the elderberry trees in my garden,
and _yes_ they do grow that tall!



They tend to self set in situations where they are
difficult to get rid of e.g. between a shed and a wall.

I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

David in Normandy says...
Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?



Blimey you may be right - the moment I hit the send button
on my last post there was a massive clap of thunder! I
thought the barn roof had perhaps collapsed but no - it is
still there. Sling it down with snow now. Snow AND thunder?
Strange?
--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

On 22/3/08 14:20, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?

Absolutely. They're the witches trees and the witches don't like it if you
cut them down! In other folklore, if you cut one a witch will bleed to
death and yet others believed that planting an elder outside a house
protected it from witches. Some believed that witches could transform
themselves into elder trees.
It's quite peculiar that so much myth - and so much of it different - has
attached itself to that particular plant.
Some believe it's the original Judas tree from which he hanged himself and
still others wouldn't allow it to be used to me furniture or cradles.

--
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 22/3/08 14:23, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

David in Normandy says...
Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?



Blimey you may be right - the moment I hit the send button
on my last post there was a massive clap of thunder! I
thought the barn roof had perhaps collapsed but no - it is
still there. Sling it down with snow now. Snow AND thunder?
Strange?

See? I'll call 'em off, shall I? ;-))
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Sacha says...
On 22/3/08 14:23, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

David in Normandy says...
Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?



Blimey you may be right - the moment I hit the send button
on my last post there was a massive clap of thunder! I
thought the barn roof had perhaps collapsed but no - it is
still there. Sling it down with snow now. Snow AND thunder?
Strange?

See? I'll call 'em off, shall I? ;-))


Wow! I'm impressed! The thunder and the snow have both
stopped now! Er... It's now hailing! What's next frogs?
--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

On 22/3/08 14:42, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

Sacha says...
On 22/3/08 14:23, in article ,
"David in Normandy" wrote:

David in Normandy says...
Sacha says...
I've completely chopped down one at my fathers house that
has grown to tree size on two occasions now
snip

Gasp! Now the witches will get you!


I was wondering why a woman has just gone hurtling past the
window sitting on a broom :-)

Is there some folk law associated with cutting down
elderberry trees?



Blimey you may be right - the moment I hit the send button
on my last post there was a massive clap of thunder! I
thought the barn roof had perhaps collapsed but no - it is
still there. Sling it down with snow now. Snow AND thunder?
Strange?

See? I'll call 'em off, shall I? ;-))


Wow! I'm impressed! The thunder and the snow have both
stopped now! Er... It's now hailing! What's next frogs?

Ah. Now that might take a while longer. Watch this space. ;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Anne Jackson says...
The last one I attempted to demolish was growing (as you say)
in a narrow gap between a shed and a fence. I cut it as close
to ground level as I could, leaving a stump of about 8" which
I then attacked with an axe - this week I noticed that there
are young shoots growing from the decimated stump...



Within a two or three years it will be tree size again if
left unchecked. The only way I found of permanently getting
rid of one in such a position was by pouring an entire tub
of sodium chlorate weed killer around its base while it was
in full growth. This had to be repeated twice before it
finally gave up and died. I don't know if that stump killer
is any good - what's it called? Something like SBK?
--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Sacha writes
still others wouldn't allow it to be used to me furniture or cradles
I would have thought that was more a matter of practicality
--
Kay

In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
|
| Within a two or three years it will be tree size again if
| left unchecked.

Albeit a very small tree.

| The only way I found of permanently getting
| rid of one in such a position was by pouring an entire tub
| of sodium chlorate weed killer around its base while it was
| in full growth. This had to be repeated twice before it
| finally gave up and died. I don't know if that stump killer
| is any good - what's it called? Something like SBK?

Yes. A.k.a. brushwood killer.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 22/3/08 15:25, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
still others wouldn't allow it to be used to me furniture or cradles
I would have thought that was more a matter of practicality

According to folklore, it was superstition. If you really believed that
witches could turn themselves into elder trees, you wouldn't put your baby
to sleep in a cradle made of witch!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'