Hello,
On my property I have plenty of hornbeam and dogwood transplants as well as some oak, dog rose and some other native plants.

I would like to plant a 50 meters long hedge and I would like it to be about 1.5-2 meters high in 2-4 years.

I would like it to be informal, natural looking hedge that I would trim once or mostly twice per year.

Would it work if I mix hornbeam with dogwood and other plants, or should I use hornbeam only since I have it most?
Should I plant in one or two rows, and how many plants per meter?

Thanks a lot,
Mountain

"mountain_spring" wrote in
message ...

Hello,
On my property I have plenty of hornbeam and dogwood transplants as well
as some oak, dog rose and some other native plants.

I would like to plant a 50 meters long hedge and I would like it to be
about 1.5-2 meters high in 2-4 years.

I would like it to be informal, natural looking hedge that I would trim
once or mostly twice per year.

Would it work if I mix hornbeam with dogwood and other plants, or should
I use hornbeam only since I have it most?
Should I plant in one or two rows, and how many plants per meter?

Thanks a lot,
Mountain

As I understand it, hornbeam is relatively slow growing, giving a
particularly heavy wood for fuel purposes. Dogwood is fast growing and
suckers horrendously. Of course, a lot depends on your soil, but I would
accompany your hornbeam with hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn - almost
anything but dogwood I would say... (But I'm not a butterfly, so perhaps
one or two.)

S

On 18 Sep, 18:24, mountain_spring mountain_spring.
wrote:
Hello,
On my property I have plenty of hornbeam and dogwood transplants as well
as some oak, dog rose and some other native plants.

I would like to plant a 50 meters long hedge and I would like it to be
about 1.5-2 meters high in 2-4 years.

I would like it to be informal, natural looking hedge that I would trim
once or mostly twice per year.

Would it work if I mix hornbeam with dogwood and other plants, or should
I use hornbeam only since I have it most?
Should I plant in one or two rows, and how many plants per meter?

Thanks a lot,
Mountain

--
mountain_spring

Natural hedges are one of the latest crazes with the planners these
days.
You need a double row @ 450mm centres. Hawthorn, holly, hazel,
elderbery etc. It needs leaving 'til its about five or six feet high
& then "laying" by bending the stems over horizontal. They might need
a nick to make tem stay down. This gives a dense hedge that is more
security proof than barbed wire.
You don't want dogwood, not native & runs amok with suckers.

Are you sure about that? According to Stace (accepted as the authority on the British flora) both Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, and the creeping dwarf cornel, Cornus suecica, are native.

The red-stemmed White Dogweed, Cornus alba, isn't native, but from the the fact that the OP has a lot of dogwood suggests he isn't talking about this one.

On 19 Sep, 09:16, harry wrote:

You need a double row @ 450mm centres. Hawthorn, holly, hazel,
elderbery etc. *It needs leaving 'til its about five or six feet high
& then "laying" by bending the stems over horizontal. They might need
a nick to make tem stay down. *This gives a dense hedge that is more
security proof than barbed wire.
You don't want dogwood, not native & runs amok with suckers.

Yes, yes and yes.

Hornbeam can be VERY slow compared to the others. I'd establish hazel
and hawthorn, and plant the Hornbeam & Holly as 'standards', rather
than including them in the laying. Then add dog rose 10 years later
to work it's way in and out. Blackthorn will spread and sucker all
over the place, but I do like it a lot, the blossom is fantastic, as
is the hawthorn. Your choice.

thinking about it, we have dogwood in the boundary hedge of the local nature reserve, along with blackthorn, guelder rose and various other species. It isn't causing a problem. The hedge is designed to screen out the houses beyond, so isn't cut regularly, just cut back now and again when it blocks the adjacent path.

On 19 Sep, 10:32, bobharvey wrote:
On 19 Sep, 09:16, harry wrote:

You need a double row @ 450mm centres. Hawthorn, holly, hazel,
elderbery etc. *It needs leaving 'til its about five or six feet high
& then "laying" by bending the stems over horizontal. They might need
a nick to make tem stay down. *This gives a dense hedge that is more
security proof than barbed wire.
You don't want dogwood, not native & runs amok with suckers.

Yes, yes and yes.

Hornbeam can be VERY slow compared to the others. *I'd establish hazel
and hawthorn, and plant the Hornbeam & Holly as 'standards', rather
than including them in the laying. *Then add dog rose 10 years later
to work it's way in and out. *Blackthorn will spread and sucker all
over the place, but I do like it a lot, the blossom is fantastic, as
is the hawthorn. *Your choice.

There is no way I would plant Elderberry in a young hedge, it would
swamp its neighbours in no time.
I would be tempted to add some lonicera nitidia after around 3 years,
just stick in cuttings in the autumn, this would give some evergreen
cover for the birds in winter.
I did this to my hawthorne hedge and had around 80% take.
Why not add a couple of Bird Cherry as standards as well
David Hill

In message , kay
writes

harry;900740 Wrote:


You don't want dogwood, not native & runs amok with suckers.

Are you sure about that? According to Stace (accepted as the authority
on the British flora) both Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, and the creeping
dwarf cornel, Cornus suecica, are native.

The red-stemmed White Dogweed, Cornus alba, isn't native, but from the
the fact that the OP has a lot of dogwood suggests he isn't talking
about this one.

Looking up I the distribution maps I was surprised to find that Cornus
sericea (commoner than its close relative Cornus alba) is considerably
less widespread that Cornus sanguinea, as, around here, I had the
impression that the two species were about equally common. But, as both
are used in amenity plantings it is difficult to distinguish "wild"
specimens from "cultivated" ones. Alternatively, my identification of
the species when not fruiting may not be reliable.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"harry" wrote in message
...
On 18 Sep, 18:24, mountain_spring mountain_spring.
wrote:
Hello,
On my property I have plenty of hornbeam and dogwood transplants as well
as some oak, dog rose and some other native plants.

I would like to plant a 50 meters long hedge and I would like it to be
about 1.5-2 meters high in 2-4 years.

I would like it to be informal, natural looking hedge that I would trim
once or mostly twice per year.

Would it work if I mix hornbeam with dogwood and other plants, or should
I use hornbeam only since I have it most?
Should I plant in one or two rows, and how many plants per meter?

Thanks a lot,
Mountain

--
mountain_spring

Natural hedges are one of the latest crazes with the planners these
days.
You need a double row @ 450mm centres. Hawthorn, holly, hazel,
elderbery etc. It needs leaving 'til its about five or six feet high
& then "laying" by bending the stems over horizontal. They might need
a nick to make tem stay down. This gives a dense hedge that is more
security proof than barbed wire.
You don't want dogwood, not native & runs amok with suckers.

Dogwood is native, and is OK if left alone, but if you start cutting it, it
suckers very badly and can take over whole hillsides - one big 'scrub
bashing' mistake, was cutting it down rather than winching it out.

"Another earlier name of the dogwood in English is the whipple-tree.
Geoffrey Chaucer uses the word whippletree in The Canterbury Tales ("The
Knight's Tale", verse 2065) to refer to the dogwood"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogwood

When you have an internet connection why can you not check your most basic
facts?

S

Spamlet wrote:
[...]
When you have an internet connection why can you not check your most
basic facts?

They do it expressly to annoy you, of course. Since you have an internet
connection, you have the opportunity to learn how people in amiable
groups like this one usually talk to one another. Check it out: the
skill is transferable, and could pay dividends in your non-Usenet life.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Spamlet wrote:
[...]
When you have an internet connection why can you not check your most
basic facts?

They do it expressly to annoy you, of course. Since you have an internet
connection, you have the opportunity to learn how people in amiable groups
like this one usually talk to one another. Check it out: the skill is
transferable, and could pay dividends in your non-Usenet life.

--
Mike.

As it happens this is the only usenet group where I have actually found any
rude people.

S

In message , Spamlet
writes

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Spamlet wrote:
[...]
When you have an internet connection why can you not check your most
basic facts?

They do it expressly to annoy you, of course. Since you have an internet
connection, you have the opportunity to learn how people in amiable groups
like this one usually talk to one another. Check it out: the skill is
transferable, and could pay dividends in your non-Usenet life.

--
Mike.

As it happens this is the only usenet group where I have actually found any
rude people.

You know, I didn't find your earlier ignoring of the context of my words
in order to post a faux correction to be the epitome of politeness.

As for your earlier question, there's a relevant quotation from Mark
Twain, that goes, roughly, it's not what you don't know that's the
problem, it's what you know that ain't so.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On 20 Sep, 03:34, "Spamlet" wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message

...

Spamlet wrote:
[...]
When you have an internet connection why can you not check your most
basic facts?

They do it expressly to annoy you, of course. Since you have an internet
connection, you have the opportunity to learn how people in amiable groups
like this one usually talk to one another. Check it out: the skill is
transferable, and could pay dividends in your non-Usenet life.

--
Mike.

As it happens this is the only usenet group where I have actually found any
rude people.

S



- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Must be the only one youu're in then :-)

Spamlet wrote:
As it happens this is the only usenet group where I have actually found any
rude people.

You can't have looked very far, then.

On 20 Sep, 03:34, "Spamlet" wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message

...

Spamlet wrote:
[...]
When you have an internet connection why can you not check your most
basic facts?

They do it expressly to annoy you, of course. Since you have an internet
connection, you have the opportunity to learn how people in amiable groups
like this one usually talk to one another. Check it out: the skill is
transferable, and could pay dividends in your non-Usenet life.

--
Mike.

As it happens this is the only usenet group where I have actually found any
rude people.

you've /really/ not been looking, have you?