We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

On 02/02/17 15:20, john west wrote:

We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

Privet. Late March is the right time to start taking cuttings. Maybe you
can find someone with a privet hedge and offer to trim it for them. That
should give you hundreds of cuttings.

But bare root cuttings aren't expensive if you want to speed things up:
http://www.hedgenursery.co.uk/shop-b...af-privet.html

Those work out at £2.50 - £4 per metre for plants 30 - 40 cm high.

--

Jeff

On Thu, 2 Feb 2017 22:25:36 Jeff Layman wrote:

On 02/02/17 15:20, john west wrote:

We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

Privet. Late March is the right time to start taking cuttings. Maybe
you can find someone with a privet hedge and offer to trim it for them.
That should give you hundreds of cuttings.

But there are versions of privet which do lose their leaves. I have a
privet hedge where some of the plants seem to be deciduous and the rest
evergreen. Makes for an interesting-looking boundary in winter!

David
--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On 02/02/17 23:15, David Rance wrote:
On Thu, 2 Feb 2017 22:25:36 Jeff Layman wrote:

On 02/02/17 15:20, john west wrote:

We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

Privet. Late March is the right time to start taking cuttings. Maybe
you can find someone with a privet hedge and offer to trim it for them.
That should give you hundreds of cuttings.

But there are versions of privet which do lose their leaves. I have a
privet hedge where some of the plants seem to be deciduous and the rest
evergreen. Makes for an interesting-looking boundary in winter!

The most common hedging privet seen in the UK is Ligustrum ovalifolium.
That is evergreen unless the winter is severe when it will lose some of
its leaves. In my garden there is a plant of L. vulgare. I assume it is
self-sown as I can't think of any reason why anyone would want this
scruffy, uninteresting, sparsely-berried, deciduous plant!

--

Jeff

On 02/02/2017 22:21, Martin wrote:
On Thu, 2 Feb 2017 15:20:54 +0000, john west
wrote:


We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

Beech taken from beech woods.

Beech keeps its leaves on all winter but they are golden brown rather
than evergreen. Lonicera nitida is one of the finer grained hedging
plants and fairly common and easy to root.

You don't want anything too fast growing.

This means you will need to be very patient waiting for your hedge from
cuttings to get to any size. You would probably be better off buying
bare root plants in autumn at 30cm size. If it is a really long hedge
consider planting blocks of about 3m the same with a variation in choice
of bush along the length. A big block all the same looks boring.

Mine has privet, holly, lonicera, beech, cotoneaster (deciduous) with
the odd sprinkling of wild rose and honeysuckle.

Stockproof side uses pyracantha, hawthorn with some bramble and holly.
Turns out holly and bramble are not really very stock proof.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 03/02/2017 07:56, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 02/02/17 23:15, David Rance wrote:
On Thu, 2 Feb 2017 22:25:36 Jeff Layman wrote:

On 02/02/17 15:20, john west wrote:

We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

Privet. Late March is the right time to start taking cuttings. Maybe
you can find someone with a privet hedge and offer to trim it for them.
That should give you hundreds of cuttings.

But there are versions of privet which do lose their leaves. I have a
privet hedge where some of the plants seem to be deciduous and the rest
evergreen. Makes for an interesting-looking boundary in winter!

The most common hedging privet seen in the UK is Ligustrum ovalifolium.
That is evergreen unless the winter is severe when it will lose some of
its leaves. In my garden there is a plant of L. vulgare. I assume it is
self-sown as I can't think of any reason why anyone would want this
scruffy, uninteresting, sparsely-berried, deciduous plant!


Escallonia? Next door's is looking good here in SE London.

On 03/02/2017 09:07, Stuart Noble wrote:
On 03/02/2017 07:56, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 02/02/17 23:15, David Rance wrote:

But there are versions of privet which do lose their leaves. I have a
privet hedge where some of the plants seem to be deciduous and the rest
evergreen. Makes for an interesting-looking boundary in winter!

The most common hedging privet seen in the UK is Ligustrum ovalifolium.
That is evergreen unless the winter is severe when it will lose some of
its leaves. In my garden there is a plant of L. vulgare. I assume it is
self-sown as I can't think of any reason why anyone would want this
scruffy, uninteresting, sparsely-berried, deciduous plant!

Escallonia? Next door's is looking good here in SE London.

Its very nice but a bit fragile in colder exposed regions. OP needs to
give some indication where he lives and how exposed the site is.

My hedges are exposed directly to North Yorkshire gales and sometimes
falling trees. It takes them a while to recover from a tree hit.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 03/02/2017 13:03, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 3 Feb 2017 08:56:18 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 02/02/2017 22:21, Martin wrote:
On Thu, 2 Feb 2017 15:20:54 +0000, john west
wrote:


We wish to build a long hedge (non spiky) that keeps its leaves on all
winter. It will kept at about 5 feet tall.

Is there another *common* hedge around that i can readily snaffle some
cuttings from it. Also being one that i can easily root the cuttings in
pots to get it going without much problem? Thanks

Beech taken from beech woods.

Beech keeps its leaves on all winter but they are golden brown rather
than evergreen. Lonicera nitida is one of the finer grained hedging
plants and fairly common and easy to root.

You don't want anything too fast growing.

This means you will need to be very patient waiting for your hedge from
cuttings to get to any size. You would probably be better off buying
bare root plants in autumn at 30cm size. If it is a really long hedge
consider planting blocks of about 3m the same with a variation in choice
of bush along the length. A big block all the same looks boring.

When I made a beech hedge 40 odd years ago, I took beech that was around one
metre long that was growing wild on the ground of a wood. We used a similar size
bought in a garden centre to extend the hedge around the garden of our current
house.

These days in the UK taking anything with roots from the wild is now
frowned upon unless it is a pernicious weed being eradicated.

http://www.environmentlaw.org.uk/rte.asp?id=217

Himalayan balsam, knotweed, ragweed, rhododenron for example.

Squirrels plant plenty of beech masts in my lawns.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 03/02/17 14:10, Martin Brown wrote:

Squirrels plant plenty of beech masts in my lawns.

Somewhat OT, but my neighbour's 15 metre beech drops thousands of masts
on the flower border and lawn every year. We also have squirrels, but in
the four years we've been here I don't remember seeing a single beech
seedling. My ash, however, is unfortunately a very different matter...

--

Jeff