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#1
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Clematis on a dead tree
Hi
I have a fifteen foot tall Horse Chestnut tree in my garden and it's becoming too big for my garden. I fancy killing it and then growing clematis over the dead body (I saw the same thing in Lawrence Sterne's garden in Coxwold and adored it!) but would welcome suggestions from people. For a start how would I go about killing the tree while retaining its shape? Are there any issues I should be thinking about? Thanks in advance! Emmy |
#2
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EmmaByson wrote:
Hi I have a fifteen foot tall Horse Chestnut tree in my garden and it's becoming too big for my garden. I fancy killing it and then growing clematis over the dead body (I saw the same thing in Lawrence Sterne's garden in Coxwold and adored it!) but would welcome suggestions from people. For a start how would I go about killing the tree while retaining its shape? Are there any issues I should be thinking about? Thanks in advance! Emmy The neatest way to kill it is to strip the bark all the way round the trunk. I'd guess a foot-wide strip will do it. (I once tried to kill a big sycamore by hammering copper nails into it, but it didn't work -- maybe I was too stingy with the nails.) It will eventually become a bit unsafe, but you can have fun with it till then -- if you're sure you'll like the effect all the year round. If you haven't seen the Shandy Hall example in the dead season, it may be a good idea to go and look next month if you can. And it will take a little time for your clematis (or rose/clematis, or clematis/jasmine, or whatever combination) to cover it properly. Mike. |
#3
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EmmaByson wrote in message ... Hi I have a fifteen foot tall Horse Chestnut tree in my garden and it's becoming too big for my garden. I fancy killing it and then growing clematis over the dead body (I saw the same thing in Lawrence Sterne's garden in Coxwold and adored it!) but would welcome suggestions from people. For a start how would I go about killing the tree while retaining its shape? Are there any issues I should be thinking about? Thanks in advance! Emmy Hi Emmy, Alas, Horse Chestnuts are notorious 'branch droppers' - and that's when they're alive! (I offered a young, healthy tree to my local woodland charity, but they wouldn't touch it for fear they'd be liable if a branch fell on someone. I would be very worried about keeping a dead tree *and* adding weight/windage to it. If the tree is already too big for your garden, that's a good reason for disposing of it. Then replant with a smaller tree, like Malus, and plant clematis to flower for the summer season. (The Malus will flower in Spring and fruit in Autumn, so you'll have an attractive feature for three seasons). Spider |
#4
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"EmmaByson" wrote in message ... Hi I have a fifteen foot tall Horse Chestnut tree in my garden and it's becoming too big for my garden. I fancy killing it and then growing clematis over the dead body (I saw the same thing in Lawrence Sterne's garden in Coxwold and adored it!) but would welcome suggestions from people. For a start how would I go about killing the tree while retaining its shape? Are there any issues I should be thinking about? Thanks in advance! Emmy You could pollard the tree rather than kill it, use a hard prune type clematis like a viticella or maybe a yellow tibetiana type then both jobs cab be done at the same time each year, I do this with a sweet chestnut and it works very well. -- Charlie, gardening in Cornwall. http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs) |
#5
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In article ,
Charlie Pridham wrote: "EmmaByson" wrote in message ... Hi I have a fifteen foot tall Horse Chestnut tree in my garden and it's becoming too big for my garden. I fancy killing it and then growing clematis over the dead body ... You could pollard the tree rather than kill it, use a hard prune type clematis like a viticella or maybe a yellow tibetiana type then both jobs cab be done at the same time each year, I do this with a sweet chestnut and it works very well. Pollarding a HORSE chestnut? Yes, I can see a true chestnut behaving well, but surely the soft wood of the former would rot and the tree collapse? My suggestion would be to remove the branches at an appropriate distance (aesthetically and for safety) and proceed as the original poster said. Provided that it wouldn't do any major harm when it falls over (as it will, eventually), that is fine. It would also be possible to use either a single clematis, or a combination of early- and late-flowering ones (say C. montana and C. tangutica). The latter approach would be unprunable, of course. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
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