Category Archives: Hedging and Hedges

Which Laurel goes where?

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At Ashridge Trees HQ, we have a very advanced system for logging all the queries that come in from our customers. Her name is Frances and we’d be in deep trouble without her, so please be nice to her when you give us a call.

One question that she’s heard a few times is about which of the three famous laurel bushes to use in a particular site. Cherry or Common Laurel, Portugal Laurel and Bay Laurel will all do well in shady spots, although Bay Laurel won’t be happy in very deep shade.

Cherry Laurel has the largest leaves and makes the best roadside hedge for blocking out the light of passing cars and muffling traffic noise. It won’t grow on chalk or by the sea and can struggle in the coldest parts of the North and Scotland.

Portugal Laurel has a ruddy tinge to the new stems and leaves and is the only one that will succeed on chalky ground. It is also the hardiest, so if you live in the far North and Scotland, this is definitely the one to go for.

Bay Laurel is the same plant that provides bay leaves for the kitchen and is the tenderest of the three. It will be fine in the dappled shade of a deciduous tree, or in a spot that misses the sun during winter, but isn’t recommended for a year round shady spot. There is quite a bit of varied opinion about how well it does in exposed sites – it may have a problem further North as the wind gets colder and more drying but down here in Somerset it looks great atop a blustery hill.

If you have any more questions, please drop us a comment!

Hawthorn Hedging – Tip No. 3

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Another hawthorn tip for those of you who planted your quickthorn (same as hawthorn) whips last year.  Hopefully you followed our instructions and cut each plant back by half when you planted it.  Equally hopefully, they all survived the weird winter last year and the very dry April.  (Second dry spring in a row for those who are counting).

If they did both of the above, then each little stick should by now have somewhere between two and five side branches and be beginning to make a little hawthorn bush.  If they are, here is tip number 3 for hawthorn beginners.

Be brave and cut those side branches (some of which are probably 30-40 cms long back by half again. Don’t do it exactly now, but don’t forget to get the shears out between the end of November and the beginning of March.

If you do this, then each branch will behave in the same way as the original stem did last winter. In spring, between two and five dormant buds will break into growth below each cut.  So your (average) 3 branches per plant will produce 3 side branches each and the little bush will have all the making of a thicket.

Which is what you want in the best hawthorn hedge.

Edible Hedge Plants – Sustainable Hedgerow Living in the News

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Always good to get a mention in the papers.

The most recent was by Elspeth Thompson in the Sunday Telegraph, talking about edible hedge plants.  Always unbiased, we think it is an excellent article, which apart from mentioning Ashridge Trees as the place to buy your edible hedge plants covers the main basics of foraging. So you get an insight into what varieties to plant, a step by step guide on how to plant an edible hedge, pointers to good recipes and so on.  If you want to read more, you can find Elspeth’s edible hedging article here.

And if you are already a commited forager why not publish your favourite recipe(s) as a comment here; we would love to have some to add to Charles Simon’s Hedgerow Jelly….

Hedging – Plants with Feet of Clay

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It is all hedging at this time of year….

These yew hedge planting pointers apply equally to almost all other hedging plants as well, certainly anything that needs a well drained soil.

  1. You can dig a trench to plant your hedging if the ground is well drained.
  2. You can improve the soil as much as you like if the ground is well drained.
  3. You should water your plants well and often if the ground is well drained.
  4. You can use the largest plants you can afford if the ground is well drained.

You have spotted a pattern here: when planting a hedge, it is important to think about drainage.

If you have heavy clay soil (sticky grey, blue or yellow), the good news is that you have richly fertile soil.
The bad news is that water does not drain well through it, which some plants have a problem with.

So please, save yourself a lot of hard work and a load of grief.  Watch our film on how to plant a country hedge (link on the home page) even if you are planting the smartest yew.

  1. On badly drained soils, always plant small plants.
  2. On badly drained soils, always plant in a slit, not a trench.
  3. On badly drained soils, improve the soil after planting and when your hedging is growing away by adding a mulch of well rotted compost/manure and letting the worms do the work.
  4. On badly drained soils, only water newly planted hedging if there is a danger that the soil will dry out completely. When you do water, soak the plants and then DO NOT WATER for a couple of weeks afterwards.

The reason is this:
If you dig a hole or trench in clay, it fills with water when it rains and the surface puddle water on the surrounding ground tries to run into your hole, keeping it full.
The fact that you backfilled the hole with lovely, porous compost when planting only gives it the consistency of a sponge in a bath.  The roots of almost all hedging plants need to be able to breathe underground.
A trench in clay means they will probably drown.

So plant hedging on clay the easy way and dig as little as possible!