Category Archives: Trivia (or are they?)

101 uses for your Beech Hedge – No. 73 – Forecasting Spring

by
1

An entirely random thought.

I stumbled on a site that has kept a record of the date on which a hazel bush has come into pollen each year. The theory is that the date a hazel produces pollen indicates whether spring will be early or late (for the sake of completeness, catkins came 9 days later this year than last).

I wonder if the defoliation of my beech hedge tells the same thing. Here, at the end(ish) of February our beech hedge is fully clothed with last year’s leaves. I am pretty sure that last year, when spring came very early, it was only partially clad by now.

Records will be kept and the story will unfold. In the meantime, on the off chance that we have freakish beech hedge plants this year you can buy our own unguranteed weather forecasting kit on our beech hedge pages until the end of the bare root season.  Which is coming… when?

 Relax, enjoy, and watch your garden grow

Ten Years After

by
Reply

Entrance to our wood 10 years after planting We went to stay with the in-laws this week-end. They live in Leicestershire, just outside Market Harborough. My father in law is a natural planter – one of those people who looks on themselves as being a custodian (rather than an owner) of the landscape. He is eighty now, has spent the last 50 years living in the same house and has used most of those years to plant trees, sometimes in large numbers. Almost exactly 10 years ago, we planted a copse – I provided the trees and understory (the smaller shrubs that grow beneath), and the hedging that grows round it. He provided about half an acre. Ten years sounds like a long time, but it passes in the flick of an eye. Bill and I walked up to the copse today and marvelled at just how BIG, the little bare root whips of 1997/98 had got. There are thirty footers amongst them. Some have been killed by the competition from their neighbours, but what was a corner of a field is now an established wood, teeming with wildlife. Once planted, there was no maintenance barring an annual slash of weeds for the first three years and then a bit of lopping of branches that got in the way. Looking out the other end.... Pictures tell it all I hope, but there is an amazing thrill in seeing something young and vibrant and immensely powerful that, mankind willing, will be standing long after my children’s childrens children are forgotten…. (by the way that last was a comment that was made by one of my children)

Death by Black Walnut

by
Reply

We have had a few complaints this summer from people who bought trees from us that died.  When you sell as many as we do, this happens sometimes (and we replace them under guarantee so all is not lost, dear customer!)

However I noticed with a couple that Black Walnut (although not dead) was on the order.  To the Latin scholar chemists amongst you that should tell you all you need to know.   For the rest of us it might be a mystery unless you are lucky like me and happened to see an information leaflet on the stand of Hadlow College who were strutting their stuff at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.

I must admit I sort of knew something about black walnut’s ability to kill other trees but the students of Hadlow made it very clear.  Black Walnut is called Juglans nigra in Latin.  Juglans is the root (no pun intended) for juglone which is an allelopathic drug. That means it stunts or kills.  And black walnut is the biggest natural produced of juglone, which it uses to great effect to kill unrelated plants and trees nearby. If you have a black walnut and trees and shrubs relatively nearby suffer wilting, yellowing foliage and either die or stop growing, now you know why.

So here is (as the Americans would say) – the take away.  Mother nature likes balance, so there are a number of plants that don’t mind juglone and so can be planted near your black walnut. They include:

 Acer negundo (Box Elder)
 Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple)
 Acer rubrum (Red Maple)
 Acer saccharinum (Silver Maple)
 Aesculus (Horsechestnut)
 Betula pendula (Silver Birch)
 Betula nigra (Black or River Birch)
 Catalpa bignonoides (Indian Bean Tree, Foxglove Tree)
 Cornus Mas (Cornelian Cherry)
 Crataegus (Hawthorn)
 Cydonia oblonga (Quince)
 Fagus (Beech)
 Gleditsia triacanthos (Honey Locust)
 Juniperus (Junipers)
 Liquidamber styraciflua (Sweetgum)
 Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip tree)
 Picea abies (Norway Spruce)
 Platanus (Plane)
 Prunus serotina (Black Cherry)
 Pyrus calleryana (Pear)
 Quercus (Oak)
 Rhus (Sumach)
 Robinia pseudoacacia (Black Locust)
 Tilia platyphyllos (Broad leaved Lime)
 Tsuga (Hemlock)
 Ulmus (Elm)
 Viburnums

Relax and enjoy watching your garden grow!

Creative Commons License
Death by Black Walnut by Julian de Bosdari is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Based on a work at blog.ashridgetrees.co.uk.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://blog.ashridgetrees.co.uk/blog-copyright/.

Why choose a Boysenberry Bush?

by
Reply

There is an increasing variety of hybrid berries on the market, which has led to a bit of confusion between Tayberries, Loganberries and Boysenberries to mention three.

If you were choosing just variety, then we think Boysenberry plants have some real advantages over the rest. But first to parentage, as a Boysenberry is a complex soul, and you sort of need to hang on to your hat for this one.

Like all the hybrid berries, Boysenberries are made from crosses between Rubus species of which the best know are raspberries and blackberries. Our friend is made from a cross between a Loganberry (a cross between a Raspberry and a Dewberry) and a Raspberry (again) and then a Dewberry (also again).

Its advantages are that:

  • Boysenberry plants are not the most rampant of the rambling fruit bearers and so are relatively easy to keep in bounds
  • its fruit (which is large) is just delicious
  • it can put up with appalling abuse – in particular it survives dry spells better than any of the other rambling berries.
  • it has a long fruiting season, and it crops heavily

All of which make it just about perfect for us and every other lover of soft fruit who can’t stand out watering all day long.

Watch your plants grow and enjoy!