A good hedge is an invaluable addition to any garden. It delineates and disguises boundaries, providing privacy for humans and habitats for wildlife, with nest sites for birds and foliage, blossom, nuts, and fruits to eat. The leaf litter at the base of a mature hedge is perfect for hibernating creatures, especially reptiles and amphibians,… Continue reading Best Plants for a Small Garden Wildlife Hedge
Category: Hedges
Hereford Times Orchard Lane Leylandii Song
Orleton locals got a laugh from the Hereford Times “AI Assisted” article that used a stock image of an Oak Tree for an article about cutting down a tall Leylandii hedge, inspiring a satirical folk song Church Lane residents in Orleton, Herefordshire, were treated to a masterpiece of robot writing in this Hereford Times article… Continue reading Hereford Times Orchard Lane Leylandii Song
Best Plants for A Winter Garden
Tiny marvels dispel winter gloom: the uplifting power of nature! As I filled up the bird feeders yesterday, I noticed the intense dogwood stems contrasted against the fence, and the first winter clematis flowers emerging. I inhaled deeply, savouring the trace of witch hazel on the breeze. “Ah”, I said to myself, “I could feast… Continue reading Best Plants for A Winter Garden
Backseat Hedge Planting: RHS Edition
There is only one thing I love more than the RHS, and that is sitting with my old feet up, enjoying a hot beverage, and criticising young people from a safe distance while they work hard Our video on how to plant a formal hedge is, much like me, seriously showing its age, so we’re… Continue reading Backseat Hedge Planting: RHS Edition
Yew Tree Farm: Bristol’s Last Working Farm
Catherine Withers owns the last farm within Bristol’s city limits, and is fighting to keep it going We’re a bit late posting this video asking Bristolians to show up to Bristol City Hall in October last year, but apart from that little detail it’s a good intro. You can read the latest news about the… Continue reading Yew Tree Farm: Bristol’s Last Working Farm
Hedgerow Heroes: Biodiversity Bloxham Oxford
This winter planting season, about 400 Oxfordshire volunteers spruced up 500 metres of neglected hedgerow, and planted over 2,500 metres of new hedges, beating their target by 300 metres. This is all part of Phase Four of the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s Hedgerow Heroes project. The local Banbury MP, known affectionately as “Sean-Off” Woodcock, joined… Continue reading Hedgerow Heroes: Biodiversity Bloxham Oxford
Shropshire Hedgerow Heroes
The Shropshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England is on fire this year with hedge related events The hottest events in the CPRE (The Countryside Charity) volunteer & event calendar this year are shaping up to be in Shropshire, whose CPRE branch have made practically international news in the Shropshire Star for their… Continue reading Shropshire Hedgerow Heroes
Does Silver Birch Make a Good Hedge Plant?
No, silver birch does not make a good clipped hedge plant. It will serve, but it’s a somewhat sad sightHowever, it is a good tree to grow as part of a pretty, wildlife friendly mixed native hedgerow, featuring a standard tree every few metres Silver birch is the worst native tree to try to turn… Continue reading Does Silver Birch Make a Good Hedge Plant?
Habitat Aid Hedge Planting Video
Habitat Aid is our all-time favourite, award-winning, impact driven, Somerset based business founded in 2008, and their hedge planting video is educationally inspirational Native hedge plants are proven to be tough as cookies made of brass monkeys, and Habitat Aid demonstrate how rough and ready you can be with them. Hawthorn in particular is absurdly… Continue reading Habitat Aid Hedge Planting Video
You Won’t Believe the Difference Between These Hedges
At home, we are used to formal evergreen hedges exactly like this yew one: In coun’ryside, we have perfectly maintained native hedges, probably laid by heartthrob layer, Paul A. Lamb. If you don’t have him handy, friends and family will have to do; it will tire them out beautifully by tea time: So how does… Continue reading You Won’t Believe the Difference Between These Hedges
The Hedge Laying Down With A Lamb
Hedge laying is pretty important to anyone with an old country hedge: it’s uncommon to see a garden hedge laid, but most species are suitable Hedge laying is an ancient, pre-Bronze Age technology of cutting and stacking vertical woody stems lengthways, alive, braided in place initially with a wooden hurdle-fence structure. The cut hedge plants… Continue reading The Hedge Laying Down With A Lamb
Rose Hips are Pretty & Good to Eat
Rose hips are mostly an ornamental second display from Autumn into Winter, but all rose hips are edible if you want to go through the trouble of preparing them And almost all roses will make hips if they get pollinated and you allow them to develop, which is not usually the case with a typical… Continue reading Rose Hips are Pretty & Good to Eat
Cut Hedges in October
Cut cut cut: that’s what it’s all about being a hedge owner. With a typical hedge plant such as Hawthorn, Beech, or Yew, you are fundamentally maintaining a plant that wants to be a tree as a bushy shrub by cutting it regularly. One of the most common questions we get asked is when to… Continue reading Cut Hedges in October
Troon Church Garden Approved by South Ayrshire Council
This post is not sponsored by the South Ayrshire tourist board, but we are willing to accept gifts of any value over fifty Scottish pounds, or ten haggis in today’s money. South Ayrshire is part of the most beautiful scenery on our island, facing out onto the Firth of Clyde and the magical Isle of… Continue reading Troon Church Garden Approved by South Ayrshire Council
Millionaire Sustainable Hedgerow Living
Cornwall Council is Leading the World in Public Edible Hedge Planting Foraging berries and fruit from hedgerows for your breakfast is back! As we like to say around here since today: no matter how good things get, there’s always more fruit on the hedge. With the help of trend setters like the Shared Prosperity Fund,… Continue reading Millionaire Sustainable Hedgerow Living
Hedgerow Jelly Recipe
Make a unique Jelly from Country Hedges & Wild Plants This recipe uses fruit commonly found in mixed hedges and wild plants (identify before eating them). Wild plums generally ripen around late summer, apples & crab apples generally ripen later, both can be found in quantity in time to mix with blackberries, and whatever else… Continue reading Hedgerow Jelly Recipe
Holly Hedge Revenge: A Tale of Revenge and Hedges
Peter Walker-Smith and Tersia Van Zyl were best of neighbours until bins and hedges drove them to war…
YoungWilders Hedgerow Project
No one likes a pedantic so-and-so who points out that planting country hedgerows, which are a feature exclusively of landscapes managed by mankind (mostly farmers) is by definition not a re-wilding project, it’s really a re-ruraling project. I, naturally, would never do that, any more than I would sulk over age precluding me from joining… Continue reading YoungWilders Hedgerow Project
Cutting Back Overgrown Elderflower in a Mixed Hedge
Elderflower, Sambucus nigra, inevitably finds its way into a country hedge sooner or later, and it’s far from unheard of to add it to the mix at planting time. It is suitable for growing as a hedge plant, and is desirable for its flowers and fruit that make elderflower cordial and elderberry syrup respectively. However,… Continue reading Cutting Back Overgrown Elderflower in a Mixed Hedge
Soft Edges in Urban Garden Design
Modern buildings and roads tend to create stark boundaries: all structure with no life Well-thought-out planting will soften these hard lines and corners, and bring them alive, like adding a great painting to an empty frame. In general, you want to employ a lot of evergreen shrubs and climbers that cover things up all year-round.… Continue reading Soft Edges in Urban Garden Design
How to Prune Trees VS Clipping Hedges
Pruning woody plants is a big part of a gardener’s life, and winter is when a lot of it gets done – especially after windy weather leaves some rough edges to tidy up. When we examine a typical branch, we can see that there are basically three ways one could cut it: So, a hedge… Continue reading How to Prune Trees VS Clipping Hedges
How to Propagate Hardwood Hedge Cuttings in Late Winter
Right now is an ideal time to try, when the soil is nice and damp and not-frozen.
Many Layers of a Shrub Honeysuckle Hedge
This Lonicera nitida hedge in a local Somerset car park is a prime example of how good this hedge plant looks despite neglect! A good hedge is thick and bushy down to the base, which is easy to maintain in most cases by trimming at least once or twice a year.Years of neglect tend to… Continue reading Many Layers of a Shrub Honeysuckle Hedge
Everything You Need to Know about Yew Trees
One of only 3 conifers native to the United Kingdom (along with Scots pine and juniper), yew is a familiar feature of our gardens and parks. But how much do you really know about it, and could there be a place for it in your garden? In this article, you will find everything you need… Continue reading Everything You Need to Know about Yew Trees
Getting a Word in Hedgewise
Here at Ashridge the ‘dormant season’ is anything but – in fact it’s our busiest time of the year. But we’re not the only ones kept busy in winter. While we’re despatching bareroot trees and hedging plants from the nursery, out in the fields hedge layers are hard at work. Hedge laying has been practised… Continue reading Getting a Word in Hedgewise
Why I love hazelnuts. Or cobnuts?
What is the difference between a cobnut and a filbert? Are they the same thing, with regional variations of nomenclature? Is a filbert the fancier version of a cobnut with a longer husk? And how do they relate to hazelnuts? There must be a kernel of truth in there somewhere… Kent is where you’ll find… Continue reading Why I love hazelnuts. Or cobnuts?
Freezing weather & bareroot plants
Most of the damage caused to bareroot plants in cold, freezing conditions is to the delicate roots themselves. The roots are fine, fibrous structures with a high water content: moving them, or even the slightest touch whilst frozen, can cause damage. Almost all of a shrub or a tree’s energy reserves are stored in the… Continue reading Freezing weather & bareroot plants
A Yew Supplier’s Thoughts for Yew
We say 3 things about Yew – quick growing when young, likes clay on the dry side & is very durable.
Photinia Leaf Spot – Don’t Panic!
Photinia Red Robin makes a really photogenic hedge plant, with blazing red young leaves that can be persuaded to reappear all summer with regular trimming and simple but lovely white flowers. However, just as the most handsome face can be marred by acne, the prettiest Photinia bush can be disfigured by an unpleasant looking dose… Continue reading Photinia Leaf Spot – Don’t Panic!
How Not to Plant a Beech Hedge… But Did It Matter?
My friend Rachel is a passionate if impatient gardener. Vegetables are really her thing, probably because they germinate and grow before she gets bored Rachel planted a beech hedge five years ago with great enthusiasm, so much so that she put a lot of effort into doing the wrong things, leaving her too knackered to do… Continue reading How Not to Plant a Beech Hedge… But Did It Matter?