Hedging and Hedges

Note to self; order hedging. Seasoned Ashridge customers already know the plus points of buying bareroot trees, hedges and plants. You can carry them around without calling your osteopath. They're (very much) cheaper than container grown plants Bareroot plants also establish better (no disappointment and no waste) They are better...

Another plant that sings for its supper and is also looking good at this time of year are the Cotoneasters. They are a varied bunch, some growing as ground cover, some growing into standard trees but all of them are members of the rose family, all are tough (they are...

Apart from the lovely Clematis Cirrhosa ‘Freckles’, and Winter Jasmine there are few winter flowers to remind us that there will be an end to chilly temperatures and pitch black by five pm. One shrub does stand out however and that is the lovely Eve Price, a named variety of...

Governments are fond of using the word 'nudging' in the context of 'nudging' you to do the 'right thing'. In November, clearly the right thing is to persevere outside while the soil is still workable to prepare the ground for your new cutting garden and for your gooseberry plants, whether...

Rosa rugosa makes a truly decorative hedge on its own or mixed with other hedge plants, especially if the plants are in the sun so that they flower well. Choose vibrant pink or purest white flowers for your summer interest and then enjoy the enormous orange gobstoppers of hips that...

More and more frequently communities are gated, electric gates installed, and iron railings sharpened. All no doubt sensible security measures but how about considering a much cheaper alternative to all of this hardware? We suggest a thorny hedge, alive with prickles and scratchy bits so that no self-respecting intruder (unless...

There’s an autumnal feel today, isn’t there? The prophets of doom will be the first to say it, and indeed, they have already started. What an excellent summer we have had though. It wasn’t as hot as last year and it certainly wasn’t as wet as 2012. It was a...

Black elder in flower Contemporary gardeners often use dark colours…look how the ‘Queen of the Night’ tulip has become ubiquitous, or the black grass Ophiopogon planiscarpens nigrescens (I don’t know how to pronounce it either)…pops up in urn plantings or as a contrast to pale paving. There is something fascinating...

Copper beech hedging is one of the most elegant hedges available to the British gardener. It has all the qualities of green beech hedging; it grows almost anywhere where there are reasonable light levels and where the ground is not waterlogged. Continue reading →

One of the things that is generally not considered when thinking about plants and trees is how easy they are to deceive. Most people would acknowledge that the average plant needs water and sunlight above all else to survive and grow. This is certainly true but even plants can have too much of a good thing. In the laboratory, plants that are normally dormant in winter can be persuaded to grow non-stop, in some cases for up to 3 years, by ensuring that they have plenty of light, water, food and warmth. The problem is at the end of this they are so exhausted that they die even though their normal life expectancy is several hundred years. Less dramatically, chrysanthemums are persuaded to flower at unseasonable times of the year by reducing light levels.
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