Ok it's the native bit, I understand. But the japonica appears to be evergreen and mainly white and I am not keen on yellow flowers which I think the periclymenum has?? The landscaper has put some periclymenum in the native mix I guess for the exact same reason.
And it's not a strong 'yellow' like daffodils and forsythia, it's a really deep creamy golden yellow, like really good Cornish clotted cream or old brocade.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's worth saying that to get the most benefit from a mixed hedge it shouldn't be trimmed too frequently because this will severely reduce the amount of flowers & fruit. Most species flower on the previous year's growth so even annual trimming e.g. in winter will remove most of next year's buds. Summer trimming will obviously remove developing fruit as well. Ideally therefore the hedges should be cut back very hard or laid at several year intervals, with minimal cutting in between. This also keeps them thick with regrowth from the base.
This isn't really compatible with what you said about liking hedges "very tidy and formal looking", so a clipped hornbeam hedge does sound more like what you are after. It might be worth speaking to someone at the planning dept. to see if that would fall within your conditions - as other people said it is a native species.
If you do go for a mixed species hedge, don't plant in stripes.
The only problem with doing that is "native Hedging" isn't an idea, its a specification in planning terms. That is, it is made up of certain %'s of different species and Hawthorn normally makes up a large proportion of this. You live in a conservation area, and if someone complains you may be forced to replant. Obviously if no-one complains... Might be worth trying to speak to your local planning department to clarify what they expect.
Saying all that - I've planted a hornbeam hedge, and a native, a beech hedge, a hazel hedge and a couple of others. The one that has grown the quickest, thickest and provided the most privacy is by far and away the Native. I think the secret is keeping them moist - mine went in a just before the very wet summer a few years ago. The native hedge has trees in it at (Rowan and Blackthorn) at nearly 20ft - planted as 60-80cm whips. I've also laid it, trimmed it, and let horses chew on it. By year 3 I had a thick hedge
Now I think you've changed my mind again. I have some mixed info though. The landscape planning advice is that you only trim when the hedge has reached the desired height but lots of other advice is to prune the whip by half in the first year and then another half in the second year to promote side shoots. What did you do to get a thick hedge by year 3 and how tall was it? Also I don't quite understand about the trees. The native hedge approved has field maple within it. Did you just let the trees grow within it. How did you avoid trimming them? All advice appreciated.
Okay...I bought 60-80cm whips. Planted in November/December - no special treatment in very sandy soil. I think I may have mulched in the following summer with fresh horse manure (just dumped on top. We had a very wet summer - which I think made a huge difference. Other than horses chewing the tops - I didn't prune or trim. By the third summer the hedge was 4-6ft high with some individual plants higher. Of 1600 odd whips I planted I lost maybe 3 or 4 in total.
For the boundary hedge I planted in 2 rows about 1ft apart, 4 plants per metre.
Native hedge mix will be something like 60% hawthorn, 10% each Blackthorn, Field maple, Wild cherry, Rowan. I specified the plants I wanted from these people and had a wider mix including dogwood, elder wild cherry, beech, crab apple, etc.
Hedge laying. Okay by year 5 the hedge is anything from 8ft to 16ft (rowan wild cherry especially). If I was doing it properly I'd have4 hazel posts every 4ft or so and stretches for the top. I didn't so I cut and laid the hedge using some of the better looking trees as posts, trimming back the hedge so it wasn't too thick. I like to keep it 18inches to 2ft thick - in the summer you have a vey dense hedge providing security and privacy. In the winter its still a good security fence although its not as dense - although saying that - neither is the hornbeam - it does keep leaves better than hawthorn but a good gale gets most of them off. Point about hedgelaying - to do it well so its really neat and looks awesome - is difficult - to do it so it works and provides a decent barrier and looks fine - easy.
So basically plant, mulch, and keep moist. After 5 years you may want to lay it - some of the whips may have grown into small trees and if you are trimming etc by hand you can select which you leave to grow on - I left one every 4 or 5 metres but choosing decent specimens.#
On trimming - I think you are meant to cut the whip when planted - but I wanted height to lay later rather than a garden hedge all neat and square, however planting 4 per metre in 2 rows ends up pretty thick anyway.
Posts
I'd add the native Lonicera periclymenum.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Ok it's the native bit, I understand. But the japonica appears to be evergreen and mainly white and I am not keen on yellow flowers which I think the periclymenum has?? The landscaper has put some periclymenum in the native mix I guess for the exact same reason.
whitish cream when it starts and turns yellow.
In the sticks near Peterborough
And it's not a strong 'yellow' like daffodils and forsythia, it's a really deep creamy golden yellow, like really good Cornish clotted cream or old brocade.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's worth saying that to get the most benefit from a mixed hedge it shouldn't be trimmed too frequently because this will severely reduce the amount of flowers & fruit. Most species flower on the previous year's growth so even annual trimming e.g. in winter will remove most of next year's buds. Summer trimming will obviously remove developing fruit as well. Ideally therefore the hedges should be cut back very hard or laid at several year intervals, with minimal cutting in between. This also keeps them thick with regrowth from the base.
This isn't really compatible with what you said about liking hedges "very tidy and formal looking", so a clipped hornbeam hedge does sound more like what you are after. It might be worth speaking to someone at the planning dept. to see if that would fall within your conditions - as other people said it is a native species.
If you do go for a mixed species hedge, don't plant in stripes.
I think you are right. I am going to try to replace hawthorn with hornbeam. Many thanks for the advice.
The only problem with doing that is "native Hedging" isn't an idea, its a specification in planning terms. That is, it is made up of certain %'s of different species and Hawthorn normally makes up a large proportion of this. You live in a conservation area, and if someone complains you may be forced to replant. Obviously if no-one complains... Might be worth trying to speak to your local planning department to clarify what they expect.
Saying all that - I've planted a hornbeam hedge, and a native, a beech hedge, a hazel hedge and a couple of others. The one that has grown the quickest, thickest and provided the most privacy is by far and away the Native. I think the secret is keeping them moist - mine went in a just before the very wet summer a few years ago. The native hedge has trees in it at (Rowan and Blackthorn) at nearly 20ft - planted as 60-80cm whips. I've also laid it, trimmed it, and let horses chew on it. By year 3 I had a thick hedge
Now I think you've changed my mind again. I have some mixed info though. The landscape planning advice is that you only trim when the hedge has reached the desired height but lots of other advice is to prune the whip by half in the first year and then another half in the second year to promote side shoots. What did you do to get a thick hedge by year 3 and how tall was it? Also I don't quite understand about the trees. The native hedge approved has field maple within it. Did you just let the trees grow within it. How did you avoid trimming them? All advice appreciated.
Also when would you lay a hedge planted as 60-80 whip?
Okay...I bought 60-80cm whips. Planted in November/December - no special treatment in very sandy soil. I think I may have mulched in the following summer with fresh horse manure (just dumped on top. We had a very wet summer - which I think made a huge difference. Other than horses chewing the tops - I didn't prune or trim. By the third summer the hedge was 4-6ft high with some individual plants higher. Of 1600 odd whips I planted I lost maybe 3 or 4 in total.
For the boundary hedge I planted in 2 rows about 1ft apart, 4 plants per metre.
Native hedge mix will be something like 60% hawthorn, 10% each Blackthorn, Field maple, Wild cherry, Rowan. I specified the plants I wanted from these people and had a wider mix including dogwood, elder wild cherry, beech, crab apple, etc.
http://www.hedgenursery.co.uk/shop-by-form/bare-root-hedging/native-mixed-hedging.html?ref=featured
This is their native hedge mixes.
Hedge laying. Okay by year 5 the hedge is anything from 8ft to 16ft (rowan wild cherry especially). If I was doing it properly I'd have4 hazel posts every 4ft or so and stretches for the top. I didn't so I cut and laid the hedge using some of the better looking trees as posts, trimming back the hedge so it wasn't too thick. I like to keep it 18inches to 2ft thick - in the summer you have a vey dense hedge providing security and privacy. In the winter its still a good security fence although its not as dense - although saying that - neither is the hornbeam - it does keep leaves better than hawthorn but a good gale gets most of them off. Point about hedgelaying - to do it well so its really neat and looks awesome - is difficult - to do it so it works and provides a decent barrier and looks fine - easy.
So basically plant, mulch, and keep moist. After 5 years you may want to lay it - some of the whips may have grown into small trees and if you are trimming etc by hand you can select which you leave to grow on - I left one every 4 or 5 metres but choosing decent specimens.#
On trimming - I think you are meant to cut the whip when planted - but I wanted height to lay later rather than a garden hedge all neat and square, however planting 4 per metre in 2 rows ends up pretty thick anyway.
Hope that helps!