Quick hedge

[M ArmstrongDoes anyone know of someone who will erent TV aeri]

Can anyone suggest a fairly quick growing hedge for Vienne area, NOT leylandii or laurel. Thanks.

[candide]

Is privet quick enough?

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

How would hawthorn (also known as quickthorn, IIRC) do down there?

[Cassis]

Lonicera nitida, an evergreen honeysuckle, makes an excellent screening hedge if you're looking for something  evergreen.

Anything that is fast growing is likely to need trimming at least 3 times a year - spring, summer, autumn - unless you are not keeping it to a certain size.  Lonicera nitida will grow to 3.5m high and 2.5-3.0 metres across.

[Cassis]

[img]http://www.fernview.com.au/plantimages/lonicera_nitida_large.jpg[/img]

Here's a picture of honesuckle hedging.  It gets lots of tiny white flowers which are insignificant but attract butterflies and bees.

I have a hedge of this at the back of the house that in 2 years we have sculpted into big blowsy wave forms - more interesting that this!

[margie]

Love the look of this hedging, can you tell me where I can buy in France please.

[Pads]

We planted a mixed hazel/hawthorn/elm headgeand planted honey suckle to grow thrrough it, that was 3 years ago we have had to cut it back 3 times since then to keep it at 6 foot so it has grown up and out pretty quick, plus soon im hoping for hazel nuts to pick off it. and this year we got the first birds nesting in it.

[Ty Korrigan]

Hello,

 Most lovely of hedge material has for me to be any one of the mnay species of Willow used for 'tressage'.

If you first cultivate a trench during the autumn for to plant the cuttings in they will root by the spring and by the summer will have put on 1m+ of growth and by year 3 more than 2 metres!

 Each cutting can cost from nothing (pinched/donated) to £1 a stick which I feel is a bit pricey...

 You can weave the stuff into a thick living fence and create living pergolas and other garden sculpures with it.

 Unfortunatly I am too much of a Luddite to post any links but google willow/living fences and see what pops up.

 There are many firms in the west of England who sell willow...

 and one firm that makes coffins from it!

 Ty..

[Cassis]

Here are some examples of willow taken from our hedge and woven as Ty suggests:

[IMG]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i26/cassiscassis/Willowarbour.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i26/cassiscassis/willowmen2-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i26/cassiscassis/willowmen4.jpg[/IMG]

Depends what you want your hedge for - if it is to screen an eyesore or to give privacy then go for an evergreen option.  Otherwise definitely go for a mixed hedge as it is miles more interesting and also better for wildlife.  You used to be able to get free or subsidised mixed native hedging - can you still and how?

[Pre Monier]

Hello Folks

Can 'ordinary'/common willow be used for hedging and living willow sculpture?

Glynis

[Cassis]

Not sure what varieties ours are.  They are part of our boundary hedge and we cut it down to 2 metres high each February.  That's where the wands come from for the weaving.  Some of ours are yellow branched, some are green branched turning red-purple with age.  The wands grow 2-3 metres long each year.  These are the best according to one website - click the links to go to the site:

Salix alba britzensis

- red willow. Bright red branches in the winter. Can be trimmed like

a hedge or cut annually for the brightest growth.

Salix aurita x viminalis

- Less dominating than straight osier - downy growth. Grows 2m in

a year.

Salix cinerea - grey sallow. 

A waterside shrub. Downy leaves and young branches. Good for fences

which can then be trimmed like a hedge.

Salix daphnoides - violet

willow. Thin purple stems with a white bloom. 2m growth per year.

Salix viminalis - osier.

Fantastically long and straight. Once established can grow 3-4m

in a year! Great for big structures.

[Jonzjob]

Hi M,

If you want you can come down to the Aude and have 75 meters of pyracantha hedge we have got. That grows like stink, good for the birds 'cause they love the berries, good for the butterflies with the flowers in Spring and good as a barrier because the spines make a blackthorn bush look really friendly. I just wish it was somewhere else a long way away [+o(] ! You can extend it too because it self seeds VERY easily!!!

John.

[Cassis]

Sounds great, Jonzjob!  What's wrong with it?

I've been out picking plums from our boundary hedge this afternoon - blimmin' basketsful of wild plums, yellow and purple.  Thank God it's Jude's job to stone them and make the jam!  There also seem to be redcurrant bushes in the hedge.  The rest is a mixture of various types of willow and field maple, plus others I can't identify. 

A nice mixed hedge like this is really nice if your priority is not screening - obviously it is mainly see-through in winter.  The red and yellow willow wands look fab in the winter sunshine.

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="Cassis"]Sounds great, Jonzjob!  What's wrong with it?

I've been out picking plums from our boundary hedge this afternoon - blimmin' basketsful of wild plums, yellow and purple.  Thank God it's Jude's job to stone them and make the jam!  There also seem to be redcurrant bushes in the hedge.  The rest is a mixture of various types of willow and field maple, plus others I can't identify. 

A nice mixed hedge like this is really nice if your priority is not screening - obviously it is mainly see-through in winter.  The red and yellow willow wands look fab in the winter sunshine.
[/quote]

I hate people that show off[;-)][:D]

(O.K. I'm just jealous[:(])

[Cassis]

I can't claim credit for it, Mary - it was here when we moved in.  I think the previous owners got it free on one of these 'plant a native hedge' grant schemes.  It's a beggar to keep in order, mind - 2 or 3 days pruning and trimming every February.