This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Pleached hedging advice
nurturenature
Posts: 2
in Plants
I would like to create a pleached hedge as a divider in my garden. Lime is obviously the classical specimen for pleaching but a classical lime is a big tree, not a hedge. Does anyone know of a dwarf variety or have experience using lime as a hedge. I am also keen to hear other suggestions for pleached hedging. We live in Yorkshire so it gets cold and frosty but our soil is good (pH 6.5). Ideally I would like it about 2m tall and it would extend a length of 6m or so. Any help welcome. Thanks.
0
Posts
The Alnwick Garden in Northumberland has some beautiful pleached Hornbeam hedging and it looked great without it's leaves when we visited on a March day with snow underfoot. Lime trees can leave sticky deposits on the ground so are not ideal for gardens. Good luck!
Hornbeam is ideal as felixstowe gardener says. Beautiful for any type of hedging. It will take a fair bit of time and effort to achieve though. Good luck with it if you decide to go ahead.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The whole point of pleaching is that the plants are pruned and trained to shape. You'll need a support structure until the stems and horizontal branches become established but once they harden up you can take that down. You'll need to do at least an annual pruning and training session to maintain it. You'll also need to prepare the ground well to make sure that the chosen plants stay healthy.
Hornbeam makes a lovely pleached hedge but I've also seen it done with catalpa and beech. There was a lovely one at Chelsea with copper foliage.
See these articles for some hints -
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=155
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/trees/8916079/Pleaching-The-art-of-training-trees.html
http://www.orchardsedge.com/articles/pruning-advice/pleaching
thanks everyone for your help. I had wondered about hornbeam which I love - it is quite a project but one which I think would be worth it - creating a real feature in the garden. The Chelsea one in copper beech looks fantastic too - the other plants I had wondered about were a mixture of purple and green beech. Reassuring to know that the Hornbeam looked good even without its leaves on. I will let you know how I get on.
Hornbeam is the plant to use in heavy or damp soils and the size and crinkle of its foliage lends itself well to close pruning which a pleached hedge will have. Beech prefers lighter soils and good drainage but with some moisture retention so not poor, sandy soils.