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We have just clipped the yew hedge: actually, to be completely accurate, a very nice fellow called Simon clipped it as I was too busy being a poncey garden designer (a pity as I really enjoy hedge clipping but time has been a bit short recently

and kept below their normal height. They're not much good if you're looking for flowers, but for sheer well-cut elegance you can't really go wrong. You know the sort of thing: yew hedges with razor edges, parasols of pleached lime and frost-dusted box

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a field hedge near my house. A hedge consisting of about 60% hawthorn, with other shrubs added to make up the difference. At one time it was laid, trimmed and maintained but today just two trees remain

and the Nootka cypress, from Alaska. Obviously, these two trees would never have met in the wild but, in Wales, they hybridised. The result was x Cupressocyparis leylandii aka the Leyland cypress aka leylandii aka "your ****ing hedge, mate".Everybody knows a

you once had one stem you then have many which, depending on the variety, have different uses. Ash has always been used for arrows, sweet chestnut for fencing pales, willow for weaving and (in this case) hazel for pea sticks and hedge-laying.We drag

planting 'aliens', they stick out like sore thumbs.  By aliens I mean the good serviceable evergreens that work well in gardens but never quite fit in when planted near fields and woods. A tall conifer in a hedge looks as uncomfortable as a jockey in a

off. It's an unbelievably lovely tree/shrub that's not as fussy about growing in wet conditions as many of its cousins. It makes a good thick, informal hedge, which looks beautiful set against stronger colours that contrast its silvery leaves. Shame

run) and pachymorphs (which tend to clump). Both forms have specific uses and benefits. Lectomorphs can make a fantastic windbreak or hedge (their running rhizomes can be channelled in a specified direction by sinking concrete slabs either side

on a frosty day is one of the greatest pleasures. The winter is when evergreens come into their own and the frost just makes yews look even better. Hedges seem to be draped with diamonds and the shiny leaves of box glisten. There is not a great deal

, for kidney problems, blood pressure and in Chinese medicine it is a digestive aid. It also provides food for many moths including the Mottled Pug, Scalloped Hazel and Brimstone.Most of us see them woven through field hedges all over the countryside in late