Hedge restoration near Oxford

[Guest Gimlet]

When restoring an overstood hedge it's no bad thing to leave the odd hawthorn to grow into a specimen tree, lifting the crown so it doesn't overshadow the hedge. 

 

Crab apple, bird cherry and alder all valuable specimen hedge trees as well.

 

I think I'd avoid sycamore myself. Too much of a colonist. 

[Stere]

Would be nice to have some more diversity but thoose species don't occur here and would need to be  planted into gaps in the existing hedgerows or into the mix in new ones, but sycamore is already there in many of the flailed hedges, being the only large tree species left thats  common after the loss of ash and elm.

 

 

 

Never thought of alder as a hedge tree. One farm here had planted several 100's as new hedges and let them all grow up as trees them the whole lot died a few yrs ago probably only 20yrs old, maybe due to drought.

 

https://devonhedges.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/12_Management-4-Hedgerow-trees.pdf

Edited May 15, 2021 by Stere

[Stere]

Always thought that a scheme for    random fruit tree varities, apples, pears quince, plums, damsons,  bullace, crab apple culitivars would be great trees in hedges. Some new hedge mixes are very limited.

 

One  estate here has a whole load of old  pear trees in the hegderows bit like this one,

 

 

 

Cubbington Pear Tree is 8th in European Tree Contest - Our Warwickshire

WWW.OURWARWICKSHIRE.ORG.UK

---

As Cubbington’s ancient Wild Pear tree comes into bloom this chilly wet springtime, possibly its last as it stands on the...

 

[gary112]

1 minute ago, Stere said:

Always thought that a scheme for    random fruit tree varities, apples, pears quince, plums, damsons,  bullace, crab apple culitivars would be great trees in hedges. Some new hedge mixes are very limited.

 

One  estate here has a whole load of old  pear trees in the hegderows bit like this one,

 

 

 

Cubbington Pear Tree is 8th in European Tree Contest - Our Warwickshire

WWW.OURWARWICKSHIRE.ORG.UK

---

As Cubbington’s ancient Wild Pear tree comes into bloom this chilly wet springtime, possibly its last as it stands on the...

 

I,ve got a 450mtr stretch of hedge to lay next season which i planted for a customer a few years back and it has a damson tree every 25 mtrs and another one i planted many years ago(about 800 mtrs), has alternating damson and green gage trees.I,ll take some pics next time i,m there,

[Stere]

Nice job.

 

Im abit obessed with wild bullaces. Think they taste better in jams than many plums and damsons. Abit like the difference between a rasberry and a tayberry jam.  Green gages are really nice but never had a decent crop of them, compared to abudant bullaces.

 

Wild Plant Foods of Britain: Feral Bullaces and Damsons (Prunus domestica subsp. insititia)

FORAGERPLANTS.BLOGSPOT.COM

---

FERAL BULLACES AND DAMSONS ( Prunus domestica subsp. insititia ) Family: Rosaceae Prunus domestica subsp...

 

 

 

Some random greengage trivia:

 

Quote

The superior plum 'Reine-Claude' was named to honor Queen Claude, the wife of Francis I, French king from 1494 to 1547, the period during which the plum was introduced to France (Hedrick 1911). 'Green Gage', the common name for the 'Reine-Claude', derives from the fact that the Gage family of England procured a number of plums from the monastery of Chartreuse at Paris. When the plums arrived, all had labels except one, which was 'Reine-Claude'. When the unlabeled tree started to produce fruit, the gardener simply called it green gage. 'Reine-Claude' apparently was taken to England soon after its establishment in France. 'Green Gage' seeds were recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII, which sank in 1545 and was raised in 1982. The wreck revealed a basket containing the remains of more than 100 plums. 'Green Gage', 'Catalonia', mirabelles, and myrobalan were identified in the basket

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Stere

[Guest Gimlet]

Bullace is a much better hedging species than blackthorn as well. 

7 hours ago, Stere said:

Never thought of alder as a hedge tree. One farm here had planted several 100's as new hedges and let them all grow up as trees them the whole lot died a few yrs ago probably only 20yrs old, maybe due to drought.

 

 

Alder is extremely valuable to insect life and birds but they are relatively short lived. On one of my client farms grey alders grow very well on high exposed chalky down land that is not particularly moist. 

 

Whitebeams make useful specimens as well. I've heard it said that they used to be planted to mark off distance because the foliage is so distinctive they can be easily identified among other species from a long way off so you could gauge distance and acreage in a field by using the whitebeams as way markers.  

I haven't tried doing crown lifts on whitebeam but I imagine they should be quite well behaved in a hedge because they don't leaf up again that readily where they're cut - unlike say maple which erupts in growth where ever you cut it.

[Guest Gimlet]

Walnut is another good one.