On Apr 13, 1:31 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message .com,
"Cat(h)" writes



On Apr 13, 12:02 am, Sacha wrote:
On 12/4/07 23:24, in article
. com, "Cat(h)"

wrote:

snip

This is a willow (I think) a couple of miles away, and it's pretty
upright by local standards.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=3zbu6ua

Cat(h)

Instead of a tree which might well give up the struggle, is a seat a
possibility - a bench where people who also enjoy that place and its views
would remember the person to be commemorated?
--

That is not my call, and the people concerned are keen on something
living. As I said before, certain things *do* grow there, and given a
little shelter belt or such, I think it is not beyond possible. It
may sound like a lot of bother, but it is worth trying, as it is very
important to the people concerned.
Thank you Sacha, and all, for your kind suggestions!

Cat(h)

If you could give us some more details on the site, such as how far from
the coast it is, what direction the sea is from the site, whether it's
on a headland or a bay, etc. All this will make a difference; 10 feet
from the high tide line, on a headland in the teeth of westerly gales,
is different from 50 feet back from the coast, in a sheltered
east-facing location.

In some locations very little, if anything, in the way of trees will
survive; in others you could possibly even grown palms (Trachycarpus)
and pseudo-palms (Cordyline).
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Fair point.
I'd say it's about 500 metres from the coast as the crow flies. It's
on the side of a little valley which opens out to a bay and is
(roughly) W/NW facing. The sea is to its West. I couldn't venture a
guess as to its altitude, but it is only a few metres up from ground
zero (sea level).
As the locality goes, it is more sheltered than many other areas, but
it can get battered in not infrequent storms.
The site is sloping, and there are a number of little fields around
it, many with hedgerows mostly made up of willow, fuschia and
brambles.
One side of the site is such a hedgerow, kind of dug into a ditch, and
which is relatively high at maybe 4 to 5 m, and this and the rest of
the topography *does* provide some shelter. The site has a newly
built house on it, and there are a number of houses around.
I'm not pessimistic of giving a potential tree (or to quote you large
bush) a feasible home there - I am just wondering what tree will meet
the challenge, while being attractive and preferably native.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your thoughts !

Cat(h)

On Apr 13, 2:00 pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| In some locations very little, if anything, in the way of trees will
| survive; in others you could possibly even grown palms (Trachycarpus)
| and pseudo-palms (Cordyline).

Indeed. I don't know what the most resistant plants would be, but
the only 'near tree' that I have seen growing on the most salt- and
wind-swept headlands has been blackthorn.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I quite like the thought of blackthorn, and it is in fact something I
have strongly thought of. Near where I live on the east of Ireland
there are some fabulous old gnarled ones which have just the right
look for a "fairy tree", some in hedgerows, and some stand alone slap
bang in the middle of pastures. I also like the idea of all the
legends and myths that are tied up with some of those trees/bushes.
What do you think about holly? I have seen holly growing in sheltered
pockets in the area - growing being a technical term, because nothing
grows tall thereabouts - and I like the legend which has holly being a
protective plant.
Not that I believe any of it, but many of these legends are part of
the local heritage, and are interesting in their own right.

Cat(h)

In message .com,
"Cat(h)" writes
On Apr 13, 1:31 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message .com,
"Cat(h)" writes



On Apr 13, 12:02 am, Sacha wrote:
On 12/4/07 23:24, in article
. com, "Cat(h)"

wrote:

snip

This is a willow (I think) a couple of miles away, and it's pretty
upright by local standards.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=3zbu6ua

Cat(h)

Instead of a tree which might well give up the struggle, is a seat a
possibility - a bench where people who also enjoy that place and its views
would remember the person to be commemorated?
--

That is not my call, and the people concerned are keen on something
living. As I said before, certain things *do* grow there, and given a
little shelter belt or such, I think it is not beyond possible. It
may sound like a lot of bother, but it is worth trying, as it is very
important to the people concerned.
Thank you Sacha, and all, for your kind suggestions!

Cat(h)

If you could give us some more details on the site, such as how far from
the coast it is, what direction the sea is from the site, whether it's
on a headland or a bay, etc. All this will make a difference; 10 feet
from the high tide line, on a headland in the teeth of westerly gales,
is different from 50 feet back from the coast, in a sheltered
east-facing location.

In some locations very little, if anything, in the way of trees will
survive; in others you could possibly even grown palms (Trachycarpus)
and pseudo-palms (Cordyline).
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Fair point.
I'd say it's about 500 metres from the coast as the crow flies. It's
on the side of a little valley which opens out to a bay and is
(roughly) W/NW facing. The sea is to its West. I couldn't venture a
guess as to its altitude, but it is only a few metres up from ground
zero (sea level).
As the locality goes, it is more sheltered than many other areas, but
it can get battered in not infrequent storms.
The site is sloping, and there are a number of little fields around
it, many with hedgerows mostly made up of willow, fuschia and
brambles.
One side of the site is such a hedgerow, kind of dug into a ditch, and
which is relatively high at maybe 4 to 5 m, and this and the rest of
the topography *does* provide some shelter. The site has a newly
built house on it, and there are a number of houses around.
I'm not pessimistic of giving a potential tree (or to quote you large
bush) a feasible home there - I am just wondering what tree will meet
the challenge, while being attractive and preferably native.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your thoughts !

Cat(h)

When you said sea-side location and salty winds I assumed somewhere
closer to the sea and more exposed.

At 500m from the sea, it's not necessarily immune from sculpting by
salt-winds - I've seen significantly lop-sided hedgerow trees further
from the sea near the Solway Firth, in exposed locations, but the Solway
is probably less windy in general than your location.

How long is the tree meant to survive; 50 years or 500?

I won't promise anything; I neither know exactly how exposed your site
is, not exactly how tolerant the trees are; but Silver Birch (Betula
pendula) or Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) might do. (I suspect that the Irish
Whitebeam (Sorbus hibernica), which grows in the Burren, wouldn't like
your acid soil). Birches and Rowans are short-lived.

Nick's suggestion of a pine or oak might also do - ones that come to my
mind as doing well in coastal locations are Monterey Pine (Pinus
radiata), Weymouth Pine (Pinus strobus) and Stone Pine (Pinus
pineaster). Maybe also a suitable variety of the black pine (Pinus
nigra), or a Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris). These however take longer to
become attractive trees.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On Apr 13, 5:26 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message .com,
"Cat(h)" writes



On Apr 13, 1:31 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message .com,
"Cat(h)" writes

On Apr 13, 12:02 am, Sacha wrote:
On 12/4/07 23:24, in article
. com, "Cat(h)"

wrote:

snip

This is a willow (I think) a couple of miles away, and it's pretty
upright by local standards.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=3zbu6ua

Cat(h)

Instead of a tree which might well give up the struggle, is a seat a
possibility - a bench where people who also enjoy that place and its views
would remember the person to be commemorated?
--

That is not my call, and the people concerned are keen on something
living. As I said before, certain things *do* grow there, and given a
little shelter belt or such, I think it is not beyond possible. It
may sound like a lot of bother, but it is worth trying, as it is very
important to the people concerned.
Thank you Sacha, and all, for your kind suggestions!

Cat(h)

If you could give us some more details on the site, such as how far from
the coast it is, what direction the sea is from the site, whether it's
on a headland or a bay, etc. All this will make a difference; 10 feet
from the high tide line, on a headland in the teeth of westerly gales,
is different from 50 feet back from the coast, in a sheltered
east-facing location.

In some locations very little, if anything, in the way of trees will
survive; in others you could possibly even grown palms (Trachycarpus)
and pseudo-palms (Cordyline).
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Fair point.
I'd say it's about 500 metres from the coast as the crow flies. It's
on the side of a little valley which opens out to a bay and is
(roughly) W/NW facing. The sea is to its West. I couldn't venture a
guess as to its altitude, but it is only a few metres up from ground
zero (sea level).
As the locality goes, it is more sheltered than many other areas, but
it can get battered in not infrequent storms.
The site is sloping, and there are a number of little fields around
it, many with hedgerows mostly made up of willow, fuschia and
brambles.
One side of the site is such a hedgerow, kind of dug into a ditch, and
which is relatively high at maybe 4 to 5 m, and this and the rest of
the topography *does* provide some shelter. The site has a newly
built house on it, and there are a number of houses around.
I'm not pessimistic of giving a potential tree (or to quote you large
bush) a feasible home there - I am just wondering what tree will meet
the challenge, while being attractive and preferably native.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your thoughts !

Cat(h)

When you said sea-side location and salty winds I assumed somewhere
closer to the sea and more exposed.

At 500m from the sea, it's not necessarily immune from sculpting by
salt-winds - I've seen significantly lop-sided hedgerow trees further
from the sea near the Solway Firth, in exposed locations, but the Solway
is probably less windy in general than your location.

How long is the tree meant to survive; 50 years or 500?

Let's start with 50, and then see how it goes... :-)


I won't promise anything; I neither know exactly how exposed your site
is, not exactly how tolerant the trees are; but Silver Birch (Betula
pendula) or Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) might do. (I suspect that the Irish
Whitebeam (Sorbus hibernica), which grows in the Burren, wouldn't like
your acid soil). Birches and Rowans are short-lived.

I didn't know that - what does short lived mean? 20 years? 50? I
have a personal preference for the rowan, there are some magnificent
multistemmed ones in the area.


Nick's suggestion of a pine or oak might also do - ones that come to my
mind as doing well in coastal locations are Monterey Pine (Pinus
radiata), Weymouth Pine (Pinus strobus) and Stone Pine (Pinus
pineaster). Maybe also a suitable variety of the black pine (Pinus
nigra), or a Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris). These however take longer to
become attractive trees.

Thank you very much, and to Nick, for your ideas.
It will give me more material to propose to those people.

Cat(h)

In message . com,
"Cat(h)" writes
I won't promise anything; I neither know exactly how exposed your site
is, not exactly how tolerant the trees are; but Silver Birch (Betula
pendula) or Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) might do. (I suspect that the Irish
Whitebeam (Sorbus hibernica), which grows in the Burren, wouldn't like
your acid soil). Birches and Rowans are short-lived.

I didn't know that - what does short lived mean? 20 years? 50? I
have a personal preference for the rowan, there are some magnificent
multistemmed ones in the area.

The web page

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about702.html

says 100 years for rowan. (50 years is short-lived for a tree.)
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On Apr 16, 5:03 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message . com,
"Cat(h)" writes

I won't promise anything; I neither know exactly how exposed your site
is, not exactly how tolerant the trees are; but Silver Birch (Betula
pendula) or Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) might do. (I suspect that the Irish
Whitebeam (Sorbus hibernica), which grows in the Burren, wouldn't like
your acid soil). Birches and Rowans are short-lived.

I didn't know that - what does short lived mean? 20 years? 50? I
have a personal preference for the rowan, there are some magnificent
multistemmed ones in the area.

The web page

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about702.html

says 100 years for rowan. (50 years is short-lived for a tree.)

Thank you for that. On a human scale, it is not bad for a
memorial :-).

Cat(h)

On Apr 13, 2:04 pm, "Cat(h)" wrote:
On Apr 13, 1:31 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley





wrote:
In message .com,
"Cat(h)" writes

On Apr 13, 12:02 am, Sacha wrote:
On 12/4/07 23:24, in article
. com, "Cat(h)"

wrote:

snip

This is a willow (I think) a couple of miles away, and it's pretty
upright by local standards.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=3zbu6ua

Cat(h)

Instead of a tree which might well give up the struggle, is a seat a
possibility - a bench where people who also enjoy that place and its views
would remember the person to be commemorated?
--

That is not my call, and the people concerned are keen on something
living. As I said before, certain things *do* grow there, and given a
little shelter belt or such, I think it is not beyond possible. It
may sound like a lot of bother, but it is worth trying, as it is very
important to the people concerned.
Thank you Sacha, and all, for your kind suggestions!

Cat(h)

If you could give us some more details on the site, such as how far from
the coast it is, what direction the sea is from the site, whether it's
on a headland or a bay, etc. All this will make a difference; 10 feet
from the high tide line, on a headland in the teeth of westerly gales,
is different from 50 feet back from the coast, in a sheltered
east-facing location.

In some locations very little, if anything, in the way oftreeswill
survive; in others you could possibly even grown palms (Trachycarpus)
and pseudo-palms (Cordyline).
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Fair point.
I'd say it's about 500 metres from the coast as the crow flies. It's
on the side of a little valley which opens out to a bay and is
(roughly) W/NW facing. The sea is to its West. I couldn't venture a
guess as to its altitude, but it is only a few metres up from ground
zero (sea level).
As the locality goes, it is more sheltered than many other areas, but
it can get battered in not infrequent storms.
The site is sloping, and there are a number of little fields around
it, many with hedgerows mostly made up of willow, fuschia and
brambles.
One side of the site is such a hedgerow, kind of dug into a ditch, and
which is relatively high at maybe 4 to 5 m, and this and the rest of
the topography *does* provide some shelter. The site has a newly
built house on it, and there are a number of houses around.
I'm not pessimistic of giving a potential tree (or to quote you large
bush) a feasible home there - I am just wondering what tree will meet
the challenge, while being attractive and preferably native.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your thoughts !

Cat(h)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

there is an oak that might fit the bill Quercus ilex something, the
leaves are waxy, coated which lessens the impact of salt.

In article .com,
"Cat(h)" writes:
| On Apr 16, 5:03 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
| wrote:
|
| http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about702.html
|
| says 100 years for rowan. (50 years is short-lived for a tree.)
|
| Thank you for that. On a human scale, it is not bad for a
| memorial :-).

Watch out a bit - both are prone to die early if they don't like
the conditions (typically fungal infections).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.