Does anyone have the above?

I have a row of about 8 leylandi that I want to take down and replace with a
beech hedge. I'm looking for an evergreen hedge, and I can see that beech
is deciduous.

The blurb I have come across states
"Strictly speaking, Beech is deciduous, but its crisp copper leaves, which
stay on the plant until pushed off by the new bright green growth in spring,
make it a great alternative to an evergreen hedge"

How true is the statement?

What suggestions can someone make for a colourful hedge that is evergreen?
The width of the hedge is about 30 feet and will be kept to a height of
around 5 feet tall

Location: North West
Soil type - not too sure
North facing

On 17/6/07 16:45, in article , "Space"
wrote:

Does anyone have the above?

I have a row of about 8 leylandi that I want to take down and replace with a
beech hedge. I'm looking for an evergreen hedge, and I can see that beech
is deciduous.

The blurb I have come across states
"Strictly speaking, Beech is deciduous, but its crisp copper leaves, which
stay on the plant until pushed off by the new bright green growth in spring,
make it a great alternative to an evergreen hedge"

How true is the statement?

It's absolutely true if you keep your hedge to below 8' or so. The leaves
dry as if they would fall off but they don't.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 17/6/07 16:45, in article , "Space"
wrote:

Does anyone have the above?

I have a row of about 8 leylandi that I want to take down and replace
with a
beech hedge. I'm looking for an evergreen hedge, and I can see that
beech
is deciduous.

The blurb I have come across states
"Strictly speaking, Beech is deciduous, but its crisp copper leaves,
which
stay on the plant until pushed off by the new bright green growth in
spring,
make it a great alternative to an evergreen hedge"

How true is the statement?

It's absolutely true if you keep your hedge to below 8' or so. The leaves
dry as if they would fall off but they don't.


cheers

whilst I am pondering, (I have a while, will hopefully plant the hedge in
September), I now need to figure out how many I need!!

On 17/6/07 16:57, in article , "Space"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 17/6/07 16:45, in article , "Space"
wrote:

Does anyone have the above?

I have a row of about 8 leylandi that I want to take down and replace
with a
beech hedge. I'm looking for an evergreen hedge, and I can see that
beech
is deciduous.

The blurb I have come across states
"Strictly speaking, Beech is deciduous, but its crisp copper leaves,
which
stay on the plant until pushed off by the new bright green growth in
spring,
make it a great alternative to an evergreen hedge"

How true is the statement?

It's absolutely true if you keep your hedge to below 8' or so. The leaves
dry as if they would fall off but they don't.


cheers

whilst I am pondering, (I have a while, will hopefully plant the hedge in
September), I now need to figure out how many I need!!

About 2' apart should be good enough. Take out the tip of the leader next
spring, so as to encourage side shoots to form lower down on the trunk of
each plant. If you can, get bare rooted stock from a local nursery and
these should cost you much less as autumn plants than any container grown
ones. Keep the hedge well-watered if we have a dry spell.
However, I think you will need to get the leylandii roots out because as
they rot down slowly, they will change the composition of your soil and
might harm the beech. Can you remove the roots, do you think?


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 17/6/07 16:57, in article , "Space"
wrote:

It's absolutely true if you keep your hedge to below 8' or so. The
leaves
dry as if they would fall off but they don't.


cheers

whilst I am pondering, (I have a while, will hopefully plant the hedge in
September), I now need to figure out how many I need!!

About 2' apart should be good enough. Take out the tip of the leader next
spring, so as to encourage side shoots to form lower down on the trunk of
each plant. If you can, get bare rooted stock from a local nursery and
these should cost you much less as autumn plants than any container grown
ones. Keep the hedge well-watered if we have a dry spell.
However, I think you will need to get the leylandii roots out because as
they rot down slowly, they will change the composition of your soil and
might harm the beech. Can you remove the roots, do you think?


I'm not too sure. after blathering on about it for a few months I have
finally managed to convince my other half that the ugly trees should go. I
pointed out a copper beech hedge on a neighbouring estate and he was sold to
the idea. The ground is extremely dry near the trees as you would expect
but that is all that I know.

If need be, we will have to do this in stages. Remove leylandi soon, and
leave for a few months so we can treat the ground adequately for the new
hedge.

Space wrote:

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 17/6/07 16:57, in article , "Space"
wrote:

It's absolutely true if you keep your hedge to below 8' or so. The
leaves
dry as if they would fall off but they don't.


cheers

whilst I am pondering, (I have a while, will hopefully plant the
hedge in
September), I now need to figure out how many I need!!

About 2' apart should be good enough. Take out the tip of the leader
next
spring, so as to encourage side shoots to form lower down on the trunk of
each plant. If you can, get bare rooted stock from a local nursery and
these should cost you much less as autumn plants than any container grown
ones. Keep the hedge well-watered if we have a dry spell.
However, I think you will need to get the leylandii roots out because as
they rot down slowly, they will change the composition of your soil and
might harm the beech. Can you remove the roots, do you think?


I'm not too sure. after blathering on about it for a few months I have
finally managed to convince my other half that the ugly trees should
go. I pointed out a copper beech hedge on a neighbouring estate and he
was sold to the idea. The ground is extremely dry near the trees as you
would expect but that is all that I know.

If need be, we will have to do this in stages. Remove leylandi soon,
and leave for a few months so we can treat the ground adequately for the
new hedge.


I have hedges all around my property, which is fairly large. There are
Beech (not copper), hawthorn and holly. In my opinion the holly are best
as regards Winter cover and also trimming. The holly I can get away with
trimming bi-annually, the beech annually and the hawthorn twice yearly.
However these hedges were here when I moved in, so I have no idea as to
their relative growth rate.

Sacha wrote:
If you can, get bare rooted stock from a local
nursery and these should cost you much less as autumn plants than any
container grown ones. Keep the hedge well-watered if we have a dry
spell.

Yes... bare root pence per stick instead of pounds per pot. Leaves do as
you've been told and stay on all winter looking very bright in the low, red
sun of winter mornings and evenings. After a season there will be very
little difference between 2 year container or 1 year bare root.

Les

--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"These people believe the souls of fried space aliens inhabit their
bodies and hold soup cans to get rid of them. I should care what they
think?"...Valerie Emmanuel

Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

"Les Hemmings" wrote in message
...
Sacha wrote:
If you can, get bare rooted stock from a local
nursery and these should cost you much less as autumn plants than any
container grown ones. Keep the hedge well-watered if we have a dry
spell.

Yes... bare root pence per stick instead of pounds per pot. Leaves do as
you've been told and stay on all winter looking very bright in the low,
red sun of winter mornings and evenings. After a season there will be very
little difference between 2 year container or 1 year bare root.

Les


cheers - cheaper option it is then.

your description sounds lovely. can't wait to get this hedge in and for a
bit of height to catch the glow of the sunset.

Why not try photinia red robin - makes and absulotely stunning hedge, incredibly colourful, easy to manage and fits all your criteria.

Also you will be in a minority because very few people have hedges using this plant.

"Space" wrote in message
...

"Les Hemmings" wrote in message
...
Sacha wrote:
If you can, get bare rooted stock from a local
nursery and these should cost you much less as autumn plants than any
container grown ones. Keep the hedge well-watered if we have a dry
spell.

Yes... bare root pence per stick instead of pounds per pot. Leaves do as
you've been told and stay on all winter looking very bright in the low,
red sun of winter mornings and evenings. After a season there will be
very little difference between 2 year container or 1 year bare root.

Les


cheers - cheaper option it is then.

your description sounds lovely. can't wait to get this hedge in and for a
bit of height to catch the glow of the sunset.


One other substitute for Beech is Hornbeam which will do the same job and
hold the dead copper leaves even on tall more mature trees.
Very similar to Beech, a smaller more interesting leaf. I believe Hornbeam
grows a bitter faster than it's cousin.

If you want true evergreen, then Yew, Laurel or Bamboo would do the trick.

"Space" wrote

Does anyone have the above?

I have a row of about 8 leylandi that I want to take down and replace with
a beech hedge. I'm looking for an evergreen hedge, and I can see that
beech is deciduous.

I have to disagree with other posters on this having done a similar
tree/hedge replacement recently.
I live on an estate which is littered with Beech hedgerows and find that
they are substantially bare for a significant period.
During this time they look ugly and provide very poor screening (if you are
looking for the hedge to provide privacy).
Also, we have a copper beech tree in our garden and the same comments re
leaf retention, or lack of it, apply.
Maybe it's down to the degree of exposure of the site and the tendency for
old leaves to be "blown off" before their time.

In any case, I opted for a mixed hedge which is both evergreen, colourful
and IMHO more "interesting".
This comprises: escallonia, ceanothus, illeagnus, honey suckle, photinia and
one or two others.
The photinia is perhaps less suitable due to its straggling growth, but the
rest merge well and give differing colours and scents during the year.
If you don't want the variety, then escallonia alone has been used on the
newer estates locally to good effect - make sure you get the leafier
varieties as some can be a bit sparse.

Certainly worth an image google before you decide.

I found that the local - good reputation - garden centre (when haggled with)
would come pretty close to root stock prices with, what turned out to be,
small but established potted plants. All have survived and are healthy
specimens.

The conifers we replaced were Blue Lawson Cyprus - awful things - we still
have another 15 still to remove.
These will be replaced by a fence - set back by 500mm - with screen
planting, more of the above, in front (this fence borders the highway so is
subject to planning permission, recently obtained). The trees were removed
by a local contractor who used a stump grinder to get rid of the
trunks/roots. Very thorough job.

HTH

Phil

In article ,
"TheScullster" writes:
|
|
| In any case, I opted for a mixed hedge which is both evergreen, colourful
| and IMHO more "interesting".
| This comprises: escallonia, ceanothus, illeagnus, honey suckle, photinia and
| one or two others.

Is an illeagnus an eleagnus that is a bit poorly :-)

I would also recommend bay for a mixed hedge in areas where that lot
will grow. It has moderately attractive flowers and is useful and
evergreen (and takes hard pruning, which is why I was reminded of it).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"TheScullster" wrote in message
...

"Space" wrote

Does anyone have the above?

I have a row of about 8 leylandi that I want to take down and replace
with a beech hedge. I'm looking for an evergreen hedge, and I can see
that beech is deciduous.

I have to disagree with other posters on this having done a similar
tree/hedge replacement recently.
I live on an estate which is littered with Beech hedgerows and find that
they are substantially bare for a significant period.
During this time they look ugly and provide very poor screening (if you
are looking for the hedge to provide privacy).
Also, we have a copper beech tree in our garden and the same comments re
leaf retention, or lack of it, apply.
Maybe it's down to the degree of exposure of the site and the tendency for
old leaves to be "blown off" before their time.

In any case, I opted for a mixed hedge which is both evergreen, colourful
and IMHO more "interesting".
This comprises: escallonia, ceanothus, illeagnus, honey suckle, photinia
and one or two others.
The photinia is perhaps less suitable due to its straggling growth, but
the rest merge well and give differing colours and scents during the year.
If you don't want the variety, then escallonia alone has been used on the
newer estates locally to good effect - make sure you get the leafier
varieties as some can be a bit sparse.

Certainly worth an image google before you decide.

I found that the local - good reputation - garden centre (when haggled
with) would come pretty close to root stock prices with, what turned out
to be, small but established potted plants. All have survived and are
healthy specimens.

The conifers we replaced were Blue Lawson Cyprus - awful things - we still
have another 15 still to remove.
These will be replaced by a fence - set back by 500mm - with screen
planting, more of the above, in front (this fence borders the highway so
is subject to planning permission, recently obtained). The trees were
removed by a local contractor who used a stump grinder to get rid of the
trunks/roots. Very thorough job.

HTH

Phil

Yes, I've seen this criticism before from other people. The hedge does need
to be quite dense (about 1 metre wide) to stop the leaves being blown away
and needs careful management when young to produce a good density of side
shoots.

On 18/6/07 17:08, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
"TheScullster" writes:
|
|
| In any case, I opted for a mixed hedge which is both evergreen, colourful
| and IMHO more "interesting".
| This comprises: escallonia, ceanothus, illeagnus, honey suckle, photinia
and
| one or two others.

Is an illeagnus an eleagnus that is a bit poorly :-)

I would also recommend bay for a mixed hedge in areas where that lot
will grow. It has moderately attractive flowers and is useful and
evergreen (and takes hard pruning, which is why I was reminded of it).

A mixed hedge over a large area can look good if chosen well. Over a small
area it can easily look a mess if intended to be a hedge, rather than
individual plants allowed to follow their own growth pattern. The OP does
not, I think have a large area on which he wants to plant a hedge.


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 18/6/07 17:08, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:
.. The OP does
not, I think have a large area on which he wants to plant a hedge.



"She" not "he"