Living fence — beautiful and reliable
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The opinion about the unreliability of a hedge is fundamentally wrong. Imagine a wooden jungle with distances between the trunks of the order of 30-40 cm.
Even if it is not a branched shrub, but bare trunks, it is extremely problematic to crawl between them. Is it worth mentioning that most living fences are planted in two rows and in a checkerboard pattern.
And if the hedge plants are armed with thorns, then even an attempt to approach it is fraught with injury.
PLUSES AND MINUSES OF HEDGE
Minus — low speed of construction. Alas, even with the use of growth accelerators, you will receive a full-fledged green fence, at best, in five years.
But, some options for hedges have a huge plus — the low cost of construction. Judge for yourself: you can grow seedlings of certain types of trees from cuttings that you will prepare completely free of charge in a neighboring forest.
IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW
Although the green hedge grows on its own, it is still a living organism that needs to be looked after (feeding once a year, twice a haircut, if it gets sick, spraying). So, if you are a consumer by nature, either prepare money for an incoming gardener, or give preference to another type of fencing.
TYPES OF LIVE FENCES
According to the method of creation, hedges can be divided into three types: formed, free-growing and supporting. Each of them is good in its own way. Depending on the type of building and the layout of the yard and garden, you can either stop at one type or bring dynamics to the landscape and combine them.
FORMABLE hedge appears to visitors as a dense wall of regular geometric shape. This is a very effective, but also very costly (in terms of maintenance) type of living wall.
Formative pruning is carried out twice a year, plus periodic “editing” of the form as needed. Given the constant pruning and the desire to maintain ideal geometry, non-flowering deciduous plants and some conifers that can be pruned are chosen to participate in a slender green ensemble.
The correct lines of the formed hedge will add a touch of elegance to the landscape and create a dense barrier that protects from prying eyes. In addition, due to trimming, the minimum width of the green fence is achieved, which is counted as a «plus» for small areas.
FREE-GROWING living fences look most picturesque at the time of flowering, because, for the most part, they are represented by beautifully flowering ornamental shrubs.
The plants used in this type of planting look like disheveled young ladies, slightly careless and at ease. In addition, their untamed beauty, as a rule, occupies a decent width, therefore it is recommended for planting as a background for mixborders, in a garden landscape with a natural form of relief, and for tall plants it is better to choose a place along the perimeter of the site or along the paths.
SUPPORT hedges are considered the most unpretentious and, at the same time, the most malleable to formation. Depending on the task, they are performed from annual or perennial climbing plants.
The beauty of such green fences lies in the maximum return at a minimum cost. You can once create a support that will be woven around by living vines, according to a configuration that is convenient for you: a decorative wind screen, a green tunnel over the transitions between sites, a vertical flowering wall that enlivens the facade of the house or masks the fence.
All further care comes down to spring garter (only for some crops), planting in the ground and autumn cleaning (for annual plants).
«Climbing» perennials do not need such procedures and will make you forget about the hassle for a long time, creating a pleasant shade and coolness.
Trellis hedges are a variant of a single-row, but extremely reliable hedge.
It will take more than one year and a lot of effort to create, but the result will justify itself — you will get an insurmountable living barrier.
The essence of the method is as follows: first, a dense planting (after 30-40 cm) of two to three-year-old seedlings is made, the next year in the spring, when the plants take root, the trunks are cut to the lower buds to cause the growth of side shoots — they are left two on each individuals.
Next is the stage of weaving the trunks. Overgrown pairs of shoots are bent in different directions, crossing with neighboring ones. At the points of contact, the bark is removed and tied with a hemp rope. In these places, they will grow together into a single whole, and over time you will get a monolithic section of the «live» fence.
A little differently, they perform a trellis hedge of willow. Long cuttings are planted in the ground in pairs in early spring and wait for them to take root.
Those who have not taken root are replaced with spare ones, which are grown apart a little further away. After rooting, the trunks are intertwined, the bark is cut and tied, as in the previous version.
PLANTING
To form a hedge, buy two to three year old seedlings. Landing, depending on the desired result, is carried out in 1-2-3 rows.
If a hedge — a garden decor or a trellis — is a single-row planting, to obtain denser living fences that limit the area from view and penetration, a two-three-row planting in a checkerboard pattern is used, which requires a larger area and planting material.
Multi-row plantings are often arranged from plants of different heights — for example, trees in the background, medium-sized shrubs in the middle row, and low-growing ones in the lower row. This technique makes it possible to fill the gaps between the bare trunks of the back rows.
All data on the width of the plot under the hedge, the distance between rows and seedlings are given in the table.
The landing of a green fence is carried out under a stretched rope, with strict observance of the distance between the seedlings, otherwise, in the future there will be problems with the appearance of the fence.
Given the density of planting, instead of individual holes, they dig a trench to the depth of the root system. The excavated soil is enriched with peat and humus, subsequently, the soil will be fairly depleted and will require top dressing with minerals and organic matter every two years. In each row, it is recommended to plant plants of only one type.
The root system of deciduous plants is previously kept in water for several days, coniferous crops are planted in new soil exclusively with their own earthen clod.
The trench is abundantly moistened so that the soil has gained enough moisture.
The deepening of the root system should take into account the shrinkage of the soil in the future — leave the base of the trunk at a slightly higher level than usual, and cover it with a hill of earth. Deciduous shrubs (if it is not a late autumn planting) are immediately cut to the same height.
Hedge DESIGN, PHOTO
A hedge does not always carry the exclusively functional load of the fence. She is assigned the role of a decorative wall, a green background for a flower garden, a windscreen, an element of garden architecture, a border.
Yes, and the traditional forms of haircuts have undergone some changes. Strict outlines change to smooth overflows, similar to pictures created by nature.
in the photo above: a hedge of two arborvitae varietiesborder in the foreground from khakonekhloi.
In the upper photo: a hedge of holly holly in summer pleases with a glossy sheen of leathery leaves, in winter — with a scattering of red berries.
in the photo: a living thuja fence is formed by smooth rounded contours, therefore it looks natural and, at the same time, serves as an ideal background for flowering perennials (in the photo, the foreground is represented by allium).
A living fence made of winter-hardy bamboo looks exquisite, like an engraving.
If you need a tall, dense evergreen hedge with clear contours, then this is definitely a thuja.
Do not rack your brains, in the background there is a purple hedge of the viburnum vesicle (Diabolo variety), and in the front a shrub that looks more like a buckthorn, the green variety of the vesicle can also be the same.
I like this three-tiered green fence: the top row can be represented by any medium-sized deciduous shrub, the middle row is either Fortune’s euonymus or barberry, and the bottom row is horizontal cotoneaster.
By the way, a relative of the last cotoneaster brilliant is suitable for creating a medium-sized evergreen hedge.
hedge plants selected based on their ability to branch after pruning. Not the last argument is the growth rate and seasonality of foliage. Evergreen trees and shrubs are the most popular.
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