Replacing hedge question!

[sandspider]

Thanks again - a few more points to take on board there... Got my first hedge devastator coming to quote tonight!

Cheers.

[snohare]

It depends on type, but you'd be amazed how small the root balls on large cypresses are. (I'm pretty sure that is what your conifers are.) They are basically a dense mass of very compact roots that are designed more to drain moisture and nutrients out of the soil than to stabilise the tree - the native habitat is sheltered river valley bottoms. Lovage and Tamsin have got it exactly right with their suggestions on how to remove them - this is how conservationists do it, with a Tirfor hand winch. (You can probably hire one of these from a tool hire company, or maybe borrow one from your local BTCV group for a donation.)
The one tip I'd add is that for digging, you should use a grubbing mattock - like a pick but with an axe on one side and a wide adze blade on the other. That, in addition to a spade, makes the job a lot quicker and easier. Once you have dug down to a spade's depth all round the trunk (doesn't have to be right close to it) chop through the roots on just one side, away from the side that the winch is pulling towards, and you will find that you gradually rip the remaining roots out until the tap root is left. If the strop is slipping off the trunk, then you can dig a tunnel between the roots under the soil, and put it under there. It is immensely satisfying when the winch hauls a whole rootball out at once ! Time taken: anything from half an hour to two hours. If the root balls are right next to each other, you are laughing once you have done the first one.
If you can't get a winch, have one or two persons pushing the trunk to and for while another (carefully) chops the roots one by one as they loosen. With practice and a good trunk to lever with, you can pull out a tree just as big by hand as with a winch.

[sandspider]

Thanks Snohare, duly noted. I have a few big friends who would see it as a challenge! Cheers.

[snakeshack]

have you considered trellis with clematis and/or honeysuckle,this is reasonably fast growing but controllable and would smell fantastic.
by the way I would run the branches etc through the shredder and stack back on top.
camellia might be good here too as they will like the acid soil conditions

[sandspider]

Hi Snakeshack.

No, I hadn't - but I will now! I love honesuckle. My only concern would be whether it would grow dense enough to give good privacy?

First quote for hedge removal was £400, so looks like I'll be doing it myself!

[Nicos]

You can buy evergreen honeysuckle. Tiny flowers and no scent, but you can sort of alternate with different climbers
£400???...cor just think of the plants you can 'treat' yourself to if you save that by doing it yourself???

[Llamas]

Totally innappropriate, and I apologise, but just for fun! David Austin Roses

I covet a yellow rose hedge.... sigh...

[pipscariad]

I was going to suggest honeysuckle too, but Snakeshack beat me to it! I was trying to think of an evergreen shrub which wasn't too dense, that way you could grow the honeysuckle through it.... but I can't think of one! On our patio we have an evergreen honeysuckle, which has grown huge and rambles through our high hedge - the flowers are small but smell fantastic, and the leaves are just like 'typical' honeysuckle ones, but slightly brighter green. As we inherited it with the house I have no idea what the variety might be though. It would work well on a trellis or hazel weave type fence I'm sure, it would just need to be pruned to keep it in shape - I leave mine to pretty much do what it wants! If you're interested in the sound of it, let me know and I'll do some more research.

Another hedging plant that I thought of was escallonia, as it grows quite fast and has pretty, fragrant flowers - some varieties also have very fragrant leaves (remind me of holidays in Greece for some reason, sigh...). However, I just googled it and it says it doesn't like shade, however, we have a hedge of it down one side of our house, and it's pretty shady down there for most of the day. Not all types are evergreen though, although some of the hedge keeps leaves longer than others.

Wonder how the quotes were from the professionals? Doh, just noticed your reply above! Blinkin' flip, £400!!

[Gurberly]

In terms of replacement hedge, have you thought of Mahonia?

6-9ft high, so not needing regular trimming.

Evergreen foilage, lovely yellow flower spikes in winter, berries in later summer. Spikey leaves to deter the neighbours



Grows pretty quick too... and dense...'ish

G

[snohare]

I would run the branches etc through the shredder

If you do this, wait until they have dried and are brown rather than green, or you will find they choke the shredder. If you want to be wildlife friendly and slow down the ivy, just leave the thinner branches lying on the ground thickly enough to shade out sunlight.
Personally I rather like privet; quick growing, and it is much loved by the birds as a nesting site.

[Torreya]

Yesterday, we drove past a house with a 6' high hedge of alternating Lonicera "Baggesson's Gold" and different coloured Pyracantha. So you've got evergreen foliage on both, plus berries on the Pyracantha and they'll get to about 6'.

[sandspider]

Thanks for the continuing suggestions, they're all being taken onboard.

Got my second quote today, and it's an improvement - a mere £300! Mind you, that would buy me a really nice golden privet hedge... :s I think I'll do it myself, but wait until Autumn to do it, that way there's privacy in the garden for the summer. I really hope it's a sunny one this year

Giles

[DaveJ]

What about yew? It grows about 1ft a year but if you are patient it can make a wonderful hedge. As suggested privet is a nice hedge and if left uncut it produces scented flowers which butterflies adore.

[Speed Gardener]

You could try Western Red Cedar, it's an evergeen conifer that unlike the usual conifers that people plant as hedges and look unsightly when they get woody, this regrows green all the way to the ground and can be cut back without the wood dying off. It was reccommended by Chris Beardshaw to replace a large conifer hedge owned by someone on Gardener's Question Time. I've seen it used as a hedge at Heligan and it looks good, you can keep it small without it going brown. It'll be replacing my conifer hedge when that gets the chop.

[chriscross1966]

How about growing blackthorn?... ok not evergreen but it's pretty dense, thorny enough to act as a barrier, native so in sync with the wildlife and all the sloes yoiu need for the annual gin making

chrisc