Ruud Kleinpaste
Good fences make good neighbours but, Ruud Kleinpaste says, they also make great homes for various garden critters.
The secret life of fences and hedges
seeing we’re heading towards winter, we might as well start to look at some of the design elements to make our garden great again.
I realise I adapted this phrase from a reasonably current head of state, one that is not only becoming increasingly unpopular, but also has aspirations of building a friggin’ great boundary wall and getting the neighbours to pay for it too.
The best of both worlds, some may say.
Such a wall, as well as a simple fence, or a hedge, is a useful tool to indicate territorial spaces, while keeping marauding dogs and kids out of the garden. At the same time, it provides a nice, neutral and effective backdrop to the dramatic plantings and spaces created in front.
But I’d like to look at the biodiversity gains achieved with such structures, simply because there are considerable considerations to be discussed when choosing the perfect type.
A fence is generally a wooden structure with posts, rails and palings that, when installed correctly, will last you for about 15 to 20 years. It is not terribly expensive to purchase and erect, but the staining and painting every few years or so could be a pain in the proverbial.
What I like about wooden fences (especially the rough-sawn ones) is the often wonderful diversity of web-building spiders that choose to make them their home. In some places, tiny tunnelweb spiders will create their silk tubes in-between the palings, while others, left
au naturel, can become the home for fascinating lichens, egg cases of praying mantises and bark lice, especially in winter.
But the best thing about these fences is their relatively maintenancefree nature.
If you are really looking for some diverse wildlife and plant-like organisms, think about a dry-stone wall (or even a wet-stone wall if you like!). I always stop and inspect walls made from scoria, basalt, granite, schist or Halswell Quarry stones: they provide nooks and crannies for a range of perching and epiphytic plants that invade those walls.
And with all this plant life come algae, lichens, mosses plus a huge range of invertebrates and fungi.
The only problem is the cost of building these things, but on the flip-side, a well-built stone wall can last you for a millennium (or two or three). Indeed, some walls can be seen from space!
Hedges are a great alternative to fences and walls; they are a living entity that can create all sorts of textures and colours, depending on what plant species you chose. I’m sure you’ll know the usual suspects that populate the suburbs: pittosporum and corokia are the favourite natives, I reckon.
Muehlenbeckia astonii makes a great “woolly” hedge with brilliant twig-configuration on the outside of the plants; it’s relatively fast growing and can reach a few metres high fairly quickly, plus it takes very little maintenance.
For an entomologist, though, it is a really boring plant, as nothing seems to live on it, apart from the odd moth caterpillar. Feijoa hedges, on the other hand, do so much for the wildlife in your garden: they are active all year round. Blackbirds and tiny silvereyes pollinate feijoas by literally ripping the flower petals off in a dramatic and sometimes violent manner. Many birds also take nectar from the open, cup-shaped flowers to give themselves a quick boost of energy. During most of spring, summer and autumn, a whole series of caterpillar species will feast on leaves and buds, providing valuable protein for grey warblers and other small native birds. The well-angled branches inside the feijoa hedge provide great nesting sites. In my hedge there’s even a fantail that created a hanging abode with side entrance. But the coolest inhabitants are these cottony cushion scale insects. Gorgeous white and fluffy with touches of maroon and black. Yes I know they are pestiferous and need some control (that new Yates Nature’s Way oil and pyrethrum might be the gentle stuff to use). But in my garden, the vedalia beetle (a pretty predator of the ladybird group) is having a go at these cottony cushion scales, laying their eggs underneath all that beautiful fluff. You see: Whether you choose a fence, wall or hedge, there’s really always something to marvel at. So pick your favourite – just don’t Trump about it!
Hedges are a great alternative to fences and walls; they are really a living entity that can create all sorts of textures and colours.