Three natural wind breaks
Hornbeam
Choose the British native hornbeam for a daintier alternative to beech that’s ideal for hedging, providing dense, year-round protective cover for wildlife. It has distinctive oval leaves with toothed edges and deep furrows resembling chevrons, which turn golden yellow and orange later in the year, and produces insect-friendly catkins in spring and clusters of papery winged fruits that provide food for finches, tits and small mammals, in autumn.
Plant several together to create a hedge or shape into columns.
Flowers: spring
Height: Mature trees up to 30m (98ft) but responds well to coppicing and pollarding
Plant: November to March
Type of plant: Tree
White willow
Well-suited to moist conditions, white willow Salix alba provides an attractive, quick-growing screen and shelter for wildlife. Chop it back each spring to encourage brightly-coloured fresh growth that brightens a winter’s day, or allow this deciduous tree to grow naturally.
Unpruned, it develops a grooved bark and its silvery narrow leaves shimmer in a breeze. Its catkins are a useful source of early nectar for insects.
Flowers: spring
Height: Mature trees up to 30m (98ft) but responds well to coppicing Plant: November to March
Type of plant: Tree
Bamboo
Rely on bamboo to provide an attractive and fastgrowing natural screen with architecturallooking canes in a variety of colours. They provide a great focal point, especially when their evergreen leaves rustle in the wind, and bring a tropical or urban note to their surroundings. Bamboo is well-suited to moist but well-drained soils. When considering which one to grow, consider the amount of space available and opt for clumping rather than running varieties, which can become invasive.
Good varieties for smaller gardens include species from the fargesia group, such as the dragon head Fargesia rufa AGM with yellow canes, orange-green sheaths providing new growth and green foliage. Cut back more mature canes each year to encourage younger, vibrant growth. Use the canes as plant supports.
Flowers: Infrequently - bamboo is monocarpic so blooms once and dies
Height: Mature canes can reach 5m (16ft) but respond well to pruning
Plant: May to September
Type of plant: Evergreen perennial