Hedge your bets to boost wildlife and reduce pollution
IF YOU’RE looking for a great boundary for your garden and want to save the planet, hedges are the most eco-friendly candidates.
The RHS is calling on UK gardeners to swap walls and fences for hedges this autumn, the cooler and wetter weather providing the ideal conditions for ensuring your plants establish and thrive next year.
Here is what to plant if you have a particular problem on your plot that you need to address.
I WANT A HEDGE TO...
■ Capture pollution: Look for large, densely canopied plants with smaller ovate, hairy, scaly or rough leaves, that will trap particles emitted from roads and industry.
Good options include cotoneaster, English yew (Taxus baccata) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata).
■ Reduce neighbourly noise: Wide, tall and multi-layered hedges, ideally evergreen for year-round impact, are best.
Desirable plantings include
English yew, western red cedar, Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) and holly (Ilex aquifolium).
■ Reduce risks of flooding: Plants with a large leaf area, higher transpiration rates – meaning they take up water via their roots quickly – and evergreen canopies are associated with greater rainfall retention. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Forsythia x intermedia when in leaf, ligustrum (privet) and cotoneaster are all top recommendations.
■ Support wildlife: Plant a mixture of species to extend flowering or fruiting periods, and use a range of plant species to provide a more diverse structure, that creates more niches for nesting. Hawthorn, beech (Fagus sylvatica), Rosa rugosa, pyracantha cultivars, ligustrum and yew (Taxus baccata) all make for attractive and practical habitats for wildlife.
■ Report by Hannah Stephenson