Mature Hedge Will Give: A stepladder set up to the height of a mature hedge will give you a good idea of the ultimate effect. If this looks too tall, obscuring a fine view and casting too much shade, select a different hedging plant. Put a chair in a proposed seating area and try it out. Is this the best place, or will it be ruined by an unpleasant view? When you have a clearer idea of the arrangement of your site it will be easier to transfer the details on to paper; this will be essential for reference once the heavy work has begun. Before you draw up the plan, leave the markers in place for a week or so to ensure that the idea really is going to be practical.
When the leading shoots of conifers reach 6-l2in above the desired height, cut off their tops about 6in below this point. This leaves sufficient space for the hedge's top to create a bushy nature at the desired height of the hedge.See Also Electric Hedge Shears:Several shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, are well adapted for holding banks. Some may be grown without prun¬ing, other than, occasional removal of dead or misplaced branches, or may be sheared regularly to a table-top flatness parallel with the bank. The severity of the latter treatment has much to recommend it in formal areas. It necessitates a little work, but clipping (especially with electric hedge shears) once or twice a season is much less arduous than maintaining grass. Drooping or weeping shrubs such as Forsythia sus-pensa, winter-flowering jasmine (Jas-minum nudiflorum) and the evergreen yew, (Taxus baccata repandens) are ex¬cellent for planting on banks and need no regular pruning.
When the leading shoots of conifers reach 6-l2in above the desired height, cut off their tops about 6in below this point. This leaves sufficient space for the hedge's top to create a bushy nature at the desired height of the hedge.
On The Other Hand See Informal Hedge:Hedges are excellent in many places. They may be sheared to formal outlines or be given no more than token pruning to keep them slightly within bounds and com¬pletely informal hedge. In the latter case they are really just a row of shrubs planted closely together and allowed to develop their natural grace. The sheared hedge takes less room and more work, is best in formal surroundings. The unsheared hedge is delightful, takes little care but rather much room, fits well in informal hedge surround¬ings. Hedges may be evergreen or de¬ciduous.
There are many excellent hedging plants, some with attractive foliage, others that make ideal informal hedge flowering hedges. Whichever is chosen, it is worth bearing in mind that a hedge provides shelter as well as beauty. Careful positioning in an exposed garden can make all the difference when it comes to growing some of the less robust plants. So always consider hedges in relation to the other plants you intend to grow.
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