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What's it called?

halomadnessELoE65AOhalomadnessELoE65AO Posts: 3
in Tools and techniques
Hello.

I'm a keen gardener and currently have a big domestic job on my hands.  In this garden I'm thinking of a living fence so as to help keep my costs down.  My question is what is the technique called when you cut half way into the main stem or a limb and then bend the branch into a horizontal position?  New growing shoots then appear and grow upwards forming the beginning of what I hope could be a living fence. 

I have some cheap rose bushes to add into my fencing ideas are roses ok?  What shrubs/ trees would you recommend I use
for this technique?

Many thanks.

Posts

  • PerkiPerki Posts: 2,420
    edited August 2022
    Its called Hedge laying . I don't think rose would be suitable for this . Hazel - hawthorne - blackthorn and probably larger species like beech - sycamores are used for this practise 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,095
    You’re thinking of “laying a hedge’. But that can take several years to establish from scratch. 

    But a much quicker and easier way would be to create a ‘fedge’ from willow withies. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Looks fantastic when done properly, though. I've seen field maple included and then you can grow dog roses and honeysuckle through it as well.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 14,357
    Whatever you use, has to be fairly well established before you lay it, you can’t lay newly planted saplings.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,095
    edited August 2022
    punkdoc said:
    Whatever you use, has to be fairly well established before you lay it, you can’t lay newly planted saplings.
    Yes … laying a hedge is a way of rejuvenating and strengthening a well-grown mature hedge … you need hedgeplants with their trunks already several inches in diameter.

     

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • halomadnessELoE65AOhalomadnessELoE65AO Posts: 3
    Thanks for all the replies.  The limbs I'm looking to layer are several inches across and well established Maple and ash.  I'll have a better look at the species to see if they are suitable to layer before continuing.

    Thanks for the advise about rose suitability and I could now just grow them against a fence where there's nothing to layer.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,095
    edited August 2022
    There's a lot of skill to successful hedge laying ... there are usually several short courses dotted around the country each winter ... more in the areas where there's a lot of stock-keeping rather than here in arable East Anglia, although we do have some.  

    This sort of thing https://woodlandskillscentre.uk/product/hedge-laying-february-2022/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • halomadnessELoE65AOhalomadnessELoE65AO Posts: 3
    Dovefromabove said:
    You’re thinking of “laying a hedge’. But that can take several years to establish from scratch. 

    But a much quicker and easier way would be to create a ‘fedge’ from willow withies. 
    Thank you for this idea.  Because I don't have the correct species to layer with, willow withers could be the living fedge I'm hoping to create. 

    I especially liked the structures people have created with willow and would love to create an open shelter, something green to sit under.

    Is willow deciduous and how long would such a fence take to reach around 6 feet tall, be full of leaves and offer privacy?
  • FireFire Posts: 17,348
    This is an hour talk on conservation and wildlife hedge laying. Managed for diversity on a large amount of land. There may be something of interest in there for you.


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