Best hedging for paddock?

Snowy Celandine

Snowy Celandine

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I've decided to try and improve my paddock, which is high above sea level and very exposed, with some hedging in order to provide a windbreak/shelter. I'm thinking of planting hawthorn but wondering if that is the best hedging to choose or if I should consider something different or a perhaps a mixed hedge? Obviously I want to avoid anything that is dangerous for horses and I haven't got enough money to buy well grown trees so it will be a case of buying whips and rabbit guards. Any ideas please? Thanks :)
 
Call Buckingham Nurseries and ask them to send you a catalogue.
It tells you absolutely everything about every type of hedging available, including what's horse friendly and what's not.
They deliver throughout the uk so you don't have to collect if you're not in that area. It will advise best hedging appropriate to your soil type and site conditions.
 
Agree with Buckingham nurseries, although I ended up a few years ago with maples from them, which we have subsequently removed because of the possible link with atipyical myopathy.
You will need to fence young hedges off, as well as putting tree guards around, or the Horses and wildlife will munch them.
 
Hawthorn is very slow growing! We planted some a few years ago - 6, I think, and they have hardly grown at all! The rosa rugosa that we planted at the same time is faster growing. We planted some willow this Spring and they are growing well.Elder (!) and rowan do well here but I'm not sure that you could those hedging plants.
 
Hawthorne is definitely the best, we had some rose type things tpo6and they're going great guns. Don't get holly, that's very slow, but it's always worth getting some berries and throwing them in the hedge bottom, they might just grow
 
Will Google Buckingham nurseries, thanks :)

I've planted some mixed hedging on the back lawn Peal and that included elder, much to the disgust of one of my elderly neighbours who called into question my sanity if I recall correctly :p I've also got blackthorn but that is such nasty stuff that I don't want it in the field and the rosa rugosa that I planted hasn't done very well at all. I'm guessing it's because of the wind as it does get a buffeting. I have some rowan on order but, I agree that they won't form a hedge since they are such spindly things so I'm just dotting them about for the berries really. I thought hawthorn might grow quite fast but that's bad news if it's so sluggish. Will keep researching!
 
KITT, holly was suggested before when I asked for advice on fencing part of the garden, rather than the field. I do like the sound of it and I think I will definitely plant a few along the hedge line that I want to create even if they are slow growing. I can chuck some berries down off my current hollies too ida :)

I am definitely thinking along the lines of hawthorn and holly and a few other bits mixed in.
 
Hawthorn 60 to 70% the rest a mix of , hazel,blackthorn,holly. they need rabbit guards and time but make the best hedges. elder will take over and doesn't make a good hedge.
 
I suppose it depends what you want the hedge to do. We have drystone walls as a boundary, so we just wanted trees/bushes to provide shelter, especially from the wind (yours must be bad, SC, if they stop your rosas from growing, although come to think of it those at the top of the field haven't done as well as those at the more sheltered, lower end).
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I suppose it depends what you want the hedge to do. We have drystone walls as a boundary, so we just wanted trees/bushes to provide shelter, especially from the wind (yours must be bad, SC, if they stop your rosas from growing, although come to think of it those at the top of the field haven't done as well as those at the more sheltered, lower end).
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Pearl, I envy you your drystone walls as they are lovely but I've never seen any here in Lincolnshire so I guess we don't have the right sort of stone for them. It is incredibly windy here at times, yes. I always seem to end up living in a valley, where it floods, or on top of a windy hill.
 
blitznbobs said:
Blackthorne .... then you can make lots of sloe gin too
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Ha ha, that's what my friend said :p I have some blackthorn growing in the garden but am wary about putting it in the field because the thorns are so fierce and I'd hate to think of them piercing the sole of a foot or damaging an eye if the ponies stand on the trimmings or rub against it.
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Ha ha, that's what my friend said :p I have some blackthorn growing in the garden but am wary about putting it in the field because the thorns are so fierce and I'd hate to think of them piercing the sole of a foot or damaging an eye if the ponies stand on the trimmings or rub against it.
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we have issues with the thorns causing punctures in the ride on mower that will happily cut the long grass patches. Blackthorn produces lots of seedlings that are thornless the first year and subsequently lethal.
We console ourselves by drinking the sloe gin. :)
 
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