overgrown thorn hedge

little_monty

I have a roughly 10 foot high thorn hedge (blackthorn or whitethorn i guess) on southern side of my garden bordering a neighbouring field.

The hedge wasn't looked after by previous owners and was fully of briars which i've mostly cut out of the hedge (just cut near the root).

I hope to have ~4 foot taken off the hedge next autumn but since the hedge isnt very even, not well lined up and thin in parts I was thinking of putting in some new plants on the garden side (north facing) .

So im just looking for any thoughts or recommendations of what to plant 'into' the hedge (i was hoping for something that might contribute to colour in the garden)

Roselm

Escallonia is pretty. Shiny small evergreen leaves and pink flowers.

gozunda

little_monty wrote: »

I have a roughly 10 foot high thorn hedge (blackthorn or whitethorn i guess) on southern side of my garden bordering a neighbouring field.

The hedge wasn't looked after by previous owners and was fully of briars which i've mostly cut out of the hedge (just cut near the root).

I hope to have ~4 foot taken off the hedge next autumn but since the hedge isnt very even, not well lined up and thin in parts I was thinking of putting in some new plants on the garden side (north facing) .

So im just looking for any thoughts or recommendations of what to plant 'into' the hedge (i was hoping for something that might contribute to colour in the garden)

As the hedge is already a native species and facing into an (agricultural?) field I would suggest another native species such as holly which although slow growing is relatively easy to manage and is good for wildlife plus evergreen with berries for colour.

I would not use any non native species as frankly they will look very out of place in that type of hedge boundary.

You would always plant more hawthorn (very cheap to buy) or add some small tree varieties such as crab apple/ mountain ash / spindle to make the hedge a bit more diverse.

Hocus Focus

I would agree with Gozunda, but would like to add that your cut-down briars will come back with a vengeance unless you kill them off with something. I would suggest cutting then down as low as possible and giving them a squirt of undiluted Roundup, or some diesel/heating oil, or a mixture of both oil and Roundup.

Hocus Focus

Hocus Focus wrote: »

I would agree with Gozunda, but would like to add that your cut-down briars will come back with a vengeance unless you kill them off with something. I would suggest cutting then down as low as possible and giving them a squirt of undiluted Roundup, or some diesel/heating oil, or a mixture of both oil and Roundup.

Diluted roundup will kill briars as well. 40 to 1. I usually brush the leaves or cut stems so as not to kill anything else. Please don't go pouring diesel or heating oil into the ground.

Hocus Focus

Deleted User wrote: »

Diluted roundup will kill briars as well. 40 to 1. I usually brush the leaves or cut stems so as not to kill anything else. Please don't go pouring diesel or heating oil into the ground.

I shouldn't have used the word "squirt". What I actually do is keep a mixture of Roundup and Kerosene in a washing-up liquid bottle and drop a few drips onto the exposed stump after cutting down a briar, just enough to wet the cut surface.
The undiluted Roundup is my reaction to thistles that are growing in a boundary hedge on a bank that was built on top of these thistles 60 years ago. The thistles have their roots down at original field level and just refuse to die!

Oldtree

Hocus Focus wrote: »

I would suggest cutting then down as low as possible and giving them a squirt of undiluted Roundup, or some diesel/heating oil, or a mixture of both oil and Roundup.

A previous poster suggested this

fatoftheland wrote: »

grazon 90 is the herbicide of choice for briars

There is so much wrong with your suggestion of using diesel/heating oil in a garden that I am speechless.