Picture on left is looking in, on the right, looking out 
Hi, this 100m hornbeam hedge is just greening up but it has not kept it's dead leaves through the two winters we've been working here. It was an 'instant' hedge planted at this height and cost the couple a lot of money – they were expecting it to retain it's dead leaves over winter to provide a year round screen. .
I had a chat with him on Friday and he was asking if we could plant laurel between the trunks (which are three foot apart) and would the laurel grow and take over. I've always thought a three foot black steel railing on top of the wall would be a good idea for security reasons but it's the screening off that he wants – so I suggested a hit and miss wood fence attached to the top of the wall but - he seems keen on the laurel idea... does anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
However - I've been reading about marcescence (retention of dead leaves) and The RHS says to trim a mature hedge in August but if you don't manage that then leave until spring. Last year we gave a second trim in late September... maybe it's my fault the hedge is bare over winter?
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Hornbeam are not as good at retaining their leaves as beech.
In my experience Pete, if a beech or hornbeam are pruned tight and then maintained by being trimmed tightly, as they expand they will retain their leaves much better. It's only the young juvenile leaves which are retained, otherwise, if the branched become too open and grow out, the leaves will fall off.
As Phil says, it is the juvenile plants that keep their leaves, - i'd suggest that by investing in mature plants, they have shot themselves in the foot for the leaf keeping properties, - I always suggest buying really young plants, because within a couple of years they will have caught up.
My suggestions would be to interplant young hornbeam between the mature plants, and keep it all well pruned, which will encourage leaf growth. - I wouldn't plant prunus Laurecerasus as an interplanting as it needs pruning at a different time of year to the hornbeam (which is usually pruned at the end of August, and can be hard cut in March to encourage more growth.
Thanks for the replies both – I will always advise buying young plants too.
This couple do like instant, they are disenamoured with the hornbeam (in winter) and are looking at laurel as something that will take over.
As for thickening the hedge up, someone also suggested L.nitida but I'm not so sure anything would come on too well or quickly enough from under this hedge – not much room for decent planting and a bit dark... but if we could get the whole thing to hang on to it's old leaves then I agree Claire, interplanting with more hornbeam would be much better / nicer than laurel.
From what I've been reading.. it might be a renovation job. The time for a hard cut would be mid winter (they are prone to bleeding) so if we'd addressed this earlier then maybe I could have given a gentle hard cut, narrowing the whole hedge sloping it in toward the top – and then trimmed in June and again before the end of August to encourage the juvenile growth which should hold on until bud burst in spring... snow, ice and gales permitting --- how'm I doing?
The Chateau de Villandry has 1500m of hornbeam hedge.
Here's their regime for keeping box blight at bay.
I hate Laurel, it needs to be cut by hand to avoid shredding the leaves if you want a really good finish, and 100m is a big job. Lon. Nitidia, avoid at all costs; it's a straggly, horrible thing unless you trim it about 6 times a year, and even then it's not great. Hate it.
Hormbeam isn't as reliable at keeping it's leaves as beech, I've had a few people who've inherited it and been disappointed. Without checking (it's been ages since I did the theory, lol), you need to trim before the plant realises it's autumn, in order to fool it. I'd be confident in saying that you were a little bit late with the September cut, but I don't think I'd want to try to tell the client that moving the cut to August would leave them with a perfect winter screen.
One client planted holly between, and that really isn't a nice result some 15 years on. I don't like mixed hedges unless they are designed as a proper mixed hedge.
If they really aren't liking the hornbeam then perhaps replacing it would be the only long-term solution? Beech would seem the obvious choice (why did they go for the hornbeam over beech?), but that's a lot of money. Planting small, bare-root plants is the best way to get the long-term result they want, but 100m of tiny whips will look pretty pathetic for the first few years compared with what they have.
Not an easy one, but my instinct would be that they don't like the hornbeam, and whatever you do with it they won't like it any better next year or the year after.
what about interplanting with beech or copper beech
The gold standard solution would be to take this hedge out, and replace with beech (Phil is right, hornbeam doesn't hang onto its leaves as well as beech) planted more densely. Our beech hedge (which you can see here) is planted 4 plants per running metre, and is opaque (either green or brown!) for about 50 weeks of the year.
Assuming that would be too painful/disruptive/expensive, then the next best solution is your renovation programme, trimming twice per year in summer and early autumn, which should maximise the number of juvenile shoots, and hence leaf retention. It'll take a couple of years to see results though.
I think interplanting (with anything) will either look awful (IMHO!) or simply be too difficult (planting anything in that root filled soil will be tough, and getting enough water to the new plants even tougher!).
If you look at Pete's photos of the hedge you it's clear to see that the top growth is much denser: rapid divisions appear to start just above mid-way. One would suspect that this is where the plants have been clipped regularly?
It seems radical and may defeat the object of having screen in the first place but by pruning 77% of the growth off of the top will (eventually) produce a denser hedge. Tight clipping afterwards should maintain the juvenile leaves better.
I agree with Nick. Attempting any kind of inter-planting or underplanting will be a mistake.
It's either radical pruning or start afresh IMO.
hi again – I've been hoping to get some definite response from the customer – but of course now the hedge is full again it seems to have been forgotten.
I've found this very interesting as while many web sites including the RHS say not to trim after August I don't think I saw one explaining the reasons why not – and many said trim in September including Monty Don
Paul – I can't be doing with L. nitida for a hedge either but I have warmed to laurel over the years, mainly because if they do get out of hand you can renovate which you can't do with ley***dii. - we have several two or three laurel plant runs tight against fences at one site and I do like keeping them neat with the secateurs but for big laurel hedges we are paid to cut there's no choice but the trimmer – they don't look so bad from a few yards back.
I agree that to attempt interplanting would be a mistake and I reckon a solid heavy duty 3 - 4 foot fence (not hit and miss as I said at the top) sat on top of the wall would be the obvious instant solution this couple want – the back side should slow down enough to not interfere with the fence I hope.
My experience of Hornbeam is that as it gets more exposed to wind, it will loose it's leaves, so the lower branches retain their leaves best. This implies that the hedge is not thick enough & our recommendation is a double row with plants every 65cms within each row i.e a plant every 33 cms.
Paul McNulty said:
My two-penny worth is that Hornbeam preferable to Beech on heavy ground. We have Copper Beech here, and where the water is retained the hedge looks much less healthy than the bits that drain better. By comparison the Hornbeam we have has grown like stink and is definitely happy on our heavy ground :)
If client want's instant / mature plants then sell the "Mature Hornbeam Hedge" on eBay and buy a mature replacement instead?!!
Whilst I agree with plant-small being preferable we have done both here. We planted 120/150cm bare-root Copper Beech. Its the front hedge and we wanted a barrier and some privacy. Its just starting its 5th season and is a proper thick hedge and we've topped it at 8 feet; previous years nipped the buds of any shoots growing wider than their peers, this year the whole face needed a light trim. Couple more years and it will look properly hedge-like :)
The Hornbeam we planted were 60/80cm (also bare root), they went in two years later, so now in their third season. Already nipping some side shoots and will need to "top" it next year I expect. By the start of season 5 it will have caught up. Comparison may not be strictly fair as the wet summer last year was a fantastic growing year and brought the Hornbeam on amazingly ...
I think we had some privacy, and a clear barrier from the adjacent bridle-path, from the 120/150cm Copper Beech plants in year 1, reasonable privacy in year 2 and pretty good privacy in year 3. For the Hornbeam the privacy has been pretty good from Year 3 - although not quite as much height - but was non existent for first two years, and in year one would not have provided any real demarcation to dog walkers etc.
If I could have afforded an instant hedge (I enquired ... it was £200 per metre!!) I would have done ... although reading about the problems, and seeing how sparsely the hedge was planted, I'm glad I didn't!
Given a choice, and on lighter land, I would plant Beech. Winter leave retention better, Hornbeam may need clipping twice a year for a formal look, Beech only once, and I think leaf of Beech is more pleasing
Some year-by-year pictures on my blog:
http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/replacing-the-front-hedge/4/#... Copper Beech
http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/long-walk/3/#Gallery Hornbeam
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