A hedge as a living painting
When it is planned to arrange a living space and create a garden on a plot of land, after the completion of the overall landscape project (sometimes even before it), one of the initial works is to demarcate the territory from the surroundings. Demarcation not only creates a sense of private space, but also protects from the effects of external factors. This is important both in urban and rural environments.
With the help of fencing, you can also create your own microclimate in the interior, which allows you to plant less winter-hardy plants. But that's not all - your hedge can also become a multifunctional living painting!
The history of hedges and what we can learn from it
Available historical data show what hedges were like in the Bronze Age (2000–500 BC). At that time, the area covered by forests was much larger than today. As agriculture developed, forests were cut down in ever larger areas. Strips of forest that were already growing there were left to separate the boundaries of the fields.
In areas where there were no forests, people, as they created new settlements, sowed and planted their own boundaries. These man-made hedges were in a way similar to the aforementioned forest belts – they were a collection of many plants that, growing in mutual symbiosis and complementing each other, required minimal care.
In terms of plant diversity, these ancient hedges greatly surpass the hedges we mostly build today, where only one crop dominates the landscape (such as thujas, hawthorns, or spruces). Bronze Age hedges, on the other hand, could contain hundreds or even thousands of different plants.
The main functions of fencing today
Even today, hedges are used to demarcate territories. Depending on the type and size of the fence, it has the following basic functions: highlighting the external boundaries of the property and providing a visual barrier, reducing the ingress of noise and fumes, and protecting the environment from crossing the boundaries (both by people and animals).
Also inside the territory, a hedge can be an interesting element that forms the garden space, separating zones and forming different spaces, creating a backdrop for other plantings, highlighting and complementing flower beds, garden architectural forms, such as fountains, and sculptures.
Fencing also serves as an excellent way to create and maintain the internal microclimate of the territory. This is mainly due to the reduction of wind speed, and therefore the formation of so-called “heat pockets”. Even in winter, the temperature in the leeward area will be higher than in a more open field. Therefore, we can experiment and plant more heat-loving plants in these places.
How do you know which one is better to choose – a regular fence, a hedge, or both?
Situations and needs vary, so one answer won't fit all cases. Let's take a closer look at each of these options.
Ordinary fence
One of its biggest advantages is its quick installation - the ability to enclose an area in a short time. A wide range of fence options is available - according to everyone's requirements, tastes and possibilities. A fence, unlike a hedge, is usually much narrower, accordingly it takes up less space, which is important in small areas. We can see a greater variety of fences around private house territories in cities, suburbs or parish centers.
In rural areas, where significantly larger areas need to be fenced off, one of the most popular types of fence is metal mesh attached to wooden or metal posts.
When installing a regular fence, there are quite a few design options to choose from – both in terms of materials, shape, and color.
Fence with gates made of spruce trees growing in northern Sweden, which are characterized by high wood durability
If you can't find what you like, we can make the fence ourselves - paint it and even decorate it to your heart's content! Of course, while adhering to the binding regulations of the local municipality.
However, the significant disadvantages of a conventional fence in the long term are the time and money invested in its repair and partial or complete replacement. Moreover, the value of a conventional fence, unlike a hedge, decreases over time.
Ordinary fence and hedge together
The choice in favor of both is common. First, a regular fence is installed. Often the fence is partially or completely transparent, so a row of hedges is planted parallel to it, which also visually separates it. Thujas are mostly chosen for such a hedge, less often junipers, hawthorns, hornbeams, yews, etc., and in larger areas - also spruces. Hedges that combine different plants with different shapes, shades of leaves or needles, flowering and even fruit-bearing, are more noticeable and beautiful.
Hedge
The word "hedge" itself suggests that it is something living. Therefore, constantly changing.
Unlike a regular “inanimate” fence, the value of a hedge increases every year. It becomes larger, more voluminous, more expressive and more beautiful. A small hedge can grow into a huge living wall that will delight your family for several generations.
A hedge of Norway spruce ('picea abies') planted in a single row
Hedge – a living painting
If you have enough space, you can let your imagination run wild and arrange various trees and shrubs close together in the hedgerow. This way, you can create a magnificent living painting that will be constantly changing throughout the year, delighting and inspiring the people living there!
A strip of various trees and shrubs - a multifunctional and beautiful hedge
In this way, when we plant various woody plants in a hedge, we gain an additional benefit – the trees grow over time, and some of them can be cut down and used as needed – both as timber and firewood for heating the house. When necessary, we supplement the plantings with new trees and shrubs, thus ensuring long-term sustainability.
A variety of trees and shrubs provide habitat for birds and beneficial insects that will protect other garden plants. Nectar plants will attract bees, which will replenish the honey stores in their hives. If you have supplemented the hedgerow with fruit trees, you will also get delicious, healthy fruits and berries.
In this way, the boundary of the territory simultaneously becomes a multifunctional, beneficial part of the garden - for decades and even centuries to come. Of course, as I already mentioned - this is possible if there is a sufficiently large area of land. For example, if you choose a 1-hectare plot of land for your residence, and allocate a 5-meter wide strip for planting a multifunctional hedge, then in total it will occupy about 0.2 ha along the entire perimeter, that is, one fifth of the entire area. There will still be 0.8 ha left to install the rest of the necessary. You can also create a narrower hedge of this type, when various woody plants are planted in only one or two rows, close to each other.
I started creating a multifunctional hedge on my plot of land by planting a row of common spruces ('picea abies'). The distance from trunk to trunk is from 0.5 m to 1 m. Initially, I want to create a hedge strip that is impenetrable to animals, which I will then expand, supplementing with various deciduous and coniferous trees and shrubs. As the seasons change, their foliage and colors will also change. As a result, I will get a living and magnificent painting several hundred meters long!
As needed – if the row of spruce trees will give too much shade in the future, I will shape it to the desired size and shape, or cut it down and use it as lumber. The other trees and shrubs in the hedge will be more mature and densely grown enough to demarcate the area from animals crossing.
A long-term trimmed and shaped hedge of Norway spruce ('picea abies')
When choosing different tree and shrub plants for a hedge, it is important to take into account their future size, how the sun will illuminate the plantings, the growth rate of the various plants, how the shade created by nearby trees and shrubs will affect their growth, when and how they will change their foliage and how they will color.
When creating a hedge strip composition, you should also take into account their mutual compatibility. For example, the more conifers you choose for a hedge, the more acidic the soil they will create near them. Accordingly, you should understand which deciduous trees and shrubs can be planted nearby.
When creating a hedge from different plants, you need to spend more time planning it, think through everything in sufficient detail. If there is a need for a living wall that is impenetrable to animals, then you need to create plantings of trees and shrubs that will not only be beautiful, but also grow sufficiently densely.
Trees and shrubs that are not attractive to wild animals should be planted on the outer edge. These animals usually cause the greatest damage by gnawing young shoots and bark, as well as by rubbing them with their horns and breaking branches. Wild animals will not damage or will damage the following woody plants to a lesser extent: birch, alder, sour cherry, hazel, chestnut, spruce, mountain ash, elderberry, red maple, black alder and white alder, Caucasian plum, hawthorn, currant, robinia, lilac, philadelphus (jasmine), grimon, park rose, spirea, partridge, yellow caragana, blackberry, barberry, blackcurrant, currant, gooseberry.
Creating a multifunctional hedge takes much more time than, for example, creating a thuja hedge. However, in the long run, the initial investment will pay off many times over. You will get a living wall around your territory, timber, fruits, nectar for honey, and greater protection of the garden from pests, and all this will create your uniquely beautiful, living and changing painting!
A hedgerow of deciduous trees separates the cereal field from the area inside.
This article uses images from a private archive and shutterstock.
The article was also published on the Delfi portal:
https://www.delfi.lv/majadarzs/pagalms/daildarzs/dziva-glezna-ar-vairakiem-ieguvumiem-kadu-dzivzogu-izveleties-un-ka-to-izveidot.d?id=55197422
https://rus.delfi.lv/domsad/sad-ogorod/zelenaya-izgorod-kakie-rasteniya-dlya-nee-vybrat-i-kak-ih-sochetat.d?id=55249680