As we pass into late spring, everything is growing vigorously. We would strongly advise to check newly planted trees and shrubs for water stress now that they have fully come out of dormancy. Beware of dry spells but also be aware that roots need to breathe so too much water (waterlogging) will do as much harm as not enough. Water stress can be particularly noticeable on newly planted laurels. The picture above shows how it is usually the older leaves that yellow first through water stress. But in spring this may coincide with the usual shedding of the oldest leaves anyway.

It is necessary to carry out a regular watering regime for the first two years. At this time of year I would recommend watering as follows:-

• Our big shrubs  – 4 litres  (1 gallon or ½ a large watering can) every 2 to 3 days.
• Our trees and instant laurel hedging – 9 litres (2 gallons or 1 large watering can) every 2 to 3 days.
• Our very big trees – 18 litres (4 gallons or 2 large watering cans) every 2 to 3 days.

However, in particularly hot, dry, sunny and/or windy weather you may need to increase the frequency further, or reduce it in a period of wet weather. Also alter the amounts accordingly depending on the conditions on site as poorly-drained sites. Those on heavy clay will need less watering than those on sandy soils.

Plants usually give you fair warning that they are stressed before they die by turning older leaves yellow and then dropping them. In severe drought the soft new growth wilts and shrivels!

If you have a soaker hose fitted on an outside timer make sure it is switched on for at least 20 minutes a day (sandier soils may require more).

A lot of plants, in particular laurels, can look hungry in the spring. This is indicated by the plant yellowing. We would advise an immediate feed with a high nitrogen fertiliser and with a follow up treatment at the end of June or early July.

Need specific advice? Just ask!

If in doubt or if you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch. We’d be delighted to offer our suggestions for your needs and site conditions. Simply contact us at enquiries@wykeham.co.uk or call 01723 862406.

To maximise the next crop of flowers, most flowering hedges are best cut straight after flowering each year, if possible, but to do so would inevitably reduce the number of berries, fruit, seeds or nuts in autumn – not ideal for varieties chosen for ornamental berries such as Pyracantha, as well as reducing food sources for wildlife. Most deciduous hedges could almost be clipped at any time of year, avoiding frozen conditions of course. Evergreen hedges usually respond best if cut during the growing season in spring or summer, in fact they can suffer damage if clipped in the autumn.

Hawthorne

There’s no ideal time to satisfy every possible criteria for pruning hedges, but February is the month which can often come closest. Deciduous species can be pruned in mild weather now and, although it’s too early to give evergreens a full hedge trim with shears or hedge clippers, when a winter is as mild as this one has been it wouldn’t do any harm to give a light trim (or selective restorative/formative pruning for that matter) to tidy up any wayward shoots on broad-leaved evergreens in mild weather.

As well as avoiding the nesting season, another benefit of pruning in February is that there won’t be any “wasted” growth, by that I mean that the hedge plants won’t yet have put on any extension growth only for it to be cut off later; pruning now will induce side shooting and thickening of the hedge from buds further back, within the canopy, giving a thicker and more dense hedge.

Around the British countryside the most widely used hedging plant is of course Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna; it’s tough, grows well in a very wide range of conditions, is early into leaf and, with regular pruning, forms a dense hedge. Unlike many more ornamental options, you don’t have to be too fussy about how you prune Hawthorn – it is common for farmers to use tractor-mounted flail cutters to trim Hawthorn field hedges, something which you’d never dream of doing with a formal hedge! However, to keep the hedge dense all the way down to the base it is important to prune it with slightly sloping sides, wider at the base than at the top, allowing light to reach the foliage all the way down.

If not clipped as a hedge, Hawthorn will eventually grow into an attractive small tree. However, since it doesn’t naturally grow very straight on its own it doesn’t tend to be grown very often as a tree commercially, but there are other members of the Crataegus genus which are more tree-like in habit and will make excellent garden trees. “Paul’s Scarlet” is a popular choice, with semi-double or double deep-pink flowers; unfortunately, it doesn’t produce many berries as the fully double flowers are sterile.

Crataegus Pauls Scarlet blossom

A less commonly seen member of the Hawthorn family is Crataegus prunifolia, which has a leaf more similar in shape to that of a cherry tree than a Hawthorn, and glossier too, but this is a small tree which really earns its place in the garden. It carries hard thorns which are over an inch long, making it an ideal boundary tree for security planting… and Crataegus prunifolia can also be planted in a shrub form to be clipped into an impenetrable security hedge. The bark colour of the twigs and thorns starts as a deep plum-colour, maturing to a silvery-grey. The white flowers are very similar to our native May Blossom, although they are produced about three weeks later, but the greatest features of this stunner show themselves in autumn when the foliage turns first golden yellow, then fiery orange and, if exposed to enough direct sunlight in summer, bright scarlet and coppery-purple. Whilst this colour change is happening, the berries mature into large, deep-red Haws, clearly displayed against the golden yellow leaf tints to entice hungry birds.

Pyrus Chanticlear

The simplest way to provide screening without risking issues with the High Hedge legislation is not to plant evergreens, or just plant individual evergreen trees to cover specific key sightlines and then plant deciduous trees in between. Most deciduous trees will provide varying degrees of cover from spring until autumn, but one of the best to provide screening in domestic gardens is a type of ornamental pear tree, Pyrus calleryana Chanticlear, which retains its leaves far longer than most others.

Pyrus Chanticlear is a good option for screening in most gardens as it doesn’t take up too much space, has a well contained root system (ie the roots aren’t too invasive) and, most importantly, as well as leafing up earlier than most trees in spring it usually holds its leaves into December. This ornamental pear tree produces white blossom in early spring and, if it gets enough direct sunlight, gives a show of coppery-red foliage in autumn.

Pyrus calleryana Chanticlear blossom

Pyrus trees prefer a well-drained soil, anything from slightly acid to slightly limy, but not too dry – add plenty of organic material if planting in sandy soils. Unlike pear trees grown for fruit, which need a relatively warm, sheltered site for the fruit to ripen, these ornamental pear trees do not produce edible fruit and can therefore be grown in pretty exposed areas. In fact, an exposed site can actually be an advantage for Pyrus calleryana Chanticlear as, although they’re generally quite problem-free, good airflow can help to reduce potential issues with the airborne fungal diseases that can affect pear and apple trees, such as Mildew and Scab, which can cause spots on leaves or curly foliage.

Pyrus underplanted with Cotoneaster

For some gardens it may be necessary to limit the size that these ornamental pear trees will grow to; Pyrus Chanticlear could eventually over a number of decades reach thirty to forty feet tall if never pruned, but they respond really well to training and to being clipped and are easy to prune. The best time to prune ornamental pear trees is when they’re fully dormant in December or January, using clean, sharp tools and cutting above a healthy bud.

Pyrus calleryana Chanticlear can be clipped into semi-formal shapes, such as ‘lollipops’ or ‘box-headed’ trees, but where space is really limited, or simply to provide an attractive backdrop, the ideal screening option is to plant ‘pleached’ trees, where the trees have been trained into a relatively flat shape (usually above a clear stem or trunk) to give the effect of a hedge on legs! To achieve this effect you can plant the pear trees as younger stock, training the branches against a sturdy wire or wooden framework as they grow, or you can buy pleached Pyrus Chanticlear pre-trained and ready to plant as more mature specimens for instant results; for either option, talk to your nursery for advice. Pleached trees need to be clipped every year, so when pruning pleached Pyrus it is still best to perform major pruning jobs during dormancy in December or January, but a basic annual tidy up can be done by trimming back the younger growth in late summer.

Pyrus Chanticlear Pleached

So, to sum up, if you want a useful tree to provide screening from overlooking windows or to block unsightly views, one which does not cause problems with “High Hedge” laws, has flowers in spring, foliage colour in autumn, has well behaved roots, is easy to look after and is easy to prune and train then the ornamental pear tree, Pyrus calleryana Chanticlear, may well be the tree for you.

A very attractive hedging option, Portuguese Laurel produces pencil-like spikes of creamy-white flowers in early summer and has rich, burgundy-coloured leaf stalks in winter; it is ideal for a good solid evergreen hedge, but can also be used as a specimen shrub or allowed to grow to form an evergreen tree.  

Portuguese Laurel can also be pruned in ways similar to that of Bay to form basic topiary shapes such as lollipops, domes or cones. Prunus lusitanica grows in most situations including semi shade but it does not tolerate waterlogged ground or salt spray, including salt splash off the road. It is just as hardy as common laurel although it doesn’t grow as fast, growing up to about 18” per year as opposed to the 2ft6” per year that common laurel can grow.

Our main crop of Portuguese laurels are sold as plants 200-250cm (6ft6” to over 8ft) tall and grown in 36ltr containers so that they can be planted at any time of year, making them an ideal hedging option to plant in summer (we also sell taller specimens with clear stems/trunks to be used for screening at higher levels).

At this stage in the summer they will have had their first big flush of growth of the year, and by July they will also be nearing the end of their flowering period.

Whether newly planted stock, or ones which have been growing in-situ for many years, pruning them straight away at the end of flowering in July is an ideal time as this will remove the spent flowers which would otherwise develop into berries and focus the plant’s energies into producing more foliage and thickening up before the end of the growing season – plus pruning now will also maximise the flowering potential for next summer too.

After flowering is a good time to feed Portuguese Laurel; it can be a hungry feeder so it’s a good idea to feed them for at least the first couple of years after planting to help them on their way. For the summer feed you can use a Fish, Blood & Bone fertiliser if you don’t have a pet dog (don’t use it if you do have a dog as it often makes them dig around the hedge), or a good rose fertiliser is a good bet as it will work as an all-round feed helping to feed leaves and roots, as well as giving them a good boost of potash to encourage next year’s flowers as well as a top-up of magnesium to replace what can easily be washed out of soils by the regular watering in the first two years.

You’ll also need to give them another feed in spring (probably in April but be guided by the weather) – you could give them more of the same but, and especially after a mild winter, they may need an extra boost of nitrogen. If you’re growing Portuguese Laurels in pots, or just if it’s easier for you, rather than using a dry feed twice per year you’d be better off using a fertiliser you can water on, such as one of the soluble brands you mix in water, or a tomato food, and water them with that every three weeks or so from April to mid-August.

One final note on feeding… Portuguese Laurels are very tolerant of limy soils, so they’re a good option for chalky or limestone areas, but in very alkali conditions they will need a bit more organic material added to the sides of the hole/trench when you plant them to help hold onto nutrients, and you may need to give them a little extra feed while they’re getting established.

Planting a Portuguese Laurel tree for screening

Portuguese Laurel makes a fantastic hedge for a wide range of situations but, like common laurel and many other evergreen options, it can be toxic if eaten and therefore not suitable for planting where grazing animals have access, especially if they’re left unattended.

Planting a Portuguese Laurel hedge

Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna, commonly known as Hawthorn, May Blossom or Quickthorn, has historically (especially following the various Enclosures Acts) been the plant most widely used for hedging in the British countryside. Tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, easy to propagate, relatively fast growing, dense, regenerates well when pruned or laid, non-toxic and ideal for stock hedges, Hawthorn hedging will provide a habitat for wildlife. To emulate a rural ‘native’ hedge, most country-style hedges would be made up of about 60% Hawthorn with other native or sympathetic species suited to the growing conditions on-site mixed in to provide diversity and interest. Hawthorn is not evergreen, but it is one of the first woody plants to re-leaf in spring. The white flowers in May followed by blood-red berries, or Haws, in autumn provide additional interest both to the eye and for wildlife. Most people plant Hawthorn in winter as relatively small, bare-rooted whips or transplants at a spacing of four to six per metre in a double, staggered row. However, at Wykeham Mature Plants we also grow Hawthorn plants in containers which can be planted at any time of year and are available in larger sizes for a more instant result.

Holly

There are many varieties of holly, including brightly coloured variegated forms, all of which prefer a well-drained soil but with plenty of organic matter. Holly is ideal for shady positions as it naturally grows in woodland under other trees, and the variegated forms are great for brightening a dingy corner, but for deeper shade a plain green form such as ‘Alaska’ will grow more comfortably. Holly is quite slow growing, so it would be sensible to buy larger plants if a more instant result is needed. The varieties we grow at Wykeham are all female, so they should all produce attractive berries as long as there are male-flowering hollies within bee-flying distance, and they have been carefully selected to be fully hardy, robust and reliable. Our hollies our grown in the fields on our Yorkshire nursery and dug during dormancy as wire-wrapped rootballs.

Pyracantha

The common name of ‘Firethorn’ really says it all with this thorny evergreen. Often grown as a wall shrub, large Pyracantha plants can also be grown together to form a dense hedge that even the most determined trespasser would think twice about tackling – or would bear the scars afterwards! White, sweetly scented flowers in June are followed by spectacular yellow, orange or red berries in autumn (red berried varieties such as ‘Red Column’ are best as a food source for birds). Pyracantha hedging is usually our first choice for security and as a deterrent on properties which have previously suffered regular trespass issues. It can also be used to plug problematic gaps in existing hedges as it will tend to scramble through, effectively knitting gaps together. Like pretty much all evergreens, Pyracantha will not tolerate being waterlogged for long so ensure adequate drainage.

Berberis

There are many different species/varieties of Berberis or ‘Barberry’, ranging from being uncomfortably prickly to bearing thorns like nails or spikes. Some a brightly coloured, such as Berberis thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’ or Berberis ottawensis ‘Superba’ but these are deciduous. Many of the various evergreen species are particularly suited to hedging, such as Berberis darwinii which produces sulphur-yellow to orange flowers in spring followed by bluish berries in autumn. Attractive as well as practical, Berberis will eventually make a superb hedge, but is usually relatively slow-growing compared to some of the other options we offer.

Crataegus prunifolia

This beauty has common names including ‘Broad-leaved cockspur thorn’ and ‘Frosted thorn’, but the name of ‘Cherry-leaved Hawthorn’ is probably the most descriptive. With white blossom very similar to its common Hawthorn cousin, but carried in mid-June rather than in May, you might not be surprised at not being completely familiar with this… until that is when you see it in autumn and wonder why it isn’t in every garden in the land! The glossy green, oval, slightly serrated leaves turn to the most beautiful golden yellow at around the same time as an abundance of large berries ripen to a shiny blood-red. However, this foliage display is not finished there as, if they’ve been exposed to enough direct sunlight over the summer, the golden yellow leaves can have tips of bright orange, or turn through scarlet red to a coppery purple. The inch-and-a-half long thorns, hard as nails, are a rich plum colour, as are the young twigs, and the mature bark ripens to a silvery-grey. Crataegus prunifolia makes a truly beautiful hedge and the select form of Crataegus prunifolia ‘Splendens’ is one of our favourite small trees.

For further information visit the “shop” section of our website, or contact us at enquiries@wykeham.co.uk (or call 01723862406) for a bespoke quote or to discuss which options would be best for your needs and for the conditions on your site.

Hedging as a solution

The obvious answer to the problem of fences being blown down by strong winds is not to have a fence at all. If you look around the British countryside, solid screening has always and traditionally been provided by hedgerows, many still existing are hundreds of years old and, although they provide shelter, they also allow air to pass through and around them, making them perfectly tolerant of winds and won’t blow down. In addition to this, screening using plants, with its softening effect, can actually be better at cutting down noise than a solid screen such as a fence or wall would be. So, from a practical stand-point, there are a number of situations where hedging makes sense.

Maintaining a hedge

If carefully chosen – the right plants for the right hedge for the right place, maintaining a hedge does not need to be hard work or as frequent as some may think. You don’t have to plant ‘the dreaded Leylandii’ and you can choose plants that will make your hedge a real feature of your garden. Rather than having to be replaced at great expense and hassle every few years, a hedge should outlive its owner.

Environmental benefits

Planting a hedge will provide a haven for wildlife, but don’t forget that a it will absorb CO2 from the air, will improve localised air quality by absorbing and filtering out pollutants, and will also help rainwater to penetrate the ground (and to absorb it) to help reduce localised flooding from surface water.

Instant hedging from Wykeham Mature Plants

You don’t have to wait years for a hedge to grow to provide the results you need and are available at affordable prices; in fact, the cost of an instant hedge works out significantly less than that of fencing as it won’t have to be replaced. At Wykeham Mature Plants you really can buy time, such as instant hedging for screening and security which would otherwise take years to achieve. Where privacy has become a real problem, such as from a neighbour’s upstairs windows, or where there is an unsightly view but a hedge or fence of a more usual height just isn’t enough, there is a range of screening available to provide cover at higher levels without taking over your garden or breaking the rules about tall hedges.

Visitors to Wykeham Mature Plants can explore a nursery which combines innovation with traditional horticultural skills to create an effect of maturity from hardy trees, shrubs, hedging and conifers in sizes larger than are normally available in garden centres. The experienced staff will help you to select the ideal hedging or screening option to thrive in the conditions on your site for guaranteed results.

You can also call us to discuss your requirements as well as order online.

Above: a tatty damaged fence replaced with instant hedging (photo taken on day of planting).

There are several diseases which are putting some of our common garden trees and shrubs at risk and which it pays to be aware of:

Ash die back

One of the most common plant diseases that most people are now aware of is Ash ‘die back’ which was imported into this the UK in 2012 and is now widespread and causing major damage. Signs your trees have this are black blotches appearing on the leaves, lesions on the bark of stems and branches and extensive dieback of shoots, twigs and branches.

However, there are a couple of other diseases lurking just over the channel that you may not be aware of which have the potential to cause a great deal more damage and which we should all work together to keep out:

Xyella fastidiosa

Xyella fastidiosa is a bacterial disease which attacks a wide range of plants including lavender, rosemary, olives and some oak species. This list is increasing weekly as more host plants are found. Any outbreak in this country could lead to the destruction of all potential host plants within 100 metres of the infected plant and a potential quarantine zone with a radius of up to five kilometres for five years! So far in Europe there have been outbreaks of this disease in Italy, France, Germany and Spain, and it is moving northwards.

Xanthomonas arboricola pruni

Another bacterium is Xanthomonas arboricola pruni which causes severe holing in leaves and canker of the stems, which often die back. Xanthomona attacks a wide variety of cherries and laurels (Prunus species) and has the potential to do serious damage to the plum and cherry crop in the UK if imported. This disease is not to be confused with common Shot Hole in laurel, which is native to this country and just causes some minor damage from which the plants grow out of.

At present neither of these diseases are in this country, and legal controls are set to be imposed on the imports of potentially risky species. However, these have yet to be implemented and legislation alone will not be sufficient to protect our woodlands and gardens in the UK from the potentially devastating effects of these diseases.

What you can do to prevent these diseases entering this country:

The first thing is to keep calm and carry on planting. However, when buying planting stock ask your supplier to confirm that their plants have come from an area free from the diseases (at present the UK is completely free of these diseases and so UK grown plants are best).

Our Yorkshire grown stock is completely clear of imported diseases and with a totally auditable production trail. Not only this, since our nursery is situated in a frost pocket in North Yorkshire, you can be confident that our stock is guaranteed to be hardy.

For further information on these diseases please go to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs website:

https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/assets/uploads/Xf-Plant-Pest-Factsheet-2017v2.pdf

https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/assets/factsheets/x-arboricola-pv-pruni-factsheet.pdf

Need specific advice? Just ask!

If in doubt or if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We’d be delighted to offer our suggestions for your needs and site conditions. Simply contact us at enquiries@wykeham.co.uk or call 01723 862406.

Above: The vivid red colour of new leaves on Photinia Red Robin

Photinia ‘Red Robin’ is a shrub which has become extremely popular in recent years, and can be used for a wide variety of situations, even trimmed as a ‘standard’ to give a tree-like shape to provide evergreen screening above a 6ft fence or wall. It is a vigorous, large-leafed evergreen, mainly grown for the bright red colour of the young leaves, which gradually mature to a glossy dark green – or should do! There are a number of factors which could be involved here. Photinias don’t do particularly well in shade or in close proximity with large, established trees. When grown in the shade they tend to become drawn and rather straggly and, although like most evergreens they won’t tolerate being waterlogged for long, excessively dry locations tend to stress them, making them drop more of the older leaves than they otherwise would. Photinias will grow in a range of soil types, including quite alkaline conditions if there is sufficient organic matter, but they could be described as hungry feeders. Their natural growth habit is quite vigorous and upright, producing new leaves at the tips of long upright stems, and dropping the older leaves as they go, the result of which, if left to their own devices, is often a rather straggly shrub with “bare legs”! However, with a little bit of work every year, and it doesn’t have to be very much, these shrubs can look completely different; dense, glossy and colourful.

Sickly Photinia

Above: A leggy, sickly-looking Photinia

Firstly, an annual trim is essential to encourage side branching and to maintain density, just as you would do for a hedge. In fact, if the site isn’t too windy, too cold or too wet, Photinias can be used to make an attractive hedge with great effect. I like to give an annual trim in June to maintain density – it breaks your heart to remove a fair proportion of the new red leaves, but a second flush will soon emerge after a few weeks which will then see you through to the autumn. Don’t trim too late in the summer or autumn as the new leaves will still be too soft when the frosts come and will be frost burnt. Restorative pruning of a leggy specimen can be done by hard-pruning to just above a bud or node, cutting quite far down the leggy stems to encourage a bushier plant; this is most effective if done in April or May, depending on how cold the weather is, during the first flush of vigorous spring growth. Secondly, as I’ve said, they are hungry feeders, so an annual feed in April works wonders. A general fertiliser, such as Fish, Blood & Bonemeal, or a good Rose fertiliser, will make a significant difference to the appearance and colour of the foliage. If necessary, repeat this in mid-summer.

Spring pruning Photinia

Another aspect to feeding Photinias is that their vigorous nature means that they use a lot of Magnesium, a shortage of which would encourage the plant to shed yet more of the older leaves. Magnesium is a very mobile nutrient, and it is easily leached out of freely draining soils during prolonged periods of rain, and drought conditions will also affect the plant’s ability to take it up. A tablespoonful of Epsom salts dissolved in a gallon of water and applied at or soon after applying the other fertiliser will help prevent a deficiency, which would otherwise result in the plant taking Magnesium out of the older leaves to put into the new ones. Interestingly though, Magnesium deficiency symptoms in Photinias often cause little burgundy-coloured spots on the older leaves, as well as a general yellowing of the older foliage. These spots can easily be mistaken for a fungal leaf spot disease. This doesn’t of course mean that Photinias can’t be affected by leaf spot diseases, of course they can, as are most plants in some form. However, it tends to be already stressed plants that are worst affected. You can control these fungal leaf spot diseases to a point using general fungicides, such as those for spraying roses, but an otherwise healthy and well-fed Photinia will usually just shrug-off leaf spot and continue to grow happily regardless.

Being too dry for too long, or too cold in winter, are other stress factors which can also stimulate Photinias to drop more of the older leaves and thereby necessitate a one-off restorative pruning, so occasional watering in long periods of dry weather (I use the washing-up water!) will help with that potential problem, but there’s not a lot you can do about a cold winter. For this reason, due to the greater proportion of older leaves dropped in spring following a cold winter in the North of the country than our Southern cousins would experience, Photinia is not very suitable for ‘pleaching’ (fanning out on a flat panel above a tall clear stem to give a two-dimensional screen) in the North as it is difficult to maintain sufficient density to give the required effect.

To sum up, if you want Photinias to keep their density and to look their best:

• trim them annually
• feed them once or twice per year with a general fertiliser and some additional Magnesium
• don’t let them get too dry for too long (but don’t drown them)
• never plant them in the shade

Need specific advice? Just ask!

If in doubt or if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We’d be delighted to offer our suggestions for your needs and site conditions. Simply contact us at enquiries@wykeham.co.uk or call 01723 862406.

Mature plants move best at this time of year as they have become dormant for the winter and will not be distressed by being lifted and moved. Also, as the ground is moist but not yet too cold, the plants can establish themselves ready to grow away again in the spring.

Remember, if you are planting a root-balled plant, leave the hessian and wire packaging intact below the ground to maintain the integrity of the root-ball and to give the plant a better start with less disturbance – the fabric and wire will rot away in due course.  Also, be sure to choose the right tree, shrub or hedge for the conditions, or address any drainage issues on site to make sure that the roots are not going to be waterlogged, as evergreens won’t tolerate being too wet for long.

Need specific advice? Just ask!

If you’re in any doubt about planting this winter, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We’d be delighted to offer our suggestions for your needs and site conditions. Simply contact us at enquiries@wykeham.co.uk or call 01723 862406.