[Rowan]

Hello there,

I'm new to this forum and also new to gardening and I could do with a bit of advice regarding a shelter belt. I'm not sure if this should be posted in the tree section or the hedging section!! My house is fairly exposed so I would like to plant a good wind break with trees and hedging. I have read a good few posts on here and other places and have used them to pick out a good mix of trees and hedging but my query is this, is it better to stick to 4 or 5 tree species or is there any harm in mixing them up. Just to give you an idea of what I was thinking about. The main backbone might be hornbeam, scots pine, rowan and field maple and then a couple each of the following mixed in at intervals: alder, elder, birch, oak, ash, sycamore, bird cherry, wild cherry, red maple, norway maple, whitebeam, willow etc. and then I was going to plant a bit of whitethorn, holly + maybe gorse to thicken up the bottom of the shelter belt.
Would this work or is it best to keep it simple. I saw some lovely shelter belts on the motorways up North and they seem to have a great mix in them. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Sive]

Welcome, Rowan. I'm no expert, but your mix sounds good to me.... with a variety of trees and hedging you will always have something of interest to catch the eye. Throw in some dog rose too, for the beauty of its hips in winter.

[Foxylock]

Maybe try some dogwood along the front of the belt , the coloured stems gives a lovely splash of winter colour.

[Protein]

The more adventurous would opt for for a mixture of planting. Each plant would need varying and individual requirements (but on the whole they are fairly low maintenance and hardy). And some would grow faster than others.

OR

You could just plant a "green wall" of evergreen hedging, run the strimmers one or twice a year.... and that's about it.

Be realistic as to what your expectations and experience is, and go with it.

me

[Rowan]

Hello everyone and thank you all for the helpful advice. I'm gona add dog rose and dog wood to the list. Is it best to buy standard trees or whips? and could everything be planted at the same time ie. the hedging wouldnt suffocate the trees?

Regards
Rowan

[Sive]

I've heard whips establish faster, I think you would be surprised at how quickly they will grow. I've seen a seven-year-old hedge of native shrubs and trees that looked as if it had been there for far, far longer.....I was amazed by it....and everything was planted as whips apparently.