Previous Page (2012 Season)
Index:
- Page 1 Creating The Long Walk 2010-2011
- Page 2 2012 Season
- Page 3 2013-2016 Seasons (This page)
- Page 4 2014-2016 Folly Project
- Page 5 Before/After Photo Gallery
2013 Season
I continued to be pleased, and pleasantly surprised!, with the rate of growth of the hedge. It had its first, light, trim to the front face this year (this is its 3rd season)
The end nearest the house is curved, and we had rabbit fencing across the garden at that point – protecting the main part of the garden, nearer to the house. Last year we extended the netting around the perimeter of the further part of the garden, so took the opportunity to remove the old fence this Autumn. What a difference that made to the view and feeling of openness!
Rabbit Fence – Sep 2011
Removing the fence – Sep 2013
Rabbit Fence Removed – Sep 2013
We decided to move the Mountain Ash, which you can just see in the middle of the walk; it had been planted for a previous design, then turned out to be slap bang in the middle of the alignment for the Long Walk, which seemed fortuitous, but having lived with the layout for a couple of years we now think it detracts from the long view.
We would like to build a Folly at the end of the vista, something like this perhaps:
Long Walk – with Folly
Sorry about rubbish picture, Photoshop is obviously not a skill that I have! The superimposed Folly is from Kiftsgate, which we were rather taken with when we visited a couple of years ago
2015 Season
The first proper cut of the face of the hedge. Its starting to look very smart – and tall! I can’t make my mind up how tall I want it to be, there is a trade off between an elegant height, and the effort needed to cut it. I think either 8′ and 10′, and I have been using a tall cane, with some white masking tape attached at 8′ and 10′, and then a tall step ladder moved to various vantage points, to try to judge which height will have the desired effect. It is important that the hedge screens the far-vista at certain points around the garden, so that some views will be a surprise, with no early-warning, when the visitor encounters them – well, at least that is my plan.
I want the hedge to grow a good foot taller than the final height, then I will cut it to 6″ – 12″ below final height, and then allow it to bush-up at that point to make a nice top-surface.
One thing that has occurred to me, looking at the wispy top this summer, is that when the hedge was young I painstakingly nipped out each bud (leading shoots and side shoots) on each plant, during the winter. I stopped doing that a year or so back as it got taller, and bushier, but I think it would be advantageous to do that to the top 4′ – 6′ this winter – to encourage the top to be more bushy.
Jun 2015 – Before clipping
Sep 2015 – After clipping
During the Winter 2015/2016 I topped the hedge for the first time. I selected a straight cane 8′ long and then dropped this down the hedge against each plant and cut the top off to match. This probably isn’t as good as stretching a line and cutting to that, but I was only looking for an approximate level – the hedge needs to grow back a foot or two to where the actual “top” will be.
I also pinched off all the side shoots for the top 3′ of the hedge – where it is still quite thin.
2016 Season
A wet Spring and early Summer lead to more strong growth. This summer I took the first full cut of the face (in fact I first cut it in June and then every 3 – 4 weeks after that, to encourage any shoots that grew outwards to sprout into the face of the hedge). After that first cut there wasn’t much to cut off each time, so it didn’t take long to tidy it up.
Before cutting – Aug 2016
I use a Henchman Platform and find that it saves an incredible amount of time when cutting the hedge, compared to using ladders and the like which have to be moved much more frequently.
Hedge cutting with a Henchman Platform
After cutting – Aug 2016
Next page (2014-2016 Folly Project)
K's Garden 
Like the perspective idea.