I am going to plant a lovely mixed hedge - what have I forgotten to include?

[SarahAndQuack]

I have a boundary between my land and the local primary school, which is currently marked by a fence. I would like a little more privacy, not least because DD now attends the school, so whenever I go into that bit of the garden, she can see me and shrieks!

I want to plant a mixed hedge, ideally with native trees (I'd vary it a bit if an alternative were particularly gorgeous). I want it as a good habitat and a decorative thing, rather than just to make a fast-growing barrier. And because there's a school on the other side, I mostly don't want it too prickly, though there's a patch where a few prickly things could be. I'm thinking:

• hawthorn
• blackthorn
• smooth-leaf holly
• elder
• guelder rose
• rowan
• beech
• crabapple?
• golden hop (yes, I know, not native and it might just swamp everything, but they are so pretty!)

What do you think? And do you have any tips for hedges? I know how to lay a hedge, but I've never had to establish one from scratch and don't know which things might out-compete others.

Elder can cause other trees near it to die out/not thrive - it seems to release something in to the soil. We took one out and could never get the hedge we planted there to grow properly. Maybe put it on one end? The berries are also apparently poisonous when uncooked.

Sounds like a lovely plan OP! Has anyone suggested clematis to wind through? Also, given the school, may I suggest not privet as quite a lot of people get horrible hayfever when it flowers?

Ooh yes clematis, though they're not native. According to Gardeners World, they provide nesting shelter for birds and other species, and cultivars of Clematis Tangutica also provide nectar and pollen for bees.
Theres also wisteria. 😍also Japanese/Chinese

Old man's beard is the only native clematis I think. Grows like a weed in hedgerows round here but no matter how many seeds I collect and chuck down at the base of my hedge it never takes!

It looks so cool in home made wreaths!

Clematis vitalba is our native Clematis

I got an email from Dunham Massey today!!

"The tree we were trying to identify for you is a Quebec Hawthorn, Crataegus submollis."

So there you go, OP!

Oh, wow! I just saw this. How lovely - and how very kind of you to take the trouble like that.

Well, I'm definitely going to have to plant this hedge now, aren't I?! No excuses.

Thank you so very much.

You'll have to pay hedge tax so we can all enjoy it 😁

@MereDintofPandiculation thanks! The more you learn the less you know!

The berries contain cyanide, which is volatile so cooking destroys it.

I am much enjoying this thread, thank you OP and PPs. I am planting hedges too, and this is giving me much to think about.
I am planting in deep countryside so no schools, but sometimes livestock.

I have a huge amount of it. Very pretty now but a total thug. Birds love it though.

The berries contain cyanide, which is volatile so cooking destroys it. That interested me so I went googling. A “cyanogenic glucoside” rather than cyanide itself, ie it contains Amygdalin. The amygdalin molecule contains a detachable group with a carbon triple-bonded to a nitrogen, which is the chemical definition of a cyanide. This is free to with something else, and many (most?) of the resulting molecules are toxic - if I remember rightly, it’s potassium cyanide which is of interest to detective story writers.

Amygdalin is from the scientific name for almond (see also the almond shaped bit of the brain called the amygdala), and amygdalin is the same compound that is in kernels of Prunus species, including almond, apple, plum, apricot, cherry, and, of course cherry laurel.

@MereDintofPandiculation so does that mean that even after cooking, its not safe to eat?

This is free to with something else, and many (most?) of the resulting molecules are toxic

@CuriousEats Elder is fine. I've used it to make cordials and wine.

@DogInATent kill me now! I didn't look back far enough to see it was elderberries they were talking about. I had it in my head it was seeds and pips.

Other PP have said it’s broken down by heat. I’ve never had problems with eating cooked elderberries

Elderberry cordial is very good for you. Having made it once I prefer to buy Sambucol. If cooked elderberries were poisonous there would be fewer people around.

I thought I'd come and update this thread since people gave such helpful advice. I haven't managed to source everything I wanted, and some of my ideas changed a bit, but so far I have planted:

field maple
guelder rose
amelanchier (it was under £2 for bare root and I couldn't resist! )
spindle berry
hazel
red willow
sweetbriar
yew
privet

I have a damson that's still heeled into my veg patch, but which will go in, and I still want to get some hornbeam, beech, and maybe clematis. I got almost everything bare root (the hazel and privet were just dug up from elsewhere). I got it all in at the end of November/beginning of December, and I've just had a look and various things are starting to come out of dormancy and looking happy. Thanks so much everyone!

That sounds like a lovely mix, enjoy!

This is lovely hedge talk!

My neighbour and I had a hideous, large and dying leylandii hedge between us (his). He wanted to take it out, I agreed to clear the land on my side to give him easier access, and we agreed to plant a native mixed hedge. I worked really hard clearing my land, and one day he planted .... a new leylandii hedge 😡He's been avoiding me ever since. Do any of you hedge experts think if I planted a native hedge next to it on my side that it would prosper, or would it be too close to the thuggish leylandii?

It's worth a try. If you can get a dense double-row native hedge in and established before the Leylandii take-off they may cope. They'll need feeding (mulch) and watering to get off to the best start. If they're on the sunny side (i.e. anything not North) of the Leylandii it may be your neighbours hedge that does less well.

If the leylandii failed to thrive, that would be a bonus, thank you :)

This sounds wonderful! Enjoy OP!