Monthly Archives: February 2012

Isle of Wight hedgelaying

Interesting the things you stumble across on the internet. I’ve just been finding out about the Isle of Wight hedgelaying group via their nice website, which includes the explanation on this page of the local style of hedgelaying, which I’ve … Continue reading

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Arts and crafts topiary hedges at Otterington Hall.

Chris Crowder, the head gardener at Levens Hall, was kind enough to end me these pictures of the beautiful topiary hedges at Otterington Hall in North Yorkshire. Designed  in the arts and crafts style, they date back to to approximately … Continue reading

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Filed under Notable Hedges, Topiary

Hedgelaying styles – Midland, Yorkshire etc

Donato Cinicolo, a hedgelayer who gave me loads of help on the book, lent me these pictures of different hedgelaying styles to use , though in the end we are using some different ones. I like these though, there is … Continue reading

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Stilt Hedges at Hatfield House

This is another picture that was cut from the book for space reasons, a nice pair of stilt hedges at Hatfield. Stilt hedges (lines of adjacent trees cut so that it looks like a hedge on trunks) have been a … Continue reading

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Filed under Garden History, Notable Hedges, Topiary

Veddw House Garden

Anne Wareham, author of The Bad Tempered Gardener, has rightly taken me to task for not including her gorgeous hedges at Veddw House Garden in my book. I haven’t made it out to Monmouthshire in the last year or so, … Continue reading

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Filed under Gardening Thoughts, Notable Hedges

Fern Fever – new book on the Victorian fern craze

Ferns are one of those strange types of plants, like mosses, that are truly ancient and undoubtedly fascinating in their own way, but often overlooked in favour of more glamorous cousins. When I come across a patch of ferns in … Continue reading

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Hedge Britannia – nice new cover for the book

Those nice people at Bloomsbury have been working on typsetting and designing the book, and have just sent me this new cover, which I think is looking lovely. (Click on it for a larger view). It’s out in May.

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Filed under The Hedge Philosopher

Hedges and bees – and the future of our crops

There is a good article in the Guardian (here) about research done by Northampton University’s Landscape and Biodiversity Research Group showing that bees use hedgerows to navigate around the countryside. Of course we already know how crucial bees are for … Continue reading

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Filed under Hedges and Biodiversity, Rural Britain