My Dear Gardening Friends,

May is such a funny month - warm days, very cold nights, sleet, snow and a lot of rain, all sent to entice us into the gardens on the days when the sun does shine!!! I think that the days we are forced to stay indoors are the only days that we should be housecleaning. Mother Nature is very sneaky; she allots the jobs quite well, be it cleaning inside or out!!

I have heard of such a sad occurrence: My dear friend Don and his wife Gail were looking forward with such joy to the birth of a new grandchild, indeed a grandson was born earlier in the month. However, Don's beautiful daughter Heather, aged 26, developed a blood clot and died - my heart aches for the whole family. I can only say to them, and everyone else who has lost beloved ones, some day the sun will shine again for you; the grief never goes away but it does soften.

I have been asked by many of you about fences, hedges, screens etc. With apologies to Robert Frost, good hedges do indeed make good neighbours - better than fences. In England, hedgerows were used as far back as the Middle Ages to define property and keep animals in one place. In Mexico, I have seen the most wonderful fences, from growing prickly cactus; nothing gets past or through them. These days it seems that we need to create our own privacy to help shut out the increasingly annoying world that we are occupying for a little while. What is more polite than a living screen for neighbours and passers-by than a beautiful flowering screen???

You may have a clipped, formal hedge or a wild and woolly one, but either or both serve the same purpose: muffling the sounds of traffic and tempering the wind. They may also be used to cover up unsightly views, and make a fine backdrop for your beautiful flowers.

It does not matter what the time of year, it is always possible to start growing a hedge - providing you can dig into the earth. If you have a yard, prepare the ground for planting by digging a trench or a straight line of holes. You may use that old hose, I keep telling you to keep as a straight edge. If you are on a balcony or rooftop, you may start with several containers, at least 18 inches deep and wide, filled with a blend of equal parts, topsoil, perlite and peat moss.

How about spacing? This will depend upon the rate of growth and the ultimate size of the varieties that you choose. The further apart, the longer it will take for the hedge to fill in and achieve the thickness desired. A good guide line: the space between the plants should be a little less than the plant 's mature width - this way it will form the density that you are looking for to block that unsightly view.

For each plant, add a shovel full of manure and about a handful of granular fertilizer. After planting you should add mulch; it can be bark chips, or cocoshells. As long as you keep the area well watered, the mulch will help to preserve the moisture required. You must also leave a shallow depression around the base of each plant to facilitate the collection of moisture, be it rainwater or from the tap.

Whilst you can go out into the countryside and dig up cedars, I recommend that you purchase either container-grown, or balled and wrapped plants. Not only will they provide instant gratification, but they will be less likely to keel over in death's throws. Further, they are easier to obtain and plant and you can pick out the well branched ones, thus removing the need for you to do the extensive pruning that bare rooted (acquired) plants need at planting time to make up for any root loss and also to encourage that dense twig mass that you are looking for.

Container plants will only need a light shearing the first summer to encourage density. The following spring, deciduous plants and evergreens should be more drastically clipped to force new growth and multiply branching; this will also make the mass more uniform. Needle evergreens should be lightly sheared except for Yews, which may need some trimming again in the summer. I remember as a child, hearing the men outside every Sunday morning, clipping the privet hedges that abounded in my area. In retrospect, I think that they enjoyed the camaraderie, and also escaping their wives with demands for other tasks to be done!!!!

If you have started with very young plants, shear them once you notice that they are actually growing. Until they reach the desired size, the shoots of last year’s growth can be trimmed back by no more than one third. Or, as I once heard Mr. Fisher, (Fisher's Tree Nursery) say, "If you want a big tight hedge, you must first of all have a small tight hedge, letting it grow gradually". It makes sense. Once this has been achieved, do not wait until the hedge gets as high as you want before you start to shape it. If you do, it will either be a real challenge, or you will just end up leaving it because it has become too daunting a task, or you will have to pay someone to do it for you.

Remember, too, that a hedge should be sloped slightly to create a somewhat wider base. This will help prevent the weight of snow from injuring the planting. I love to see a flowering hedge - lilac is beautiful - just drive along the Selwyn road from Young’s Point look and smell. Lilacs must be pruned right after blooming. As I have said before, you only have a window of 10 days after the blooms have faded, before next year's blooms start to form. Prune early spring bloomers right after they flower and summer bloomers in very early spring or, better yet, in the late fall or winter. Even very informal hedges need care to prevent them from changing from casual to careless; they also need feeding, watering and clipping.

As a final admonishment, be very sure that you have planted your hedge on your side of the property line, for as the plants mature and spread, that very neighbour you are trying to hide from, has the right, by law, to chop off any intruders on his/their side of the property line.

Hedge plants that do best with at least seven hours of sun: Arborvitae (Thuja occidentals), Barberry, (Berbis thunbergii), Corkscrew Willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa), False Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera), Juniper 'Skyrocket' (Juniperus virginiana 'skyrocket'), Lilac (Syringa spp) and Autumn olive (Eleagnus angustifolia).

Hedge plants that tolerate a minimum of four hours of sun: Bamboo (Phyllostachys spp) – this one grows very quickly but be careful as it is a “spreader” and will take over your garden if left unchecked. Also good are Crab-apple (Malus spp) and Firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea); the latter is very beautiful in the fall. Forsythia (Forsythia spp) is another good one, but can be picky in colder climates. You can also try Hedge cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus), Peegee hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata Grandiflora), Yew (Taxus baccata) and Privet (Ligustrum vulgare) – this last one may be a good one, the men can socialize, maybe with a beer - and stay from under foot. This will give you a little to go on.

Enough for this week - Indeed hat and sunscreen, gloves, remember HATS for the u.v. warning is very high - good gardening to you all!

Lovingly, Beryl
E-mail: cockayne@nexicom.net