TREES AND SHRUBS FOR HEDGEROWS

None of our fruit trees evolved in isolation, just fruit trees and grass. They all evolved with a wide range of support plants and ground covers and birds and insects and micro-organisms and herbivores etc. It is the diversity and integration of all these elements that makes our ecosystems sustainable and healthy. We need to take note of this when designing our own orchards and a good place to begin to bring in the birds and the insects, and to strengthen up the system, is by planting a hedgerow.

Hedgerows used to wind along side the country lanes all over Europe and it was here that the beneficial insects, predator wasps, and birds etc lived and bred. The nuts berries flowers and fruit we also harvested from these wild areas and they formed an important part of a healthy ecosystem for the orchard and diet for us!

The following trees all grow well together to create such a “hedgerow”.

ELEAGNUS MULTIFLORA

This is a wonderful good looking bush that grows to 2.5 meters, loaded with white flowers in spring, loved by the bees and covered in berries for the birds in Summer. The leaves are very high in nitrogen and make an excellent mulch or compost material and because of that other trees grow well near this bush.

ELDERBERRY

See description in berry section.

CRAB APPLE

Golden Hornett

Small yellow apples. Great for increasing pollination amongst your apples! Used for crab apple jelly, vinegar and cider. Good bird food in winter and colour in autumn.

Jack Humm

Very large red apples for a crab apple. Also used for jelly, vinegar, cider, bird food and autumn colour.

ROSES

Cemetery white

This rose was given to me by a very elderly woman. It was her family rose handed down through the generations and is perfect for weddings, funerals and every other celebration around November. White, with an amazing scent. 1 metre high shrub.

Cemetery pink

Another old one I’ve found, that is just like white cemetery, but pink.

Alberic Barbier

This one we’ve collected from the site of the old Brynderwyn School. It is vigorous, will ramble along fences and over awful banks and into trees and has a wonderful; display of little cream buds in Spring. Healthy dark leaf. Quite common around the North.

Rugosa White

These old hedgerow roses are the ones that have single white flowers with an exquisite scent and then large edible hips. The ripe hips are good to eat and are very high in Bioflavanoids; you could make rose hip syrup.

Rugosa Pink

This is the pink version of the white rugosa. Amazing colour, very deep pink, also has the amazing scent of the rugosa’s.

HYDRANGEA

Apart from the ornamental and historic value hydrangeas make great kikuyu barriers, They also love wet ground.

Lace Cap

An old world hedgerow bush, that adds colour and interest over the summer, these are Northland Heirlooms. Hydrangeas do best in wet spots, great for grey water systems. make great kikuyu barriers.

Popcorn. One of the original old hydrangeas that cam into the Kaipara with the McLeod family and spread al around the area from there homestead at Pouto Strong healthy bushes with cupped flowers.

Mophead Together with the above two varieties this is one of the originals from the Kaipara area. These are the ones that have huge heads that turn pink if you lime the soil, like the others above.

HONEYSUCKLE   

The bare branches are covered with exquisitely scented blossoms in the winter and early spring before the leaves appear.

ABELIA FLORABUNDA

A favourite old fashioned hedging plant. Grows to 2metres and is covered in millions of small pink flowers, loved by the bees in spring. Can be trimmed or left as natural shape.