Cotoneaster Lacteus Hedge Training

To form our parallel evergreen hedge, we planted the cell-grown saplings at the start of June 2017, so this is now their third summer in the garden.

the saplings after planting in summer 2017 ...

... and in early summer 2018

For the first couple of years, we'd basically just left them to become well established, resisting the temptation to trim or thin them in any significant way. 

Left to its own devices, Cotoneaster Lacteus is of spreading & arching habit and hence very slow in gaining significant height, so by this April there was a dense tangle of low growth and it was time to start training some of it upwards to form the high hedge we want. 

The growth was mostly semi-ripe, i.e. had not yet become woody and therefore the leaders and branches were still flexible enough to be guided.    

It's important that training is carried out at this stage, so the basic hedge structure can be established when it's still relatively soft, and then become woody enough to stand up on its own and retain the required shape.

When straightened out in April, some of the whippy growth was already over 1,200 mm (4') long, so the plants have done well enough in their first couple of years.

The low-growing arching branches were carefully untangled and then the freed leaders were tied in to 2.4 m (8') vertical bamboo canes.  There are generally canes spaced every 400-450 mm (16" - 18") or so and in some areas they are even closer together.  The hedge is the best part of 30 m (100') long, so the job took some time and a lot of canes were required.

Training the leaders upwards immediately lifted and thinned the dense low canopy, which has had threefold benefits; (i) the hedge is already significantly higher, (ii) there's now more light available to the lower branches and (iii) it has allowed a freer circulation of air around all the growth, which should reduce the chances of disease.

The idea is to eventually train the leaders and main branches vertically up to just below the required hedge height, which is around 2.4 m (8'), and that sprouting laterals from these verticals will fill in the gaps between and form a dense screen.

But for the next couple of years it's likely to be a continual battle to keep the trees tied in and the hedge in shape.  More than six weeks after the trees were initially staked, I'm still occasionally wandering around with a ball of string looking for stray branches - I don't want to trim any growth until at least the end of this season.

More recently, I've being tying all the vertical canes in to a continuous string of horizontals, to stiffen the whole support framework.  It's been quite time-consuming, and there's still a 5 metre stretch at the south of the garden to complete, although this section is not so urgent because this length of hedge is the most heavily shaded and hence the slowest to grow.  The new hedge and its support canes currently receive a lot of wind protection from the deciduous hedge behind in full leaf, but come November they'll be very exposed.

In the central and northern sections of the new hedge, the leaders have continued to grow on very well after they've been tied in, and many of them are now up over 1,500 mm (5') high.   

A few of the plants are also forming the very first flowers we'll see from this new hedge - hopefully the small white blossoms should open in July and be followed by red berries in the autumn.

over 5 feet tall and groups of flower buds forming ....

the hedges today, with the New Zealand Holly 
bush in the foreground just coming into flower ...

Let's hope this new parallel evergreen hedge eventually gives us what we want - it seems to have been a lot of work already this year but adding these supports should only be a one-time job.