I never knew you can have an Acer hedge.. I brought a bit of text about it: http://www.gardens4you.co.uk/index.php?/Trees/Acer-Campestre-Hedge-x-10.html Interesting hedge option!
There are many A. campestre hedges in old European gardens. (The name "hedge maple" is controversial, but it seems to me common enough parlance to be accepted). The maple clips down well, grows dense, and has pretty new red growth. I've seen a few cultivars done into hedges notably Red Shine, a very pretty plant that I am growing into a standard here. I'd love to see a hedge done with Carnival or Pulverulentum, it would be spectacular. FWIW the sycamore (A. pseudoplatanus) also makes a good hedge plant and in widely used in this part of Normandie. The disadvantage is the amount of growth it puts on, over 2 meters! But when cut back twice a year it makes a nice dense hedge, and doesn't set seed. I'll bet you could make a fine hedge from tartaricum ssp ginalla, or perhaps carpinifolium. -E
Thanks Emory, A Maple hedge is not something we think of here so its nice to see one yesterday. Normally we think of hedging with Leylandii/Box/Yew/Taxus Bagatta/Goldcrest oh and one of our favorites could be the privet green or gold. I still have plenty of boarder space and at only £15 for ten (wow) worth adding some Maple hedge. Must be a catch because that is so cheap. lolol How do you make a straight up plant into a standard, I ask because I bought a an Acer this year that instead of growing like my usual Acer it decided to grow down rather than up and the branches are quite long. The one with the blue bowl is what I am referring to if you will notice the long leaves. The problem to me is the main trunk of the long leaf plant was not growing but the branches grew too quickly. The one in the lawn is how I expected it to grow which is very slow. Someone said stake it up but your idea interests me because I wanted also to standardise a Forest Flame at one time.
The correct English name for this English native species is Field Maple; the name "hedge maple" is acceptable only to American imperialists who wish to change the names of other peoples' plants for them.
Michael, I knew we'd hear your voice from the back benches. ;) Couldn't remember whether you were on the hedge or field side of the argument. Now, I searched google.uk and came up with 26,000 uk hits for "hedge maple". I searched the RHS and 35 nurseries are willing to sell me A. campestre under the moniker "hedge maple." So clearly at least some in Britain are using the term! I agree actually the "proper" name (as judged by the genus) is field maple, but parlance does change, and it's only a common name after all, so it may have wide regional variation which we should accept. I won't however let the British declare this their exclusive property, since while it is native to the British Isles it is also native in all of France. :) Where it is referred to by many, I should add, as "l'erable des haies." (and also frequently and more annoyingly as A. campestris.) Katalina, thanks for the post of the Exeter tree, great to see the steps being made to preserve it. You should be able to find lots of text on training as a standard, but the basic idea is to tie it up and successively cut off lower branches, so the leader strengthens. cheers, -E
Katalina, The tree looks so lovely spilling over the wall, why on earth would you want to train it UP? I would leave it as is and enjoy the wonderful effect!
OK, I think this thread has gone astray. Personally I took Michael's comment as at least partially tongue-in-cheek. (I was going to reply that the Dutch speak better English than the Americans anyway). Whether he intended it that way is besides the point, we keep the tone positive by assuming so, and that benefits both our hosts and our hobby. As an American ex-patriot I am painfully aware of how well rhetoric like K4's goes down around the world right now. Americans are better served by avoiding it, frankly. Whether we like it or not, K4, the rest of the world occasionally pushes back against an American cultural influence which has a tendency to subsume regional influences. (The French have a great word for this: Cocacolonization! :)) To my way of thinking disapproving of Starbucks in Rome or MacDonalds in Paris or the coloquialisation of American regional names in no way represents an attack on America or Americans. It is perfectly possible to interpret "malign influence of American power" in this sense without taking it personally or launching into tit-for-tat. With all respect to all forum members and maple enthusiasts, I suggest our amiable sponsors and moderators close this thread. -E
I thought the discussion surrounding standard common names had been settled in this thread (thanks to the member "Linnaeus"). As for the rhetoric surrounding countries: Respectful criticism -- when it comes to plants or plant-related topics -- is acceptable. Dragging in unrelated points of criticism isn't particularly desirable. These are international forums. Tolerance of others is key. I don't think conflation of a few words to a worldview of anti-Americanism is helpful -- but nor do I think that the language that provoked it is particularly wanted either.
Linnaeus speaks, indeed! My read is that this thread supports the view that there is nothing wrong with multiple vernacular. That's good, because it is a common sense approach that agrees with linguistic evolution. Thanks for the link Daniel, I hadn't seen as I don't follow that forum. -E
I just was reading in Vertrees' book where he suggested using Japanese Maples as a hedge. Now wouldn't that be incredible to have an entire hedge of 'Waterfall', or 'Koto no ito', or 'Beni hime' or 'Twombley's Red'?! Or perhaps a taller hedge of 'Shishigashira'?! Probably a tad more expensive than the A. Campestre, though...
My personal fantasy is an Acer hedgerow with a backbone of various evergreens and a multitude of Acer varieties of different sizes and heights scattered throughout. I'm sort of attempting something like that between my neighbor and myself. There isn't room for a true hedge row so I'm doing a smooshed version in a planting area about 170' with a minimum depth of 10 feet that swells to 15 and even 20 feet deep in places. It already has mature trees (only some are evergreen). So I'm removing duplicate and/or sick trees (not to mention 9 truck loads of English Ivy) in order to make room for the evergreens and then the maples will someday go in between and in front and to the side and... and... Someday I'll get to play around with Japanese Maple combinations like I saw on a thread. The pictures were so pretty I couldn't help but sigh.
I'm working on a similar arrangement, although I don't have the evergreens and I'm not screening neighbors. I do have a nice woodland border, so I'm thinning out the weedier stuff, limbing up the dense stuff, and putting in top soil all along the edge. Our soil here is pathetic! I guess I've got about 80 feet I'm working on right now, with an almost inexhaustible supply of additional feet whenever I feel the need! I would really like to have some evergreens as a background, but the hardwoods are so huge I don't they could compete. Here are a few pics. The first two show the border, which is just getting is share of top soil. The orange paint on the ground marks the proposed outline of the bed, which is about 12 feet wide. In the third picture, you can see another bed planted with maples. Rocks, dwarf conifers, ferns, perrennials, etc. will be added for a complete effect.
One of the most beatiful and spectacular "hedgerow" formed basically of mature JMs exclusively, that I saw (sadly just in pics, not in person); belongs to a former participant of this forum: I'm talking about NJACER. No so long ago he shared with us several pictures of his "backyard": Simply astounding and wonderful collection of Acers. If I'm not wrong, he wrote that his neighbors asked him to cut some of the evergreens in order to watch his JMs. It is looks more as an "Aceretum". That's my dream garden. Cheers NJACER! Nelson
Its been a couple of days, sorry. Kaitain, I best stay on topic about why I wanted the Acer to grow up not down. I will answer in the post I originally asked about it. Thanks Emory I am sure to find a tutorial on how to make a standard. Looks like its been busy in this thread.
I do not see a reason why one could not make a hedge out of strong palmatum seedlings. Or mix palmatum seedlings with campestres. I have one of those seedlings (now more than 18 years old) that I have to clip every year since it is invading a path; it responds well to that and now has formed a nice vertical wall. Gomero
Well, Ilearn everyday. k4, that Waterfall Acer is just awesome...whistles..I also saw a nice one that stays red all year but none in my country. What I have seen is the Box Maple or Boxelder and its perfect for heavy clay soil so would suit my garden to a 'T'. I keep imagining a 30 year old Waterfall though - breathtaking! They are all sold out K4 in any case. In England I came accross a site that keeps the trees in containers. I think thats how they are grown when you get them home. You maybe plant these trees along with the container from what I can gather. http://www.barcham.co.uk/about-us
Approximately 15 years ago I set out to build a maple hedge with Acer campestre. I ordered 50 plants bare rooted along with many other maples including Acer Griseum, triflorum, capillipes and ginnala. I potted these up in two gallon containers and placed them in an unheated greenhouse to get established. The next spring I set out to build my maple hedge and started before the trees leafed out. I mistakenly pulled Acer ginnala from the greenhouse instead of Acer campestre. When the trees started to leaf out I knew something was wrong. I went back to the greenhouse to pull campestre plants to replace the ginnala and found the field mice had found there way in and eaten most of the Acer campestre I had along with many other plants. I decided that I would try an Acer hedge built with Acer ginnala since they were already planted. After around ten years and many hours of attempted pruning I decided that Acer ginnala do not make for a good hedge. I ended up pulling out every tree except two and stopped trying to contain them. I learned a few valuable lessons and now tag each plant I receive and I now have outdoor cats to help eliminate the mouse problem. I have built an informal boarder hedge out of Acer palmatum cultivars. This garden is approximately 120 feet long and varies in dept from 4 to 12 feet and is in almost full sun. This started out as a mixed border of Japanese maple, dwarf conifers and perennials about 13 years ago. The dwarf conifers have been relocated and now the only perennials are hostas. The remaining plants are 22 maples planted about 12 to 20 feet apart. This bed started with 5 or 6 larger plants in the six-foot tall range and other small 1 to 2 gallon plants filling in. There were over 30 maples originally used in the bed and I continue move plants as the garden matures. The garden had an arborvite hedge on my neighbor’s property about 4 to 6 feet tall and 90 feet long along the west border. Three years ago the neighbors approached me to ask if I would mind if the removed the arborvite hedge so that they could enjoy the beauty of the maples. The view of the maples from their house is even better than from my side and it has provided better air circulation and more light from the west. The first photos are from 2005 to 2008. The hostas die back completely in winter and this makes for easy cleanup and a low maintenance design. This mulched bed now produces thousands of seedlings each year and is one of my favorite spots to observe in the spring. Nelson, Thanks for the compliments on the gardens. Ed
Ed, what's the trunk-to-trunk distance here? The plants don't look crowded, just very full. Fantastic, thanks again for the pics... -E
Emery, Most trees are spaces about 12 feet or 4 meters apart. One or two are about 20 feet apart and the dissectums are closer to the upright trees about 6 feet at one end of the garden. Many of my trees start as custom grafts or one gallon material. I often will plant these close to each other and then move them to new locations as they start to mature. Ed
