Bee hedge!

[beeboybee]

hi all any recommendations for bee friendly plants/bushes' that i could plant to keep prying eyes away from the be hives? obviously evergreen and fast growing. thinking of a few holly bushes mixed in,.... all those thorns should help!

 

[Hivemaker.]

leylandii

 

[beeboybee]

thanks hivemaker, they are probably the fastest but thinking of something a bit more native to us! do you know what type of willow bee's go for?

thanks

 

[Hivemaker.]

Don't you have Leylandii in liverpool?

 

[beeboybee]

ha i asked for that one! just wanted to make the hedge as natural to the british isle's as possible and laylandi are rather invasive tree without serious trimming.

 

[oliver90owner]

obviously evergreen and fast growing..... native

I would think that limits your choice somewhat in the UK!

Don't think holly bushes have thorns? And it may well be stripped of foliage just before Christmas....

Willow is not quite in the evergreen class?

Also, seriously, adding so many constraints probably makes the task impossible. Moving the hives behind a wall might be easier.

Regards, RAB

 

[tidymeup]

a dry stone wall would be ideal, i know advertising is banned but have a look at http://www.kerridgestone.co.uk

 

[Teebeeaitch]

One of my hives is in the front garden and only feet from the public footpath. It is screened by a mixed hedge of Pyracantha and Escallonia. Both are quick growing, evergreen, attract bees and birds, and the pyracantha is great for the kids. (by which I mean it spikes them better than Vlad The Impaler) Easily pruned and kept to around 2 metres high, it keeps the bees above head level on the footpath. No complaints yet!

 

[shonabee]

I love the "plant selector" on teh RHS web-site; it's great for stuff like this. You choose what you want fom drop down menus (e.g evergreen, soil type, sun or shade, wildlife freindly, etc etc) and it comes up with a list of options, lots of which you mightn't have considered before.

 

[victor meldrew]

One of my hives is in the front garden and only feet from the public footpath. It is screened by a mixed hedge of Pyracantha and Escallonia. Both are quick growing, evergreen, attract bees and birds, and the pyracantha is great for the kids. (by which I mean it spikes them better than Vlad The Impaler) Easily pruned and kept to around 2 metres high, it keeps the bees above head level on the footpath. No complaints yet!

I agree, pyracantha(fire thorn) is a winner, quick growing, flowering ,can be trimmed into a formal hedge or less formal hedge. it is self supporting or can be grown against a wall (even facing east) and of course is evergreen

John Wilkinson .

 

[SJH]

Box (Boxus semperverins) is great for hedging (the topiary one). Also in the spring if you don't prune it then it is covered in tiny white flowers for a few weeks that Honey Bees and Bumble Bees love.

 

[hedgerow pete]

try thinking over several seasons rather than one lump of a hedge,

try these ideas plant a single row of hazel whips or willow, these are the quickest you can evan use beech or rowan or birch the idea is to start the hedge off then whilst they are growing and helping with the hedge we can plant hundreds of over plants, but rather than a single mono block of say 500 box plants lets mix it up, why not ask everyone on the forum to supply one cutting from what ever they have i would rather you pay postage but you can always promise to stick the postage money into the local church poor box instead, i would have cotton ester for a start the bees love em and as the hedge gets establised you can either cut the willow and birch out all together,

so to start it off, i offer some lavender cuttings and some cotton ester cuttings and some willow, all will be fresh cutting taken the day of postage and then wraped up in a plastic bag