From the Chapel Garden to the Roman Rotunda we are planting an avenue of Lime trees (Tilia europaea).
They have a lovely leaf (above), and adapt well to pleaching (below). They form a lovely walk way of shade in summer months:
Above: A side view of the pleached lime walk at Sandringham.
Below: Another example of pleaching.
Pleached hedges also allow for layering with hedges behind or on either side
(as above and below).
They also provide for a dramatic vista to the rotunda at the far end, which will be in a glade surrounded by Copper Beeches (Fagus sylvatica purpurea):
Above: An avenue of Copper Beeches in Autumn.
Below: The Copper Beech in our back yard.
And while we're on the subject of Beeches, our architect Chris and his lovely wife Robyn gave us two weeping Beech trees for the park. They grow to a huge size and make great specimen trees (see below). Now where to put them...
We tried to use Tilia Cordata Greenspire for our pleached walks but they just refused to grow! We changed to Manchurian and Snow Pears which have done wonderfully well. The garden in the first image is near us in the Southern Highlands and is every bit as beautiful as it is in the photos - it was our inspiration to use Peter Fudge to re-design our fledgling garden. Leigh
ReplyDeleteWow, with your beautiful garden and the others in your area it must be an amazing place over summer. All we hear about in NZ are the droughts and forest fires that savage Australia every Summer. You are also lucky to have great garden designers such as Peter Fudge, Paul Bangay (and yourself). It seems that Australians are quite adept at using European exotics and plantings. In NZ there is a big movenment of people who dislike exotics, and push for the use of NZ Natives in every garden (with which the European aesthetic is impossible to achieve). Dx
ReplyDeleteI adore a pleached walk David, I'm sure yours will look magnificent! Son #5 the Landscaper created a fab line of bleached bay trees for a client a couple of years ago & its looking a treat these days. However, its only a small specimen compared to what you want to achieve. Might be something to consider in your Kitchen garden.
ReplyDeleteMillie ^_^
Oops, pleached bay trees NOT bleached bay trees! It's your hair that sees the bleach Sillie Millie!
ReplyDeleteM ^_^