Privacy by Pleaching

A shady walk in a formal garden is created by parallel stilt-hedges. Courtesy of Anguskirk-Flickr

Gimme some green! Everyone around me seems to have had their fill of the greiges of winter, and I'm no exception! 

The gorgeous green in this post comes from pleached trees. Pleaching is the ancient art of weaving the branches of multiple trees or plants together so that they become one living unit.  Pleaching is generally done with trees that are 'inosculate', which means they are self-grafting: the branch of one tree will, as the result of gentle abrasion over time, form a living bond with the branch of another tree. "Pleaching" results when this grafting is initiated or aided by humans. 

A pleached hedge in a garden by Jinny Blom,creates a divide between two parts of a garden.

There are various forms that can be achieved by pleaching. The form shown here and my favorite is the stilt-hedge. Trees are planted fairly close together (about 4-6 feet apart) in a straight line. Each tree is trained to a single central stem or leader; the branches are trained horizontally along a continuous grid of canes or wires to connect with the branches of the neighboring trees to form a single hedge on "stilts".

This and next four photos: In a enviable Cotswold garden, Jinny Blom has used pleached hedges to enclose a large section of garden.

Pleached hedges have been used by farmers for the utilitarian purpose of creating wind blocks and were at one time used as a status symbol by European landowners to showcase the number of gardeners in their employment as very long and immaculate avenues of pleached trees required a considerable amount of time spent in training and pruning them.

Pleached hedges are making a comeback as modern gardeners recognize the usefulness of stilt-hedges in urban and suburban gardens to create privacy, primarily, but also to create wind and sound blocks, shade and habitats for wildlife within the confines of limited space.  In many suburban communities, there are restrictions limiting the height of fences and walls that can be erected, and some subdivisions (such as those on golf courses) disallow the erection of fences altogether. In my own neighborhood, fences must be kept to a 4-foot maximum leaving me very little ability (short of a stilt-hedge type solution) to hide my embarrassment from the neighbors that, yes, once again Chester (my Airedale) has  dug up the internet cable or mutilated yet another chair cushion. The sweet little devil..

There are a variety of trees suitable for pleaching. Among the most common: Lindens (commonly called Limes in Europe), Hornbeam, Beech, Apple and Pear. I have also seen beautiful examples of pleached Hawthorn and Carob trees.

Here you can see what a pleached hedge looks like before it has had its seasonal close clipping.

Beneath pleached hedges is prime space for other gorgeous plantings. In the photos above, where the sunlight will still reach plants below the pleached hedge, designer Jinny Blom has planted a mix of foxglove, peonies and other perennials. 

An undesirable view is blocked from this suburban backyard with a row of pleached trees. Beneath the hedge which is shaded due to the wall that backs it up, hostas and other shade-lovers are growing.

This pleached hedge shields the garden from the view and noise of a nearby street. 


The pleached hedge that surrounds this modern urban setting creates softness in an angular space. via Jill Anderson

This photo taken in early spring, gives a good view of the framework of mature pleached lindens before they have completely leafed out. 
Photo by Andrew Fulton via Thinking Outside the Boxwood of Arley Hall  


Another early Spring look at pleached hedges. via 


Pleached horbeam in winter. via 

While there are a number of good trees to choose from, my tree of choice would probably be the American Hornbeam (Carpinus Caroliniana) . It is hardy to USDA growing zone 3 (-40 F) through zone 9a. It is very patient with being pruned and bent and not susceptible to breakage. It is resistant to Japanese beetles, which can be a significant problem here in mid-summer and is tolerant of heat and most soil types including heavy clay. At my favorite local garden center, the nursery-woman tells me that while other trees are stressing from weather extremes, the Hornbeam doesn't miss a beat. And maybe one of its best features is that while it is a deciduous tree, it will hold some of its leaves through winter, shedding them the following spring, so that it remains a privacy screen year-round.

(USDA and UK growing zone maps HERE and HERE, respectively.)

Ready-pleached trees take out a lot of the work of creating a pleached hedge. These from Instahedge, UK.

If you would like to grow a pleached hedge of your own, there are a couple of ways to do it. If you live in the UK, some nurseries have ready-pleached trees available. The down-side is that they are reported to carry price tags of between 400 and 1,000 pounds, see Hopes Grove Nurseries, UK. In the United States, pleaching is still unfamiliar to many, and I have not yet found a nursery that offers ready-pleached trees for sale. (If you know of one, please do let me know.)

The other way is to start from scratch. The photo below shows an example of the type of framework needed for getting a pleached hedge started. Once the hedge has matured and is holding its own, the framework can be removed. 

Very young trees have been planted along a framework of wood posts and wires. The trunks have been cleared of any branches that are below the desired height of the hedge as well as cleared of any branches that cannot be directed into the horizontal framework. 

Photos De Coutances, Wiltshire, UK

This diagram shows the progression of training as the trees mature. 

With some tree varieties, (those that transplant easily and are very tolerant of training and pruning) as was the case with the hedge in this photo, semi-mature trees can be planted to achieve a dense hedge in a shorter period of time.

The Royal Horticultural Society website is a good place to visit if you need more details on the "what, when and how" of pleaching.

A very happy week to you all!

xo Keri

Photo Credits HERE unless stated otherwise.