British Native Mix

On Thursday in the LRC I helped Jo prune back some of the hedges along the back of the garden. I learnt that you can prune for two main reasons 1) to restrict growth and 2) to encourage growth – so that the bush will growth in a certain, more luscious, robust manner. You should cut the branch about half a centimeter above a sprouting leaf or branch and you should cut at an angle to enable the water to run off and not sit, stew and cause the branch to go bad.

The hedges we trimmed back consisted of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, DogRose, Field Maple and Hazel  – these plants are part of what is known as the ‘British Native Mix.’

As far as I am aware they are known as such because at one point many flowers, trees and hedges native to Britain were ripped out of many areas due to the introduction of larger machinery used in farming (please do comment or email me if you know more! It’s quite hard to find clear information). In recent years however there has been a bit of a comeback – now there are a ton of horticultural traders that sell British Native Hedges mixes, or Wildflowers and so on.

Dog Rose - Rosa Canina. The petals are pink (not orange as it seems to have come out here)

Hawthorn - Crataegus monogyna

Being autumn, none of the hedges were in bloom – so I’ve cheated a little bit and done a study of the Dog Rose from Google. This mix are commonly used in gardens or fields for their interesting array of flowers, berries and different leaf shapes. Just Google them yourself to see!