Liz Luisada
IG: liz_luisada
I am submitting to you a plan for an 18’ x 6’ multifunctional wind break hedgerow.
Styled in the tradition of European hedgerows in England and France a hedgerows serves many functions:
- as a windbreak to help create a microclimate in the yard and garden and reduce heat loss to the house in the winter, saving energy and protecting plants.
- as a habit for wildlife, a place for birds to nest, pollinators to build homes and a protected space for amphibians and other small creatures. The hedgerow is a refuge from the “green desert” of modern lawn culture for animals.
- as a privacy screen
- as a boundary delineation
- as a place where perennial foods and herbs are grown for sustenance and medicine. Look up “hedgerow magic” for more information on this stories tradition.
This hedgerow is designed for a USDA zone 5b landscape. The site specific design is for a location next to a compost area, about 18 yards from a house facing west, on a windy high ridge, and in partial shade due to pre-existing deciduous trees. Although this design is site specific it could be copied and recreated throughout the northeast and Midwest.
Great effort has been made to incorporate a high percentage of native plants. Some native plant purists may consider plants from native to the Midwest not appropriate for the northeast but I am not a native plant purist and my focus is on creating a beautiful, functioning ecosystem that works for all creatures from humans to microorganisms. I do not see a conflict with helping plants migrate, as long as it is done with consciousness and understanding of whole system functioning. I have also incorporated some non-problematic non-natives for their superior functionality.
This hedge is also designed to be beautiful because we all need beauty in our lives.
A traditional European hedge row would consist of:
60% thorny plants that take well to coppicing - hawthorn and buckthorn- birds love to nest in thorns and it discourages deer and intruders.
10-20% edible/medicinal plants: hazelnuts, roses, elder, crab apples, damsons, wild apples and pears
10-30% windbreak evergreens, traditionally yew.
This hedge for North America consists of:
Paw paw: native, shade tolerant, habitat, edible fruit
Service berry: edible, native habitat
Rhododendron: evergreen, wind reduction, habitat, beauty
Raspberry: edible, prickle defense/ protection
Blackberry: edible, prickle defense/ protection
Comfrey: compost enhancer, living mulch, fertilizer
ArborVitae: native, windbreak, aesthetic, habitat
Chive: edible, beautiful, pest resistant
Narcissus mix: beautiful
Rose: Beautiful, medicinal, prickle/ defense protection, pollinator friendly, semi-native.
Although this particular hedgerow design is designed for zone 5b and partial shade, the same design could be tweaked throughout the northeast and midwest. Adjustments could be made for sun and soil conditions, for example substituting Apple trees for Paw Paw in a sunnier location or using a different arborvitae cultivar for full sun. It’s a plan to be riffed on suiting location and taste.
With loss of native wildlife and insects, the need for the reintroduction of hedgerow technology has never been greater. Think of the vast monoculture farms in the Midwest and the need for habitat for birds and insects. Hedgerows also provide a space for the sequestration of carbon both through the photosynthesis of the plants themselves, and also by providing an area where carbon is not being released from the soil through tillage.
On a large scale hedgerows provide an invaluable resource to humans and wildlife.