Fagus sylvatica (Green Beech)
Price range: €1.20 through €9.00 inc VAT
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AVAILABLE OCTOBER TO APRIL
Latin Name: Fagus sylvatica
Common Name: Green Beech
Origin: Europe, western and eastern Asia and eastern North America.
Hardiness: Hardy down to around -15 degrees.
Growth: 30-60cm (1-2 foot) per year
Sun: Full sun or partial shade
AVAILABLE OCTOBER TO APRIL
Latin Name: Fagus sylvatica
Common Name: Green Beech
Origin: Europe, western and eastern Asia and eastern North America.
Hardiness: Hardy down to around -15 degrees.
Growth: 30-60cm (1-2 foot) per year
Sun: Full sun or partial shade
Exposure/Position: Beech do not like very wet soils and are not really suitable for coastal hedges as they dislike the salt spray in the wind. They also aren’t suitable for very dry or hot locations.
Soil: Moist but well drained soils. If your soil is very sandy and often dries out in the Summer, you may wish to add compost or manure to the hole or trench when planting to help retain moisture.
Moisture: Medium. Once it is established, this plant is likely to only require watering during drier periods.
Habit: Native to the UK, Beech hedge plants are renowned for their attractive, dense foliage that turns to a gorgeous coppery colour during autumn and winter months. Beech is a versatile hedging plant; it can be maintained at any size from around as small as 60cm up to many metres high, depending on your requirements.
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen. Leaves are retained throughout the Winter and turn an interesting copper colour, classing beech hedges as semi evergreen for providing some cover during the Winter months.
Maintenance: Low. Beech hedges are easy to maintain. Can be pruned with hedge trimmers and generally only require one prune per year.
Feed: Regularly once a fortnight with a balanced fertilizer between May to October
Detailed Information
AVAILABLE OCTOBER TO APRIL
Latin Name: Fagus sylvatica
Common Name: Green Beech
Origin: Europe, western and eastern Asia and eastern North America.
Hardiness: Hardy down to around -15 degrees.
Growth: 30-60cm (1-2 foot) per year
Sun: Full sun or partial shade
Exposure/Position: Beech do not like very wet soils and are not really suitable for coastal hedges as they dislike the salt spray in the wind. They also aren’t suitable for very dry or hot locations.
Soil: Moist but well drained soils. If your soil is very sandy and often dries out in the Summer, you may wish to add compost or manure to the hole or trench when planting to help retain moisture.
Moisture: Medium. Once it is established, this plant is likely to only require watering during drier periods.
Habit: Native to the UK, Beech hedge plants are renowned for their attractive, dense foliage that turns to a gorgeous coppery colour during autumn and winter months. Beech is a versatile hedging plant; it can be maintained at any size from around as small as 60cm up to many metres high, depending on your requirements.
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen. Leaves are retained throughout the Winter and turn an interesting copper colour, classing beech hedges as semi evergreen for providing some cover during the Winter months.
Maintenance: Low. Beech hedges are easy to maintain. Can be pruned with hedge trimmers and generally only require one prune per year.
Feed: Regularly once a fortnight with a balanced fertilizer between May to October
How many plants do I need?
40-60cm: 5 plants per metre
60-80cm: 5 plants per metre
80-100cm: 5 plants per metre
100-125cm: 4 plants per metre
125-150cm: 3 plants per metre
150-175cm: 3 plants per metre
Planting
Bare Root Green Beech hedge plants are the most economical way to buy a new hedge. As they are grown in the fields, we don’t need pots or compost and require very little fertiliser or water. Bare root Green beech hedge plants are a seasonal product that we lift from the fields when they are dormant in winter (November-April) and sent out to you fresh and ready for planting. They should be planted within a few days.
Beech hedge plants are suitable for all soil types from sand, chalk, peaty, stony or even clay – if it does not become waterlogged during very wet weather.
On heavy clay soils it may be necessary to improve the drainage if your mind is set on a Beech hedge, this can be achieved by digging in some sharp sand, installing perforated land drain pipe or by preparing a small mound of good soil along the line of the hedge, almost like a raised bed but for a hedge.
If all that sounds like to much work you may like to consider a different species from our Plants For Wet Sites page, the most similar hedging plant is Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) which has similar foliage to Green Beech and also retains some of its brown leaves in the winter, but is better suited to wet soil.
Aftercare
The best time for trimming Beech hedges is in late summer, ideally in August. By trimming at this time of year the hedge will respond by retaining its leaves through the Winter giving the effective year-round screen that is often sought from this species.
For a really sharp ‘show garden’ hedge you can trim more frequently and you will be rewarded with a very fine looking dense hedge but it important to check for nesting birds before trimming between the end of March and the end of July.
When trimming a Beech (or any other hedge) we would always recommend tapering the sides a little so that the base of the hedge is slightly wider than the top. This way daylight will always reach the lower parts of the hedge keeping the growth dense and bushy all the way up and avoiding unsightly gaps at the base.
