On the edge of the town where I live, running between the Victorian park and the youth hostel and leading to a footbridge crossing the river, is an unassuming lane bordered by hedges.

It must be similar to lanes and hedges all over the county and, apart from appreciating the shelter it provides and noting that it might be quite old, I have never paid it much attention. You can tell the age of a hedge by counting the species of shrubs and trees in it, one for every hundred years or so unless it was planted by a conservation group within the last 20 years! In an idle moment while walking the dog last week, I began to count the number of plants flowering at the foot of this hedge. I was amazed to find there were at least 23 species, most of them common wildflowers like bluebells, wild strawberries and Welsh poppies, together with one or two garden escapes, like narcissus and cornflowers.

Nothing was particularly rare or unusual but the overall effect of so many flowering plants, together with the fresh green of the new leaves in the hedge itself, was quite lovely.

Back at home I looked more closely at the base of the hedge that borders my garden. On one side is the garden, plenty of variety there, but the other side, which borders a piece of grass mown by the council, is very boring.

True there were some daffodils in early spring, and I have transplanted a few clumps of snowdrops that will give colour early next year, but apart from these there are no hedgerow plants at all what a wasted opportunity.

I have resolved to plant up the base of my hedge to make it more interesting both for myself and passers-by. Since it is illegal to collect plants from the wild, any truly wild plants will have to be collected as seed and sown into the hedgerow, or purchased from a nursery specialising in wildflowers.

I can also produce a similar effect by using garden plants that like hedgerow conditions. Forget-me-nots are easily grown, as are sweet woodruff and Welsh poppies. I have beds full of wild strawberries at Brockhole and there are ferns and aquilegias elsewhere in the garden that I can transplant into the hedge. Violets, woodrushes, Silene, Lychnis, periwinkles and Alchemilla mollis are all plants that will thrive in the dry, shady conditions provided by the hedge, and for a splash of colour I could use climbing nasturtiums or morning glory.

May 29, 2003 11:00