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Pleached hedges for Wingham gardens: species, framework and the two-cut year.

A pleached screen provides privacy and formal structure without the width or weight of a full hedge, but the species choice and annual pruning programme depend considerably on which ground you are working with in this part of East Kent.

A pleached hedge, also called a hedge on stilts, is one of the older techniques in formal garden design. The trees are grown with a clear trunk of 1.5 to 2 metres and then trained into a flat panel above that height, with lateral growth tied onto a post-and-wire framework and clipped twice a year to hold the flat plane. The result is a narrow, elevated screen that lets light through below and provides privacy and structure above. It does the job of a tall boundary hedge in a fraction of the ground-level width, which is why the technique keeps appearing on properties where a conventional hedge would push into a path, a neighbour's boundary or a tight side access.

The technique has a long history in formal Kent gardens. The pleached walks at Goodnestone Park, near the village of Goodnestone just four miles south-east of Wingham along the A257, demonstrate what a well-maintained screen adds to a formal setting: the clear stems create rhythm and frame the view without blocking it. On domestic plots in the Wingham area, the more common application is a boundary screen on one side of a garden that faces a road or a neighbour, where the clear trunk leaves the pavement free and the panel above provides the privacy. On a few of the larger properties I visit between Bekesbourne and Ash, the technique appears as a dividing screen between the kitchen garden area and the lawn, which is essentially the same use as its historic estate-garden application.

Choosing the right species: how the ground changes the decision across the Wingham round

The choice between hornbeam and lime comes up on almost every pleaching enquiry I get in CT3. The short answer for most of this patch is hornbeam, but the reason varies by soil and position, and on the sandier ground east of Wingham the case is less clear-cut.

Chalk-side gardens: Adisham, Bekesbourne and the higher ground toward Nonington

West of Wingham along the A257 toward Littlebourne and Bekesbourne, and on the higher chalk-over-flint ground toward Adisham and Nonington, the soils are shallow and moisture retention is low through the East Kent summer. Lime (Tilia) can struggle in these conditions. In a dry July, which is not unusual in the Little Stour valley, lime on thin chalk soil drops leaves under drought stress and the panel looks thin and patchy through the second half of summer. In a bad year the tree loses enough vigour to put in poor lateral growth the following season, and a pleached screen that is not filling its panel evenly is far more conspicuous than a dense, regularly clipped one.

Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) handles chalk-side conditions considerably better. It tolerates shallow soils with lower moisture retention, and its growth rate, while steady rather than fast, is consistent through the season rather than faltering in a dry spell. The practical consequence is a panel that stays well-furnished with foliage through the summer rather than looking thin in August. There is also the winter consideration: hornbeam, like beech, holds its dried leaves after they turn copper-brown in autumn, typically well into February or March. A pleached hornbeam panel in winter is a warm copper-russet sheet rather than bare structure, which is a genuine advantage on a boundary that faces the house or a road.

On a property off the lane between Adisham and Nonington I treated a few years ago, the existing pleached lime in a drier west-facing corner had been struggling for three seasons and the owner had already lost one tree to drought stress. Replacing the failing limes with hornbeam in that section made the panel's presentation consistent for the first time and the owner stopped losing plants. The limes in the shadier, moister north-facing run alongside the old brick wall continued fine, which illustrates that the choice is site-specific rather than an absolute rule even within one garden.

Wickhambreaux and the Little Stour villages: north of the A257

Gardens in Wickhambreaux, Ickham and the lower ground running toward Elmstone are on somewhat moister ground than the chalk-side parishes to the south of the A257. Hornbeam remains the more reliable choice here for a pleached screen on a formal boundary, but the moister conditions mean lime performs better than it would at Adisham. The more important local factor on these plots is the relationship between a pleached screen and any neighbouring hedgerow that functions as a wildlife corridor along the Little Stour. A pleached screen installed parallel to and close against an existing native mixed hedgerow will compete with the hedgerow for light and moisture in the first few growing seasons. If the hedgerow contains hawthorn, blackthorn or hazel, allow at least 1.5 metres of gap between the pleached framework posts and the hedgerow edge to avoid shading and root competition. The hedgerow regulations apply to established native mixed hedges on these boundaries: see the hedgerow regulations guide before any work near an existing mixed boundary.

Ash and Staple: Thanet Sand growth rates and the adjusted pruning programme

East of Wingham toward Ash and Staple, the ground shifts from chalk to Thanet Sand: freer-draining, warmer in spring, and noticeably more productive through the growing season for most deciduous species. On Thanet Sand ground, both hornbeam and lime grow at roughly 30 to 50 percent more vigour than equivalent trees on chalk west of Wingham. A pleached hornbeam panel that needs one summer shaping cut per year on chalk-side ground near Adisham may need two summer interventions east of Ash, as lateral growth extends considerably further into the June to August flush. If the panel is left from the July cut to the December structural cut on Thanet Sand ground, the amount of growth extending out of the flat plane by December is often more than a single pass can remove cleanly. A light second pass in late September, removing the most vigorous shoots without disturbing the tied framework, keeps the panel presentable through autumn and reduces the volume for the winter structural cut.

Building the post-and-wire framework

The framework is what makes a pleached hedge work as a maintained structure rather than a collection of trees growing loosely together. It does not need to be elaborate, but it does need to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the trained panels through wind and wet winters.

Timber posts at 2-metre intervals, set to a depth of at least 600mm and concreted in at the base, provide the uprights. Use pressure-treated softwood or hardwood posts, 75mm by 75mm section, cut to a height that allows at least 300mm above the intended top of the panel. Galvanised wire, 3.5mm gauge, runs horizontally between the posts from the clear-stem height upward at 30cm intervals. This is the ladder on which you tie the laterals in the early training years. For a screen of six or more trees, add a diagonal brace wire at each end to resist racking in the direction of the fence line. The framework should be in place and the ground settled before planting, particularly on sandy ground toward Ash where the free-draining soil allows posts to shift slightly if the concrete is not well-mixed.

Bare-root feathered hornbeam is the most economical way to plant from November to March. Pot-grown stock is available year-round at a premium. For a 2-metre clear stem, buy trees of 2.5 to 3 metres overall height: the stem above the clear section gives you the first two to three horizontal tiers of lateral growth ready to tie in immediately. Plant one tree per post, centred on the post, and tie the main stem to the post with a rubber tree tie at three points. Do not overtighten: the stem needs room to thicken. Water in thoroughly and mulch around the base with a 50mm layer of composted bark, keeping the mulch away from the stem itself. On the chalk-side ground near Adisham, watering through the first two summers is not optional: hornbeam tolerates chalk well once established, but in the first two growing seasons on shallow soil the tree needs consistent moisture to put on enough root development to see it through a dry summer.

Training in years one to three

In the first growing season, the objective is to get the lateral shoots on each tree tied into the framework wires rather than growing forward or backward out of the plane. As each lateral grows, guide it gently along the nearest horizontal wire and tie it loosely with soft garden twine or a rubber tie. Do not force a stem that is growing at an angle: allow it to grow a further 30cm then redirect gradually with additional ties rather than bending sharply at one point, which splits the bark and creates a weak point. Laterals that are growing in the wrong direction, outward from the flat plane rather than along it, can be removed cleanly at the base in the early stages when they are still soft growth; once a stem has woodied up, removal leaves a wound that takes longer to cover.

The vertical leader on each tree should be allowed to continue growing upward through the first two years to reach the intended panel height before being headed back to the top wire. Heading back too early produces a tree that fills the lower tiers quickly but struggles to reach the intended height. On chalk-side ground near Bekesbourne, where growth is slower, allow an extra year before heading the leader compared with the equivalent tree on Thanet Sand ground east of Ash.

By the end of year three on a healthy hornbeam in good conditions, the flat panel should be visible as a distinct form, with the lateral tiers beginning to knit together. At this point the tree is transitioning from training to maintenance, and the two-cut annual regime takes over.

The two-cut annual programme

A mature pleached screen needs two cuts per year to hold the flat plane and keep the panel well-furnished without becoming too thick or overly dominant in the garden.

Summer shaping cut: June to July

The summer cut removes growth that has extended beyond the intended flat plane of the panel during the spring and early summer flush. On hornbeam and lime, this is predominantly the long extension shoots that push forward and backward out of the plane as well as upward and downward beyond the panel outline. Use bypass loppers or long-reach bypass secateurs rather than a hedge trimmer for this cut: the aim is to remove individual stems that break the plane, not to shear the whole surface, and a trimmer produces a flat shorn face on a structure that should look more natural and three-dimensional at close range. Remove the forward-growing shoots flush with the flat face and the backward-growing shoots similarly, then cut the vertical leaders back to the top wire if they have extended upward since the winter cut.

Check for active nests before starting, as described in the nesting-season callout above. If a nest is found in the canopy, mark that tree and skip it. Return to complete it after the nesting season ends in late August, before the September growth check if you are on sandy ground east of Ash.

Winter structural cut: December to February

The winter cut is the more thorough of the two. With the leaves off hornbeam (or reduced on lime after a normal autumn), the structure of the framework is fully visible and you can see which ties need refreshing, which crossing or rubbing stems should come out, and where the panel has developed uneven density that needs redistributing. Remove any stems that are crossing through the plane from the rear to the front or vice versa, as these will eventually push the panel out of flat. Re-tie any loose ties. Cut back any stems that extended significantly beyond the panel outline in the second half of the growing season and were missed in the July cut. On established screens of five years or more, check the ties on the main structural stems at the top of the clear trunk: these need renewing every two to three years as the trunk thickens.

Safety note on the winter structural cut: the overhead reaching involved in working on the upper tiers of a pleached screen is exactly the overreach situation that causes the most injuries on ladder work. A 2.5-metre panel top is at the upper limit of comfortable reaching from the ground without a ladder. If a ladder is needed, have a second person footing it, do not overreach to avoid repositioning, and use a long-reach bypass lopper rather than secateurs for the upper work: the lopper gives you 60 to 90cm of reach at no additional risk compared with secateurs held at full arm extension from a ladder rung.

Conservation area and Section 211 in the Wingham village context

Within the Wingham Conservation Area, the Section 211 obligation applies to any stem over 75mm diameter at 1.5 metres before work begins, with a six-week notice period to Dover District Council. For a pleached screen, the relevant measurements are at the top of the clear trunk where the stem transitions from the trained trunk to the main lateral framework. On a hornbeam planted as a 2.5-metre feathered tree five to eight years ago, this junction stem can be approaching or exceeding 75mm in a well-grown specimen. Before any structural cut that removes material from this area of the tree, measure the stem with a tape and, if it is over 75mm, file the Section 211 notice before starting. The six-week wait applies to the specific stem being worked, not to the whole tree or the whole screen: if the lower tiers of lateral growth and the light summer trim do not involve stems over 75mm at 1.5m, those elements of the cut can proceed while the notice period runs for the structural stem. See the Section 211 guide for the full process and what to include in the notice. The TPO check guide covers the separate question of whether a Tree Preservation Order applies to any of the trees in the screen.

Video credit: Martin Fish, “How to Create a Hedge on Stilts! (Pleached Hedge)”, Pots & Trowels, YouTube. Martin Fish is a UK gardening presenter and writer, former BBC East Midlands Today gardening contributor, and RHS judge with over 40 years of practical gardening experience.

Common questions

What is a pleached hedge and how is it different from a normal hedge?

A pleached hedge, also called a hedge on stilts, is a formal trained screen where trees are grown with a clear trunk of 1.5 to 2 metres, then trained laterally into a flat panel above that point. The clear stem space below stays open, which makes it useful on boundaries where you want privacy at eye level and above without losing light at ground level or encroaching on a path or neighbour's space. Hornbeam and lime are the most common species used in UK formal gardens; hornbeam is the better choice on the chalk-side ground around Wingham.

When can I legally trim my pleached hedge in Wingham?

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Section 1 makes it an offence to damage or destroy an active wild bird's nest. The nesting season runs 1 March to 31 August. The annual pruning programme for a pleached hedge fits naturally around this: the structural winter cut runs December through February, which is firmly outside the nesting window, and the summer shaping cut in June to July falls within the season but typically only removes soft new growth extending beyond the flat panel. Any in-season cut must be preceded by a visual check confirming no active nests in the canopy.

Does a pleached hedge in Wingham village need a Section 211 notice?

If the pleached trees sit within the Wingham Conservation Area boundary, any stem over 75mm in diameter at 1.5 metres requires a Section 211 notice filed with Dover District Council before work begins, with a six-week waiting period. For a well-maintained pleached screen, the main risk is the structural stems at the top of the clear trunk, which can reach 75mm or more on a mature tree of eight to ten years. Measure the trunk diameter at 1.5m before any structural cut or removal. See the dedicated Section 211 guide on this site for the full filing process.

Hornbeam or lime: which is better for a pleached hedge near Adisham or Bekesbourne?

Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) is the better choice on the shallow chalk ground west of Wingham toward Adisham and Bekesbourne. Lime (Tilia) can suffer in the dry East Kent summers on thin chalk soils, dropping leaves under drought stress and looking thin in the panel. Hornbeam on chalk holds its structure better through a dry July and retains its dried leaves through winter, which gives the panel a copper presence rather than bare framework from October to April. On the Thanet Sand ground east toward Ash, both species perform well and lime is a reasonable option if the more formal silver-trunk look is preferred.

Sources: Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 s.1; Town and Country Planning Act 1990 s.211; RHS, Pleached Trees: training and maintenance; Darlac Ltd, How to Prune a Pleached Hedge with Pots & Trowels; Hopes Grove Nurseries, Hornbeam Hedge Maintenance Tips; Cranfield Soilscapes chalk and Thanet Sand soil series notes; Met Office South East England regional climate summaries.