← All guides · Planting · Updated October 2026

Tapestry hedge planting in Wingham: matching the species mix to your soil.

A tapestry hedge mixes copper beech, hornbeam and field maple in the same row for colour through winter and into spring. On the Wingham round the species ratios that work best depend on whether your garden sits on chalk, Thanet Sand or valley ground, and that decision is worth making before you order plants.

The idea behind a tapestry hedge is simple: rather than planting a single species throughout, you alternate two or three species in a planned ratio so the hedge has colour and texture variation. In practice on the CT3 patch, the mix that works in a garden near Adisham on shallow chalk is not the same mix that works near Ash on Thanet Sand or near Wickhambreaux in the Little Stour frost pockets. Soil and microclimate change which species thrives and which underperforms enough that a generic "3 beech to 1 hornbeam" ratio can produce a patchy, uneven hedge within five years if the site is against you.

The chalk and Thanet Sand species guide covers the full soil split across the round. This article focuses specifically on the tapestry mix question: which combinations to plant village by village, the bare-root planting window, and the single annual cut that all three main tapestry species share.

What the three main tapestry species each bring

Most UK tapestry hedges use two or three of the following as the structural species, with the colour-accent species planted in a ratio of one in three or one in four:

• Green beech (Fagus sylvatica): the backbone of most formal hedges on the Wingham chalk. Retains its dried copper-brown leaves through winter if cut at the right time in late August (marcescence). Slow to establish but long-lived, dense and clean-edged once mature. Dislikes waterlogged ground.
• Copper beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Purpurea' or similar forms): the colour component in most beech tapestry mixes. The young leaves in spring are deep red-purple, fading to a dark bronze-green through summer and returning to a rich copper-brown in winter marcescence. Same care requirements as green beech; slightly more susceptible to late frosts on exposed spring shoots.
• Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus): the drought-tolerant and frost-hardy structural partner. Also marcescent, with buff-yellow retained leaves in winter. On the Wingham patch, hornbeam outperforms beech wherever the soil is heavier, the drainage less certain, or the exposure greater. It is a good counterpart to beech in a tapestry because both species share the August cut window and produce a similar formal-hedge appearance, but hornbeam holds up better through East Kent dry summers. See the hornbeam hedge guide for the full care detail.
• Field maple (Acer campestre): a deciduous native suited to a supporting role in tapestry mixes on Thanet Sand ground. Its spring colour (lime-green young leaves) and autumn colour (warm yellow-gold) make it a useful contrast species. It does not retain leaves over winter, unlike beech and hornbeam, so it creates a seasonal patchwork effect in a mixed hedge rather than a uniform winter screen. Grows faster than beech on well-drained sandy loam. See the field maple guide for soil-specific detail.

Chalk sites: Adisham, Bekesbourne and the higher ground south of Wingham

The ground running south and south-west of Wingham toward Adisham and Bekesbourne sits on shallow chalk over the North Downs. Free-draining, alkaline, and prone to drought stress in a dry July: this is the environment where beech is most at home and where a beech-dominant tapestry mix works best on the round.

A reliable ratio for chalk-side tapestry on this ground is 3 green beech, 2 copper beech and 2 hornbeam per 7 metres in a single row, at roughly 30 to 40cm spacing. The green beech provides the main structural mass. The copper beech plants, interspersed every third position, give the colour variation across the hedge face. The hornbeam fills in the sequence as a drought-insurance species: in a bad East Kent dry summer like those that hit the Adisham and Bekesbourne chalk hard in July and August, hornbeam holds its leaf and keeps growing where a pure beech hedge can look stressed and grey by mid-August. One in seven plants being hornbeam may seem a low proportion, but because hornbeam grows faster than beech in the early years it will hold its space in the hedge while the beech establishes.

Field maple as the colour element is not the right call on chalk near Adisham. Its growth rate on thin chalk is slower than on Thanet Sand, the autumn colour display is less intense, and it brings no winter leaf retention to balance against the beech marcescence. If you want a third colour accent on chalk, a small proportion of hazel (one in every eight or nine plants) adds catkin interest in February and quick early bulk, though hazel is more vigorous than beech and needs watching to prevent it outcompeting the slower-establishing beech in the first three years.

The late-summer dry spell is the key management risk on chalk-side tapestry hedges. In the first two establishment summers, water every ten days from late June through August; the chalk drains fast enough that once-a-week watering may not be enough in a dry year. The beech hedge guide has the detail on the August cut timing and the drought check before trimming.

Thanet Sand toward Ash and Staple

East of Wingham, the ground shifts to Thanet Sand as you move toward Ash and Staple. Freer-draining, slightly more acidic, lower pH than chalk: the soil holds moisture better than chalk in the upper profile but drains quickly below, and the species mix that performs best here is different from chalk ground in one important way: field maple is a genuine first-choice colour element on Thanet Sand, whereas on chalk it is an also-ran.

On Thanet Sand, field maple grows faster and produces a richer spring and autumn colour than on chalk, making it a useful tapestry accent species. A working ratio for Thanet Sand tapestry is 3 hornbeam, 2 field maple and 1 copper beech per 6 metres. Hornbeam dominates as the structural backbone because it handles the free-draining sandy loam well and produces good growth on a non-chalk soil. Field maple provides the colour variation and grows at roughly the same pace as hornbeam on this ground. Copper beech is kept to a lower proportion because a heavy clay deficit or a dry August on Thanet Sand can stress beech more than hornbeam, and because field maple is already doing the colour work.

The Ash and Staple area has fewer conservation-area complications than Wingham village, and the rural plots around Staple in particular tend to have wider boundary runs where the full species mix reads better. On a short boundary (under 10 metres), a simpler 50:50 hornbeam to field maple ratio with one copper beech at the centre is cleaner than trying to run the full three-species sequence in a short run.

The Little Stour valley: Wickhambreaux and Ickham

The Little Stour valley at Wickhambreaux and Ickham is one of the more demanding planting sites on the round. The combination of valley-floor frost pockets, higher soil moisture, and cold air drainage in winter creates conditions where copper beech carries a real risk: the tender spring shoots of copper beech, which emerge earlier and are more frost-sensitive than green beech, can be caught by a late March or April frost in a valley site in a way that a garden on the open A257 corridor would not experience.

Hornbeam is the correct dominant species here: it handles frost pockets, damp soils and valley exposure far better than beech. If you want the colour contrast of a tapestry hedge at Wickhambreaux or Ickham, the most reliable mix is hornbeam as seven in every ten plants, with field maple as the colour element. Field maple is more frost-tolerant than copper beech and produces the spring and autumn colour interest without the frost-damage risk. It also suits the heavier valley soils better than beech.

Copper beech is not impossible at Wickhambreaux: gardens with a sheltered, south-facing aspect or on slightly higher ground above the valley floor will escape most late frost events. But for a new planting on an open valley site or close to the Little Stour corridor, hornbeam and field maple together give a more reliably even hedge over a five-to-ten year establishment period. The conservation-area character at Wickhambreaux means any hedge that develops an uneven or patchy face from frost damage will be visible for a long time: getting the species right at planting is more important here than elsewhere on the round.

Wingham village and the conservation area

Wingham's historic core sits inside the Wingham Conservation Area, which creates a formal garden context similar in some respects to what you find at Goodnestone, where the estate garden tradition has long favoured formal beech screens. A tapestry of copper and green beech is well-suited to a boundary near a listed building or along the High Street: it reads as a formal hedge, not a mixed native one, and the copper-brown winter colour is warm rather than stark. On the chalk side of the village and on the well-drained ground around the village centre, a 2:1 green to copper beech ratio with hornbeam at every fourth position works well.

The planning consideration is the other way around: you are not planting against heritage, you are usually replacing something. If the boundary you are replanting already has established shrubs or trees with stems over 75mm at 1.5 metres, you must serve a Section 211 notice on Dover District Council with six weeks in hand before any clearance. Do not rush the clearance to meet a planting window. See the Section 211 notice guide for the full procedure, and the TPO check guide if there is any possibility that an individual tree on the boundary carries a preservation order.

Planting practicalities: the bare-root window

All three tapestry species are available as bare-root whips from UK nurseries between November and February. Bare-root plants are cheaper per metre than container-grown, establish faster (the root system is undisturbed by pot walls), and are the standard approach for hedge planting at volume. Order before the end of October to ensure availability: copper beech and hornbeam whips sell out at good UK nurseries by December in a busy year.

Spacing for a single-row tapestry mix: 3 to 4 plants per metre, or one plant every 25 to 35cm. Closer spacing fills the hedge faster but uses more plants; 30cm is a reasonable compromise that gives a dense hedge within three years. Do not plant a double staggered row for a standard garden boundary tapestry hedge: a single row is easier to train and the species mix is already visually busy enough. A double row is worth considering only on a long, exposed boundary where wind resistance matters more than visual variety.

Soil preparation before planting:

• On chalk near Adisham and Bekesbourne: fork the planting trench to break up any compaction layer, add organic matter (well-rotted manure or compost at a barrow per 3 metres) to improve water retention in the upper profile. Chalk drains so fast that bare roots will dry out quickly without organic amendment in the first establishment summer.
• On Thanet Sand toward Ash: similar organic amendment; the sandy loam holds more surface moisture than chalk but can still dry out fast below 30cm. Mulch the trench after planting to reduce surface evaporation.
• On valley ground at Wickhambreaux and Ickham: check drainage first. If the ground holds water for more than 48 hours after heavy rain, raised planting (mounding the planting line 10 to 15cm above the surrounding level) helps hornbeam and field maple establish without root-rot risk from standing water around young plants in winter.

First-year watering: every week in dry weather from May to September. East Kent's dry belt is not kind to newly planted bare-root stock in the first summer regardless of soil type. A mulch layer of 70 to 100mm (wood chips or straw) along the planting run reduces watering frequency considerably. The new hedge aftercare guide has the full two-year establishment plan with watering intervals by soil type.

Formative pruning and the annual cut

In the year after planting, do nothing to the tops: let the plants grow upward freely to build stem strength and root mass. If the whips were planted at 60 to 90cm height, the hedge will reach 1.2 to 1.5 metres by the end of the first growing season on good chalk or Thanet Sand ground.

The first formative cut comes in the second year, in late August: trim the sides lightly to begin establishing the A-profile (slightly wider at the base than the top, so the lower foliage receives enough light to stay dense), but leave the tops to grow on by another 20 to 30cm. Repeat this for two or three seasons until the hedge reaches the target height, at which point the standard late-August cut that applies to all beech and hornbeam hedges takes over. After that, it is a single cut per year, in late August, taking the hedge back to the previous year's outline on sides and top.

The A-profile matters more in a tapestry hedge than in a single-species one because the different species grow at slightly different rates, particularly in the early years. Hornbeam typically outpaces beech and field maple in years two and three, which means the hornbeam sections of the hedge will stand slightly taller before the first August cut. Trimming the sides to the A-profile on every section (not just the fast-growing ones) keeps the hedge face even and prevents any single species from dominating the outline.

Common questions

Can I plant a tapestry hedge on chalk near Adisham or Bekesbourne?

Yes. Both copper and green beech are well-suited to shallow, free-draining chalk soils. Beech dislikes heavy clay and waterlogged ground, but it handles thin chalky soils better than most people expect, provided drainage is free. A mix of 3 green beech to 2 copper beech to 2 hornbeam per 7 metres works reliably on chalk near Adisham and Bekesbourne: the hornbeam provides drought resilience through East Kent dry summers while the copper beech delivers the autumn and winter colour. Avoid using field maple as the main colour component on chalk sites; it performs better on Thanet Sand toward Ash.

When is the best time to plant a tapestry hedge in CT3?

November to February for bare-root stock, which is what most UK nurseries supply for beech, hornbeam and field maple. Bare-root plants establish faster and cost less than container-grown equivalents. The East Kent dry belt means a November-planted hedge has the most time to root before the July drought risk arrives. On chalk near Adisham, getting the hedge in by late November gives five months of root growth before the soil dries out. If you miss the bare-root window, container-grown plants are available from March, but the watering commitment through the first summer is higher.

Does planting a tapestry hedge in the Wingham Conservation Area need permission?

Planting a new hedge does not in itself require permission. But if your site already has an established hedge or trees that need clearing first, and any stems are over 75mm diameter at 1.5 metres in height, you must give six weeks written notice to Dover District Council under Section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The Wingham Conservation Area covers the historic core of the village, including the High Street and streets off it. See the Section 211 notice guide for the full procedure before doing any clearing work.

Why does field maple work better on Thanet Sand than on chalk for tapestry hedges?

Field maple is a native of chalk downland in south-east England and can grow on chalk, but its ornamental value in a tapestry hedge comes from its spring lime-green leaf and autumn gold colour. On the freer-draining Thanet Sand east toward Ash and Staple, field maple grows faster and produces a larger leaf flush than on thin chalk, giving a stronger colour contrast against the hornbeam. On chalk near Adisham, the shallower rooting zone and lower summer moisture limit growth enough that the seasonal colour is less pronounced: hornbeam paired with copper beech is more reliable on chalk sites.

Do I cut a tapestry hedge on a different schedule to a single-species beech or hornbeam hedge?

No. The timing is the same: a single cut in late August. All three main tapestry species share this window. Beech retains its leaves over winter if cut at the right time in August, which is the reason the August cut matters: cut earlier in summer and the hedge puts on a new flush of growth that drops in autumn rather than hanging as winter colour. Hornbeam does the same, with retained leaves turning buff rather than copper-brown. Field maple is fully deciduous and does not retain leaves, but it responds well to the August trim and produces a clean new flush in spring. Keep the A-profile shape (slightly wider at the base than the top) across all species.

Sources: RHS guidance on Fagus sylvatica and Carpinus betulus hedging (rhs.org.uk); BGS Geology of Britain viewer, chalk and Thanet Sand, CT3 (bgs.ac.uk); Buckingham Nurseries tapestry hedging planting guide (hedging.co.uk); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 s.1 (nesting-season offence, 1 March to 31 August); "Planting a 49ft Screening Hedge: Bare-Root Beech Tapestry Hedge" (YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=zp7VmIsuWu0, UK bare-root hedging demonstration).