Q I want to plant a beech hedge along my fence for extra privacy, but there is a drain cover halfway down the fence so I can’t plant there. I wondered about fixing up a trellis to cover the gap. Have you any suggestions about what to plant on it?
D. Rainer, Birmingham.
A Why not just persuade the hedging plants on either side of the gap to meet in the middle? As the trees develop you will need to treat them like espaliers, running canes across the gap between them, say at 12in intervals from the ground up, and tying in the side branches rigorously until they meet. Laurel would work, and hornbeam or thorn. Perhaps you could erect a wide tripod over the drain cover and grow a clematis or a climbing rose. Don’t use anything too dense.
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