Growing Nicely

gardening, sustainability, growing food, plants and flowers.

  • Home
  • About
  • Garden Writing
  • Garden Services
    • A Garden Consultation to Reveal the Beauty of your Garden.
  • The Blog
    • Sustainable Gardening
    • Growing Food
    • Gardening & Plants
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Visits
  • Contact Me

Just what is a root-balled plant?

December 20, 2010 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Happy Christmas!

A lot of my time is spent in the office, so it was nice to get out and on site and organise hedge planting this week.

We’ve had lots of snow recently and planting shouldn’t be done if the ground or soil around the plants is frozen, but fortunately the snow and freezing conditions have held off allowing us to plant a 60 metre long Yew hedge. It’s part of the landscaping of a 17 acre site at a school in London.

These root-balled trees are only available when they’re dormant from October to March and are best planted in early winter. This allows them time to settle in and extend their root systems ready for the next growing season.

One of the big advantages is that they’re less expensive than shrubs in containers, so the clients get good value.

Whilst we look for good quality foliage, the roots are also an important part of the plant. To give the plant some extra help we’ve incorporated a product called rootgrow containing microrhyzal funghi, into the soil around the roots [to be completely effective the fungi must be in contact with the roots at planting time]. 

These clever little fungi form a symbiotic relationship with the plant, obtaining sugars from it and in return extending the root area of the plant. This extended root system will as a greater capacity to absorb nutrients and moisture from the surrounding soil, so the plants will cope better in dry weather.

Structural planting The hedge is already 1.8 metres tall, and as it grows it will be clipped to form a smart hedge with crisp formal lines, screening the playing field from the car-park beyond.
Hedges are an important element of the structural planting in any garden:
    they form boundaries,
    compartmentalise different areas of a garden,
    screen ugly views
    are used by nesting birds
    provide a framework that’s visible in winter when many of the leaves and flowers of decorative plants are no longer there.
This is a large site, but they can be used just as effectivly in a garden of any size.

I hope that this gives you some ideas for your garden.

Jill

images: Jill Anderson.

Related posts:

Top 10 uses for plants in your garden Default ThumbnailCase Study ~ a Concept Plan for a front garden The Chelsea Flower Show 2013 – ideas to take away A garden visit & 3 useful tips to take away.

Related posts:

Top 10 uses for plants in your garden Default ThumbnailCase Study ~ a Concept Plan for a front garden The Chelsea Flower Show 2013 – ideas to take away A garden visit & 3 useful tips to take away.
Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design Tagged With: hedges, root-ball, structural planting, Yew

Never Miss A Post

Subscribe for updates to be delivered straight to your inbox.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

plants-gardens-growing-eating

Jill-profile image

Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
-
One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
Follow on Instagram

Don't miss any posts!

Enter your email address and receive notifications of new posts.

Archive

Copyright © 2021 Growing Nicely | Privacy Policy

Please note this website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent for cookies to be used. For further information on use of cookies please refer to our privacy policy Find out more.