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Above Fence Screening Trees for Privacy

Screening and Privacy Trees

Privacy Screening above a fence

Pleaching is a method of training trees to produce a narrow screen or 'hedge on stilts'.

Although pleached tree avenues are a feature of many famous large estate gardens, particularly on the Continent, we are now using them to enhance a whole range of garden styles, as a design feature in their own right. In more recent years we have used pleached trees to create a stylish screen for privacy. Effectively, pleached trees form a hedge with elegant trunks dropping down from them.

They are shaped by pruning and training them against a frame, which can be a flat square cane frame to 3D galvanized frames to create cube (box) shaped heads. They can even be pleached on a horizontal frame to produce a fabulous natural canopy in a courtyard or avenue.

Clear trunks can be as low as 100cm with the head on a bamboo frame sized to suit More commonly, the clear stem is 180cm to 200cm and the flat plane is 175cm square, although it can specified to suit your needs, as well as the girth of the tree. We often supply the trees freshly pleached, but for an immediate full effect, we can supply mature specimens, including magnificent cube box-shaped heads. Girth sizes vary from 12/14cm up to 45/50cm.

Species that we recommend

Although many species can be trained to grow together, best results are achieved using species that lend themselves to the pleaching process. We recommend the following species:

Lime (Tilia) varieties
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)
Whitebeam (Sorbus) varieties
Ornamental Pear

The London Plane tree is a superb species to consider, with a striking trunk character.

Excellent evergreen specimens, with interesting leaf characteristics include: