Tree of Life

Anyone remember the 1970s craze for planting Thuja hedges? I remember it well as my parents bought an old house in the village of Old Buckenham in Norfolk in 1970. One side of the property was directly on the road and very open and on another side, the field alongside had been sold for new house builds. Planting Thujas was certainly an understandable decision given the need to have some privacy and protection in a short space of time.

Around 1996, I even planted a dozen myself in the backyard or better along the ditch that separated the horse paddock from the over-inquisitive neighbours. There was an electric fence between horses and the hedge as Thuja is poisonous but we needed a quick solution.

Thujas do have other values - they make good nesting places for wild birds and the wood is quite interesting with its incredibly lightweight.

However I am not a fan of these trees as a garden specimen, I hate them!. The one in the Blip (centre) is huge and blocks the view as well as light from the front of the house. I did try attacking it several years ago and halved its current height. Behind it is a large willow and a large magnolia and behind them a now 2 metre + high beech hedge. These are all "lost" to the view.

We also have a very long (50 metre or so) old Thuja hedge which like the Bliped specimen were planted in the 1970's There must be well over a hundred large stems. The hedge did serve a good purpose but had been allowed to get out of control and was also very shaded on one side by huge spruce trees. The job of cutting it back got too much for me and in 2014 I sought the help of a "commercial" business to take radical action. It was cut back at a very inappropriate time (24 hours before it snowed) and suffered badly. I did try to use the opportunity to plant a beech hedge but this was plan was rejected. Just as my plan for felling the front door Thuja is not being supported.

The members of the Arborvitae tribe seem to enjoy lifelong protection here.