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Damage limitation
Thankfully, preventing wind damage is easy.
- Use canes to support plants
- Surround the garden with a ‘shelterbelt’ – an ‘open’ fence or hedge
- In exposed locations, evergreen hedges provide more shelter in winter, while deciduous species such as beech and hornbeam are good in that they hold onto their dead leaves until the spring.
- In coastal areas, plant salt-tolerant species such as tamarisk
- Less attractive, but ‘instant’, are rubber fabric strips stretched between poles – an excellent stop-gap until hedges grow sufficiently tall
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These shelterbelts all work because they are porous – they slow wind down but allow it through. You may be wondering, "why not erect a wall or solid fence instead?" I'll tell you why - because they force the wind up and over, causing vortices that damage the plants you are trying to protect!
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What's better is to plant very dense coniferous hedges such as Leylandii and Thuja Plicata. These have a similar effect as walls without causing any damage.
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