Hi group,
Not strictly ‘garden’ related - but wanting this planting to look beautiful all the same.
I would love to hear your suggestions on beautiful fenceline tree plantings you have seen (or would love to see). Goals being to improve aesthetics of the farm, as well as provide shade to livestock in the warmer months (and improve animal security/ biosecurity which comes with increased separation between paddocks via double fencing). We have a large number of native shrub, wattle and eucalypt combo tree lines elsewhere on the property but the locations in question surround the house so the emphasis here is on aesthetics!
We live near Albury in southern NSW and receive about 625mm rain annually (winter-spring dominant). Cool-cold winters (frost) and hot summers!
Rural Fenceline Tree Planting
Discussion
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Fagus sylvatica is a great tree, if you have the room. I’ve seen a tri-coloured specimen in an old homestead just outside Benalla before, which isn’t that far from you. I always considered it a tree best suited to more cool temperate rainforest areas, like Mt Dandenong or the Otways, but there it was growing beautifully in a very old garden in central Victoria.
The cultivar F. sylvatica ‘Atropurpurea’ has beautiful copper foliage, aka the copper beech or purple beech. The tricolour cultivar has a slight variegation to the foliage that’s quite nice too, but it’s harder to find.
I am also trying to plant my fencelines with attractive and useful plants. One I have just tried is Carob, Ceratonia siliqua. It grows slowly but matures into a beautiful small tree with the added bonus of food for stock, people and being a legume, underground critters as well.
I’ll leave others to suggest species, as they have. My plea is that you don’t plant in a straight line. By far the most effective fenceline tree planting to me is that which is staggered and clumped, so as to not draw attention to the fence-line
Oak trees come in a variety of species and some with amazing autumn colour, as well as some that are evergreen. They are pretty tough once established too, and can help provide fire breaks which can also be an important consideration when living in a rural area. Depending on your soil, you can also get plants that are impregnated with truffle fungi as well……
One of my favourites, when it’s in it’s full flowering glory, is Calodendrum capense – Cape Chestnut, though it may need protection from frost when young. A spectacular semi deciduous tree from South Africa.
Another favourite is Acacia melanoxylon, blackwood, which is a longer lived wattle, with beautiful dark green foliage. Quite variable depending on where you live, and amount of moisture present.
I am not a green thumb, but have agonised over the same thing before on a low rainfall farm near Melbourne.
Our prior selections have included:
Spotted gum windbreaks (tube stock over a number of years).
Two separate sections of ornamental fence line / driveway trees, Zelkova Serata and Cleveland Select (not tube stock!)
More recently a paddock near the house (which was ripped for Olives 14 months ago and not completed) was planted out with Eucalyptus Cinerea with the thought they will provide a nice back drop, leaves can be picked for arrangements and in time stock graze in between.
Low fruiting or no fruit olive trees will be next to go in closer to the house.