BIS-Lancasw Farming, Friday, January 8, 1999
rt
All Gardens
Great & Small
by
York Co.
Horticultural Agent
Tom Becker -
The Fence Row
Travelling through the back
40 in Pennsylvania, one sees
plenty of natural fence rows and
hedgerows Planted years ago by
farmers and landowners to
mark property lines, a fencerow
created a windbreak or barrier
against the wind This wind
break created by a dense row of
trees, low shrubs and briars
either encloses or separates a
farmer’s fields from a neighbors
A word used alternately with
fencerow, hedgerows in our area,
abound with a smorgasbord of
runaway noxious weeds and
invasive plant types As a good
neighbor hedgerows tend not to
be The average gardener avoids
their blowing seeds and shading
dense trees Hawthorn (crategus
monogyma), dogwood (cornus
sanguinea), highbrush cranber
ry (viburnum opulus), elderber
ry (sambucusnigra), hackberry,
blackberry, raspberry and wild
roses known locally as multiflo
ra rose are a few common
species found in hedgerows
Darrell D Young, a professor
of outdoor science at Buffalo
State University in his intrigu
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ing article, “The Functional
Hedgerow,” gives newfound
importance to the common or
mundane fencerow
Few farmers or gardeners
today view hedgerows as essen
tial, in the natural world yet
hedgerows provide a survival
habitat for many plants and ani
mals Ecologically, Darrell
Young describes them as ‘a safe
animal highway’ providing cover
for small animals as they move
from one place to another
Only the fastest growing
toughest plant species survive,
many of which become the only
remaining plant population for
some species in an area Few
hedgerows survive the destruc
tive forces of rural land being
converted into urban sprawl
The bulldozer often indiscrimi
nately removes habitat long in
the making for nesting birds and
ground dwelling animals
How were these sometimes
impenetrable barriers to man
and animals created 9 A man
made invention hedgerows may
contain noxious weeds like mul
tifloral rose Being highly inva
sive, multifloral rose is no longer
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recommended for hedgerows or
wildlife plantings. Although
quite fragrant and appealing to
the eye when in full flower, mul
tifloral rose leaves little room for
growing other more practical
plants. It becomes the dominant
plant species for growing other
more practical plants. It
becomes the dominant plant
species for years and years to
come.
Going unnoticed in many
hedgerows is a fast-growing
tree, called osage orange (maclu
ra pomifera). It thrives in harsh,
dry conditions. Its thick, spiny,
interlacing branches produce
huge, 4 to 6-inch round, ugly,
orange-like fruit.
On a more practical note,
farmers years ago may have
planted trees to serve a purpose
in their fencerows. Pines or
spruce survivors may have been
put there as a Christmas tree A
black walnut or hickory tree
were planted as a small but
valuable nut crop
Another primary but often
forgotten reason for planting a
hedgerow was for creating a
windbreak on the side of a field,
farmhouse, road or barnyard. In
addition the hedgerow also pro
vides a visual, physical barrier
to unwanted intruders. Soil ero
sion control is a benefit as well.
Fence rows do not have to
have practical purpose to co
exist with man, crops and
wildlife Fencerows exist today
because they were located where
rocky crags or abandoned stone
walls already existed. With
today’s large plows, plowing too
close to the fencerows no longer
seems risky to the operator.
However, more likely the risk
to a farmer from a fencerow is
being snagged, poked or stabbed
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by tree limbs or briars. In the
end, Darrell Young may be right,
hedgerows have an almost delib
erate function or purpose, a
place to keep man out and give
shy, nesting bird species like
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