The leaves are falling…

And this means it’s time to undertake winter visual assessments.

While for some projects it can be fine to undertake visual assessments at any time of year, local authorities prefer to judge the impact of schemes when trees and hedges are devoid of the screening effect of leaves as this presents the worst case scenario. For larger or more controversial schemes therefore, winter assessments are essential, often backed up by an assessment in the summer months to show the contrast in full.

Our services providing landscape and visual appraisals and assessments are in ever increasing demand, so why not get in touch now to discuss whether winter fieldwork would be beneficial to your project.

This also means it’s time to…

Start Planting Now

The autumn leaf fall begins a dormant period for all deciduous plants which includes the majority of UK trees and native hedge plants. While it is possible to plant trees and native shrubs and hedges using container grown plants at any time of year, it is much more expensive and problematic to do so.

We always advise clients to take the most cost effective and horticulturally sound approach if they can, by using bare rooted and /or rootballed stock in the correct planting season. Even some trees up to 5 metres high, depending upon species, can be planted as bare root plants, lifted directly from the nursery, without the expense of root-balling or containerising. This is the most economical way to plant, and yet it is still common to find unnecessary, over specification within the industry.

With climate change impacting, the dormant season is becoming shorter, however, and we would now recommend that bare root planting is undertaken before the end of February at the latest (it used to be by the end of March), as many plants are now beginning to leaf up earlier. Our experience shows that plant failure rates increase significantly the later that planting is undertaken in the season.