With such I attention a neat little hedge can be produced for the right place in the garden but it is asking a lot from any gardener to be so regular with his I machine or shears. Failure to clip regularly soon produces uneven shapes I and ugly dead patches and there are probably several better alternatives. The boxes Buxus microphylla and B. sempervirens can be well used fori smaller hedges, from the tiny box edging used in the formal gardens of long ago to the useful dividers between beds and borders where it is desirable to ¥ separate one group of plants, or style of planting, from another. There arflj many cultivars and since the aim of such plantings will normally be fori uniformity it is desirable to see that all the plants in a single hedge are fromB the same source. Planting the smallest from 6 to 9in(i5 to 23cm) apart and I the larger ones up to i8in(45cm) will produce useful hedges that only need I annual trimming to maintain their formality. Two of our native trees are among the most useful for formal hedges. The I beech, Fagus sylvatica, and the hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, can be trained into some of the best of the larger garden hedges as the longest established I hornbeam hedges at Wisley demonstrate. Both retain their brown leaves I through the winter when young and when regularly trimmed. The twflj native oaks, Quercus petraea (the sessile oak) and Q. robur (the соттопов English oak), also behave in the same way and with the evergreen oak, Q, I ilex, can be trained as large solid hedges for suitable situations. Planted i8in i to 2ft(45 to 60cm) apart and trimmed with vertical sides or slightly wider I bottoms all take a year or two before they start into effective growth, but they then grow steadily at lftfjocm) or so a year to the desired height. Shelter for Seaside Gardens No chapter on hedges could omit reference to the needs and problems of shelter for seaside gardens. Salt resistance usually, and obviously, comes in plants that are native to such conditions. Those from New Zealand and the coastal regions of South America produce some of the best hedges for this purpose, but not all are entirely frost-hardy. Escallonia macrantha, and two Cornish-raised cultivars, 'Crimson Spire' and 'Red Hedger', come nearest to being resistant to both salty gales and sharp frosts. Some other members of this genus also make useful hedge plants but some are too thin or straggling to be useful. The easiest way of producing a quick hedge of these plants is to insert them 8 to i2in(20 to 30cm) apart in a single row where needed. Cuttings inserted at any time between October and March will usually root if at least two-thirds of their length is in the soil. In good conditions the two cultivars will produce ift(30cm) of growth in the first summer and at least 2ft(6ocm) each year after that. The species E. macrantha is rather slower but forms a massive hedge with rather less trimming.