I have just bought a site for a new house and it has a hedge surrounding it. I would like to keep it and improve the look of it. I would be interested to find out how old the original hedge is. I have heard that you can assess the age of hedges by counting the species in it, how does this work. Thanks D.K. By e-mail
Using a method called Hooper’s Law can age hedges quite accurately. This mathematical theory is based upon the number of woody species found in a 30m (100 ft.) length of hedge. Dr Hooper tested hedges of known age from old maps; he found that the number of species multiplied by 100 roughly equals the age of the hedge. However at least 3 random samples should be taken and an average calculated. It seems to be too simplistic to work but the theory has been proved accurate time and time again.
Horticultural.
