Creating a hedgerow as a company is a choice with ecological impact. On December 1, 2022, JTI made that choice: not a row of trees in front of the facade, but a biodiverse hedgerow of 2,050 plants and 75 native species. The company initially wanted to plant trees as part of their sustainability day, linked to their goals for Carbon Neutrality in 2030 and Net-Zero in 2050. We suggested something else.
Why a hedgerow, and not just trees
Creating a hedgerow is different from planting a row of trees. It is a dense, biodiverse hedge on an elevation or embankment, with great ecological richness within a small footprint. A row of trees provides shade and sequesters CO2. A hedgerow does that too, but adds twenty other ecological functions: shelter for birds and small mammals, food for pollinators, wind protection for what lies behind it, structure in the landscape, rainwater collection, and habitat for insects from the soil to the top herb layer.
The ecological depth of a hedgerow is extensively described in the book Heg by Kenneth F. Rijsdijk, geologist and landscape ecologist at the University of Amsterdam. He shows that hedges and hedgerows were the ecological skeleton of the Dutch landscape for centuries, and that their disappearance since the 1950s is directly linked to the decline of biodiversity in the countryside.
For JTI, this consideration meant a different kind of planting day. Instead of two hundred individual trees, a continuous ribbon of life.
2,050 plants, 75 species, 420 meters
The hedgerow we created, which was planted on December 1, 2022, is a total of 420 meters long and covers approximately 1,260 square meters. In that strip, there are 2,050 plants of more than 75 different native species. The variation is not just in which species, but also in height. At the bottom are ground covers and low herbaceous plants. Above those are medium-high shrubs. Above those are emerging trees at fixed intervals. Each layer has its own function in the ecosystem.
The planting day itself was tightly organized. The design was fixed in advance in a detailed planting scheme. For each zone, it was determined which species went where, with attention to wind, sun, and the difference between the north and south sides of the embankment.
The design by United Designers
The design of the hedgerow was created by United Designers. What makes it special: creating this hedgerow didn’t mean separate plantings but an integrated design within the landscape design around the glamping fields. It serves simultaneously as an ecological zone and as natural shelter for the cabins and tents that came later.
In the design, you can see the layered structure. The planting scheme works with a 10-meter square grid in which all height layers alternate according to a fixed pattern.
Ground covers on the outer edges, medium-high species in two layers in between, and the tallest trees every two meters on the central axis. Different species on the south side than on the north side, because the light and wind direction differ.
The hedgerow now, three years later
The hedgerow has now been through three summers. The ground covers have closed over the soil. The medium-high shrubs form a closed hedge. The tallest trees stand out above them. On quiet evenings, you can hear birds that have made their nests there. Bees find pollen from early spring until late autumn, because the species are so varied that something is almost always in bloom.
For guests staying in the glamping, the hedgerow acts as a living horizon. What was once an open field is now a space with an edge. Wind dies down sooner, sound becomes softer, and the view has gained depth.
Creating a hedgerow for your company
What the JTI project teaches: the first question isn’t what you want to plant, but what you want to achieve. Sometimes that’s a symbolic row of trees in front of the facade. Sometimes it’s an ecological instrument that works for decades. Creating a hedgerow for your company costs no more than a row of trees, but yields many times more ecologically.
We are happy to think along with you about what fits your organization. Also read about the
tea hedge that APPM planted here, the
student forest by Groeiend G’hout and NMFF or the
planting action by students from MBO College Lelystad.
Get in touch or request a quote directly for a planting day or nature project for your team.
