Questions

My escallonia hedge appears to have been killed by the severe winter and i am considering replacing it with something more hardy like hornbeam. Has it any advantages/disadvantages verses beech.

My daughter has a beech hedge in Darver Co Louth.approx 5years old.Last spring the leaves on about twenty very mature plants seemed to shrivel up and eventually they went bare and seem to be dead.I wonder if this is some kind of fungal attack as three apple trees in the area also produced very small distorted leaves this year and never developed any blossoms.