Need advice - creating a living "fedge" with conifers instead of willow

[sairy_gamp]

Greetings,

Our school wants to plant a "fedge" - a living, bended-branch hedge - in our new schoolyard.

Our problem is the usual fedge material - willows and similar plants - are very attractive to moose and we want to minimize moose visits to the schoolyard here in Alaska.

Has anyone advice or experience creating a fedge out of conifers - say spruce, pine, tamarack - they could share with me?

This is not necessarily a "Waldorf" topic, but I know this is a feature in many play yards.  I'm looking forward to your advice and referrals to others.

Here's some discussion on what a fedge is, if that helps...  http://www.bluestem.ca/living-willow-structures.htm

Thanks.

[shazrael]

Willows are very different from conifers in both growth habits and flexibility. Have you ever heard of espalier? I think this technique would be better suited to conifers. Were you planning to do a simple wall or did you want an arched tunnel? Here is a decent PDF that shows some ways conifers can be shaped. http://www.hrt.msu.edu/assets/PagePDFs/bert-cregg/ConiferCornerCulturallyAltered.pdf

I hope to plant a fruit tree espalier next spring and have done some reading on the topic. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and I will try to point you in the right direction.