Wanting to do a Bocage country dio, but have a query regarding pine trees... Want to depict a M4 in a paddock on a tree line. Now I need to know what would be a TREE type used to 'hedge' a paddock (not the hedgerows themselves) Have more than a feeling (Not Boston;) that pines were not in this region??? Am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?
Cheers
Brad

Im afraid so. I have not seen a pine tree in bocage region. It was more of trees and bushes with leaves. Not pines, i cant really be specific to what trees there were though.

some links that might help you out with Normandy/Bocage terrain:

http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/BACK/Bocage.php




I'm thinking that pines/evergreens were more abundant when the German and Netherland borders were crossed.
I'm sure some of our French users could help you out even more.

You can expect pines in southern Italy, southern France and Spain, definately not near the German/ Netherlands border. Evergreens in this region are fir, spruce,etc.
For Normandy/Bocage you could use birch
for example, IIRC.

Thomas

I bet one of our French members will have the answers.... just give them time to read this post...... who knows, maybe a few actually live in the area, and might even have some photos.

Do a GIS for "Hedgerow." Lots of useful pics, like this...



And, a cool website with some general info...

http://www.lonesentry.com/normandy_lessons/

Shaun

hi honeycut,

Since a live in Belgium ,very simular to French Normandy,i have to comment there were NO ,or maybe some christmas trees :-) ,in the whole area. You 'll come across pines in southern Belgium,Belgian ardennes,French ardennes and south-west german. No panic Tough! there are several usefull articles on this subject if yu check the feature section of the big-a

Q

Here you can find some pictures hosted under the reference page of Armorama

HONEYCUT -

I've found that doing a "Google" or "Yahoo" search and using some of the travel related istes can be useful. Of course there are several hits for "bocage" itself from gamers,etc. Read that trees included orchards of apple trees and that Beech trees were commonly used as "wind breaks". Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Blade48mrd

I know rather well this kind of terrain as I had been assigned for 8 years in Western France.
The most common species of deciduous trees are European Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Pedunculate Oak or Sessile Oak (Quercus robur or Quercus petraea) , Chesnut (Castanea sativa) and Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). Before it was nearly destroyed by a parasitic fungus in the 70's, Smoothleaf Elm (Ulmus carpinifolia) was also planted.
In low-, wet-lands, ie near river or marshlands, we cand find Common Alder (Alnus glutinosa), Common Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and various kinds of Willows like the Wisconsin Weeping Willow(Salix alba).
Of course, the hedges are also composed of various shrubs and shrubby trees : Hazel ( Corylus avellana), Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), English Hawthorn or Singleseed Hawthorn(Crataegus laevigata or Crataegus monogyna), dogwood as the Bloodtwig dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and some other species deemed useful for the peasants.

Also be careful with the trees : they don't grow "on their own", but are regularly pruned. The most common type of pruning is the pollard : all the lower branches are cut, and the tree sports a massive, gnarled and knotty "head".

Hope it was helpful, and not too academic

Sorry, I was mixing up evergreens and pines, but hopefully someone got what I meant.

Damn!
That's what I love about this website/community... what more advice could I hope for?! Only problem is how long it will take to wade through it... hehe
Thanks to all who have helped here, and I'll make sure the dio does your input justice
Brad