Garden headge- best/cheapest

the_matrix

Hi

I was thinking of getting a fence. Then I thought a garden hedge would be more environmentally friendly. Which is the best hedge to use? I want it to be max 6 foot tall and not be too wide please.

Your advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Bye

WestonDave

We've got a Lonicera Nitida hedge (other name Poor mans Box) which is evergreen, small leaved, and very hardy. Ours has been over 6ft but is now trimmed back to around 5ft - was about 5ft thick and now cut back to about 2 feet thick. As you can tell it takes being hacked back well! Its relatively fast growing so will fill out from planting fairly quickly.

Be careful of things like Leylandii - not only do they grow very tall but as trees rather than hedging plants, they have to be cut very carefully as in certain places, if you cut them back to bare wood they never recover and you end up with bare patches.

Obviously a native plant would be best but many are deciduous which means in winter when the leaves drop you lose the screening and privacy.

Leif

What is not too wide?

I bought bare root privet for £1 each at a garden centre, 3 per metre, 15m, total £45. Laurel is popular, but I think it is a pain to trim. You could go for Beech, privet, yew, hazel, forsythia, fruit trees even. Do you want evergreen? Cotoneaster franchetii is semi-evergreen, has nice leaves, and red berries for the birds. I wish I'd chosen it rather than privet. Why not walk round your neighbourhood, and see what grows well, and what takes your fancy?

annie123

http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/Index_Hedging__Trees__Shrubs___Conifers_1.html

The above website will help you and you can contact them as well for advice. I've always found them friendly and helpful as have others I've recommended them too. And they have a planting guide too;
http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/product_10798.html
A hedge for wildlife would be wonderful and much nicer than a fence.

SailorSam

I got a mixture of native bare root plants from here.

http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/

I shopped around and found them to be the best buys.

sobie

bit late in the year now for traditional hedging (especially bare rooted hedging) such as beech, laurel, privet etc I'd wait till next autumn now if you want to go down that route else you'll get all the left overs.

Weston Daves suggestion of Lonicera Nitida is a really good one. This is a really under-ultilised plant in my option. You can get various different leaf colours too such as "Lemon & Lime" which is a lovely variegated bright leaf. Its generally sold in small pots in Autumn as its lovely in winter hanging baskets. You'll find bigger plants about now.

grannyjo

we got lonicera nitida but found it very fast growing and a bit overwhelming. BUT see below. It sends out really long tendrils . If you keep on top of it fine- and it does take cutting back well. We have been trying to get rid of it for about 4 years but because it rerooted itself into our neighbours garden, it keeps invading ours again and winding around and killing our gentlre clematis and honeysuckle, which grow through other bushes. We've also had the same problem with about 3 different ivies.
Think first if you want evergreen or deciduous. We chose fast growers which we have regretted a bit, but are gradually removing and replacing with slower growing things. Thats quite a recognised way of initially getting some height and body. We are moving toward camellias which have huge rose like blooms in early spring and glossy green foliage and don't need cutting back often - they like an acid type soil. As someone else said- walk round the neighbour hood to see waht grows well in local conditions and you like. I've also pushed some hazel sticks in the ground last year which rooted and are now about 2-3 feet high. Hopefully they will produce hazel nuts but they need to be cut back quite a bit.
Another thing to think about is thorns. My mums neighbour put in a beautiful foliage hedge with murderous thorns.( Berberis) He clipped it back but some clippings always fell down and when I tidied the flower bed on Mums side, I always got stabbed and came in swearing I would never weed the patch again. Thorns can be good for stopping kids leaning on a hedge- or deterring burglars but can be very painful to cut and bag up the clippings. We got pyrecantha with lovely berries - and thorns as a thief deterrent- but I detest trying to clip them and they are gradually coming out.
I've just looked up the lonicera nitida on the rhs web site. We had the climber lonicera nitida, the one others talked about is Lonicera nitida shrub one. Do't get them mixed up.

Leif

Camellias are amazing plants. I have one near my front door, and it is easily 2m high by 2m wide, and possibly 20+ years old. They are not fast growing. They are said to dislike direct sun, but a neighbour's gets direct sun from the morning and looks okay. Mine is covered in rose like flowers in spring. I'm not a rose fancier, but I do like this plant, perhaps because it does not have thorns, and the glossy green leaves are rather attractive. A Camellia hedge would be quite something, you might even get people passing by to view it.

the_matrix

Thanks for the replies.

Evergreen, 6 foot tall max and 2/3 foot wide AND low maintenance please.

Am I being too picky?

sobie

Leif wrote: »

Camellias are amazing plants. I have one near my front door, and it is easily 2m high by 2m wide, and possibly 20+ years old. They are not fast growing. They are said to dislike direct sun, but a neighbour's gets direct sun from the morning and looks okay. Mine is covered in rose like flowers in spring. I'm not a rose fancier, but I do like this plant, perhaps because it does not have thorns, and the glossy green leaves are rather attractive. A Camellia hedge would be quite something, you might even get people passing by to view it.

Camellia's need Neutral to acidic soil so no good if your gardening on lime. Do a soil test to check.

The reason you shouldn't plant Camellia in sun is because if theirs been a hard frost overnight followed by a bright sunny morning it can blacken the flowers/ buds (always happens to my Magnolia!)

sobie

What about Euonymus. Comes in different colours, shapes and sizes.

Large Leaf Hebe's may also be suitable something like Midsummer Beauty. Make sure its a sheltered spot though, Hebe's don't like windy locations.

Are you looking for formal or informal?