Good ideas for a hedge?

lee8040

I'm after a plant that I can use as a hedge. Needs to grow around 2 metres high. After one that doesn't shed its leaves or doesn't have berries or is poisonous. Open to a bit of colour. Did want yew but found out that it's poisonous if the leaves or berries are Eaten and as its around animals and young children I can't risk that. Don't want conifers.
Can anyone recommend a good one ideally that cuttings could be made as I'm going to need loads to make the hedge so will be quite costly?

Is a hornbeam hedge safe?

I_have_spoken

Privet? That strikes from cuttings easily enough

smudger1964

Laurel? my laurel hedge grew very quickly and quite dense too

theoretica

You might also want to consider beech.

jodles16

I have been looking into hedges too, best I can find it the privet as its evergreen and a good grower and is good in most soils! Also seem to be cheaper than other hedges when I looked to!:D

theoretica

Privet berries are poisonous, which was one of the OPs main criteria.

Davesnave

Hornbeam is 'safe,' but it's much more sensible to teach children about plants, including their poisonous properties, rather than trust that you can always control their environment. You won't.

Anyway, there are few garden plants which are truly dangerous. I wouldn't grow Monkshood in a family garden, but mostly it's the animals which need watching, not the kids. Dogs are more likely to chew yew than little Griselda.

Sheep, in particular, have a death wish, but the neighbours' woolly horrors ate huge quantities of my ivy last winter and were no worse for wear. I've planted laurel since then, which, for smudger's benefit, contain quite large quantities of arsenic.:rotfl: Neighbour now has a fence.

Right, to business....The plant you want is Cotoneaster simonsii. It grows to around 2 metres eventually and gets pretty dense if well pruned. The cuttings will root easily over winter and it should stay almost evergreen. OK, it does have berries, but they're not palatable or poisonous and look rather attractive, until the birds pinch them anyway.

EDIT: Neither beech nor hornbeam will strike from cuttings.