Hedge suggestions/advice please

Someone here with many kinds of hedges, but they're something of a personal choice, with the situation often choosing the species.

There's no wildlife value in laurel, or much in prunus lusitanica, its more refined cousin, and you can't rely on all species of cotoneaster to remain green in winter. All of these are relatively quick growing, but you can't have that and low maintenance too,so it might be better to go for something slower anyway.

My favourite dividing hedge is yew. People say it's slow, but mine is way taller than me and I only planted it in 2011. I also like viburnum tinus, but I've not made a hedge with it yet. or with photina, which is another possibility, if perhaps rather fast growing again.

As you are at the coast, you might want to consider plants that don't mind salt spray, like griselina littoralis, olearia traversii, pittosporum tenufolium or quercus ilex. Bay trees are also happy at the seaside and respond well to clipping.


I agree that bamboo don't make good hedging, though they can do screening. They don't necessarily run all over the garden; the cheap ones do that, but the expensive ones are well-behaved, and at £40 upwards you'd expect them to be!


Don't buy big plants, as smaller ones establish more reliably and cost less. Spend the money saved on improving the impoverished soil, mulching the plants and maybe even burying a soaker hose in the trench.


I could recommend a number of on-line suppliers, but Buckingham Nurseries have a good catalogue and their prices are competitive....though they probably won't have everything mentioned above:



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