Hedging has many uses in your gardens such as creating privacy or a sound barrier, encouraging pollinators, and wildlife or creating a wonderful display of colour.

Before you buy a hedge think about these questions:

1. What is the purpose of the hedge I want to buy?
2. Do I require evergreen or deciduous?
3. What is the ideal height I am looking for?
4. Do I require a fast or slow-growing variety? (maintenance)
5. How dense do I require the hedge to be?

Evergreen:

• Retain their foliage throughout the year

Deciduous:

• Shed their leaves during the autumn or winter

Hedging for Screening

Viburnum hedging

Usually, the reason for planting a new hedge is to create more privacy in your garden or your driveway.

These hedges will provide you with good screening:

• Laurel – is a fast-growing evergreen and has lovely elongated dark green leaves.
• Viburnum – its varieties are great for winter interest as they flower from autumn until spring but they have also got lovely green leaves.
• Griselinia Littoralis ‘Variegata’ – is an evergreen with ovate leaves and tiny yellow-green flowers.
• Berberis Darwinii – is a dense evergreen that is fairly fast-growing.
• Elaeagnus Limelight – is an evergreen hedge with green leaves developing yellow and pale green leaves as it matures.
• Hornbeam – is a deciduous hedge, during autumn the foliage changes to shades of yellow before turning brown at the start of winter.
• Purple Beech – has purple leaves in the summer months and coppery brown during winter giving year-round interest.

Hornbeam hedging at RHS Hyde Hall

Flowering for pollinators

Viburnum and Rose hedging at Perrywood Tiptree

Flowering hedges create a wonderful display but also help pollinators to thrive.

These hedges will provide you with flowers for pollinators:

• Prunus Laurocerasus – is an evergreen that flowers every year, some have edible fruit in autumn.
• Berberis Darwinii – is a dense evergreen that is fairly fast-growing.
• Elaeagnus Ebbingei – is a large evergreen shrub with grey/green leaves and scented white flowers in autumn followed by orange berries.
• Escallonia – is an evergreen (varieties have different flowers and colours).
• Berberis Thunbergii – is a deciduous hedge with spiny shoots bearing simple leaves, and small yellow/orange flowers, followed by small berries.
• Hydrangea anomala petiolaris – is a deciduous climbing Hydrangea that produces large clusters of white flowers during July/August which can last until October.

Create a Sound Barrier

Laurel hedging

Want to enjoy the peace and quiet of your garden? Plant a hedge to reduce noise from your neighbours or road traffic.

These hedges will provide a sound barrier:

• Laurel – is a fast-growing evergreen and has lovely elongated dark green leaves.
• Leylandii – is a fast-growing conifer.
• Thuja Brabant – is a fast-growing evergreen that is tough and hardy.
• Taxus Hicksii – is a dense bushy variety of Yew.

Hedging for Wildlife

Cotoneaster Lacteus hedging at Perrywood Sudbury

If you’d like to encourage wildlife into your garden plant wildlife-friendly species. These provide natural shelter, food, and a great place to make a nest.

These hedges will encourage wildlife:

• Taxus Baccata – is a slow-growing evergreen conifer.
• Juniperus scopulorum ‘Blue arrow’ – is a slow-growing evergreen conifer.
• Photinia x Fraser Magical – is an evergreen that flowers every year.
• Ligustrum Ovalifolium ‘Argenteum’ – is a semi-evergreen with green leaves (silver edging) and clusters of creamy-white flowers in the summertime.
• Cotoneaster Lacteus – is an evergreen with tiny white flowers in summer and bright red berries in autumn.
• Green Beech (Fagus sylvatica) – is a deciduous hedge that has interest all year round and is easy to maintain. It has vibrant green leaves in summer and russet brown in winter.
• Hawthorn – is a deciduous hedge that provides white flowers in May and edible berries.

We sell bare root hedging from November through to March. You can read our ‘How to’? Use Bare Root Hedging guide for more information.