Which hedge to buy?

Wotcha, folks.

I've looked on various websites and at garden centres, and getting a little swamped in info.

Can anyone here recommend an evergreen hedge that I can plant along a southwest facing garden wall. It gets the sun from around 11am+

The wall is only 2ft high, and I'd like the hedge to take it up to 3/4ft to come in line with the posts at either side of the wall.

So, what hedge and planting space should I go for.

Any help much appreciated.

Jack.

 

Depends on how quickly you need it to get to that height. I've used berberis - that's prickly, but you get nice berries, and the birds like it. Cotoneaster makes a good wildlife one too, without the jaggy bits, but good old privet would certainly do the job, pretty quickly. Then there's laurel or cherry laurel, with bigger, shiny leaves - and lots of other things! :D
What I did recently when I wanted to get a brand new hedge, was to get the catalogue from these people, and have a good look in it. There's lots of photos and information, and you can get the trees at different stages of growth, depending on how quickly you want it to be 3/4ft. http://www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk

 

As an addendum to the reply you've already got - consider holly. Our village for some reason has a lot of holly both as trees and hedges and it seems to be very effective, robust, evergreen and takes heavy pruning.

 

we're keeping the double act going well, Fran!

 

Hmm - I like the idea of holly. I've always liked that.

With pruning, heavy or otherwise, will it look a little bare? Or does it retain a leafy look regardless of pruning.

Also, the faster grower, the better.

Is a privet the bog-standard hedge you see on 90% of front gardens? Is that an evergreen?

Many thanks for your help here, folks.

J.

 

yes privet is evergreen and is deffo bog standard, there is a yellow privet as well
a mixed hedge using beech as main plant can be nice, it goes brown in winter but retains leaves, there are copper beech and purple beech, both mix well with holly, it would be relatively slow growing but you could buy bigger plants
did any1 mention escalonia . salt tolerant and it has flowers in season
Be aware a fast growing hedge can turn in to a monster . leylandii for one
in gardening there is no such thing as a perfect solution

[ 23. March 2006, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: Lady Gardener ]

 

The only way a holly would look bare would be if it was an old hedge, and you seriously had a go at it! It's a true evergreen - a good idea! And another good one for the birds!
Privet - yes, that's the bog standard, and yes, it's evergreen!
It grows pretty quickly! I'm pretty certain it's in that catalogue if you're after a reasonable quantity of plants. It gives you details of spacing, and about double row or triple row planting, etc. Have fun!

 

privet is evergreen
holly is evergreen
how about something different like
FUCHSIA MAGELLANICA. an upright shrub that can grow to 10 feet, frost hardy, small flowers with red tubes, and purple petals, followed by black fruits.
in early spring trim to size with hedge trimmers.
plant them about 2' apart to give a really tight hedge

 

I can't believe the level of help I've received here. Thank you all so much.

Rossco, I've had a look a look at that FUCHSIA MAGELLANICA and it looks fantastic. Our front could do with a little colour!

How does it look during winter? We just don't want twigs outside our door for 4 months!

Thanks again, all.

Jack.

 

Twigs you will get - although substantial ones :D . I grow magenallica and would not be without it its dripping flowers - one of my favourite shrubs. But evergreen they are not.

 

Fran has answered the question, if you have quite a longish run then you could plant alternate plants, say, VIBURNUM TINUS which is evergreen and has white flowers in spring, when these have finished it can be trimmed back.
and the Fuschia