Recomendations For A Hedge For The Front Garden

So in my front garden the wall is starting to show signs that it will want replacing in the next few years (bricks disintegrating etc). We would like to plant a hedge soon to eventually replace the wall once it does start to disintegrate but am having a dilemma on what to go for.

I currently already have 80ft of privet in the back garden and this was my first thought. However I would like a hedge that doesn't need pruning every month and that doesn't grow too high, say 5-6ft at best. The hedge would also have to cope with high winds, as the front is very exposed and be able to put new grown on from lower down once the wall has been removed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Jungle Jane in the walled garden of Glamis Castle we have a lovely hemlock hedge it looks like yes but much softer or how about a nice beech hedge.

 

Something tropical looking?

One of the clump forming bamboos would be different.
I have seen very effective hedges of Fargesia

http://www.scottishbamboo.com/Bamboo_Hedging.htm

http://www.scottishbamboo.com/Bamboo_Uses.htm

 

Yew and Topiary would be great

If not on heavy land then I think Beech looks nice. Cut once a year is enough, retains leaves in winter (Copper Beech might be a bit more showy than green?)

 

Dwarf Laurel Otto Luyken - slow growing so you would need to buy decent sized plants

Fragrant flowers in April too.

 

I should have said that soil is clay, although not as heavy as other parts of the garden. I've been toying with the idea of beech. Does it need a lot of room to grow? And will it put on new growth once the wall is removed? The same with yew actually. I always have considered them to be the type of hedge that didn't like being renovated and wouldn't produce new growth on old stems.

 

I think Beech will be skinny at the bottom if against a wall. Personally I wouldn't attempt to grow Beech on heavy soil. We have a Copper Beech hedge here, its 5 years old or so. Lost another 3 or 4 plants this summer - and it hasn't been wet at all :( We have Hornbeam for the main hedges - but they don't hold their leaves as well as Beech in winter.

You can fully murder Yew and it will regenerate, so I would think it will be fine once the wall has been removed. But its a compromise.

Knock the wall down and plant bigger plants? The Beech I planted were 150/175cm (bare root) plants, and were looking like a hedge from year 2 (although by around year 4 smaller plants had caught up, so the only reason to do it IMHO is for a perimeter-hedge where you need an instant demarcation line).

2M Yews will set you back £100 each in Blighty ... if you want something like that (i.e. large-ish), and a reasonable number of plants, I would suggest finding a suitable nursery in Holland and driving over there for a romantic long weekend and bringing them back with you Incredible how cheaply you can buy good quality, large, plants over there ...

I'll take you over there for a long weekend if you like ... there are loads of plants over there that I want and you can share the driving

 

That's good enough for me. But I don't understand why you say it's a compromise?

I'm quite patient and will quite happily buy bare rooted or smaller plants. I'm only looking to hedge a very small area say 8-10ft, nothing as extensive as some hedges others plant. The wall I would say has another 5 to 6 years left in it and am quite happy to wait for the yews to catch up. I'm not wanting instant impact or anything like that.

Sounds interesting but unfortunately/fortunately for others I can't drive for toffee.

 

Not sure I can remember now! I suspect it was that when the wall is removed the hedge will be bare-ish on that side, and will take time to regenerate, also it may not regenerate a main branch structure as dense as if it had had light from day one.

Might be worth looking at Seagrave
http://www.seagravenurseries.co.uk/home/yew-hedging-rootball
they have 100-120cm Yews for £40, 120-150cm is £60 and 150-175cm £60. They currently have a 25% off sale, but that has increased to 50% off in mid winter ...

The smaller ones you would probably plant at 2' spacing, but the bigger ones might be ok for 3' spacing. For an 8-10' hedge you might consider "instant"? thus knock the wall down and the plants will be green and bushy on both sides from the get-go

(Good luck if you can understanding their pricing! "£100 down to £60 with 25% off" probably has some logic to it ... but I'm not sure what that would be! They are a helpful & friendly bunch, I've had good quality plants from them, including 2M Yews, so worth giving them a call to see how the sale actually works!)

If you go the Yew route I shall look forward to some ornate & fancy Topiary extravaganza

Blast - thought I was in with a chance there

 

When I moved into this little house it was open plan in the front garden, I had two little Shih Tzu dogs needed to have a fenced garden, Wow we are talking money here so I erected 2ft 6 inch wire netting not to fall foul of regulations re fences and planted assorted Ivy Few years on have a super hedge needs trimming once a year and is very decorative