we want to buy yew bushes to make a hedge

but not sure how to buy them . we are buying off the net as we need quite a few. Dont knowwhich ones to get they are sold as the follows
root ball
potted
bare root

 

there are different ways in which plants are sold,
root ball, is where plants have been grown in the ground and lifted with a ball of soil around their roots.
bare root, is where again plants are grown in the ground, and lifted, but the soil removed from their roots,
and potted or container is where they have solely been planted in a plant pot.

There are different prices with each way of the plants being grown, and you are coming to the end of the season for root ball and bare root, these are generally available from November to March.

Again, another cost element is the height as which you purchase the plants. Depending on the size of the plants depends on how many per metre you need to plant. I would suggest between 3-5 per metre, and less if the plants were already fairly established, and whether you were planting in a straight line or staggered rows.

Put a few more details on here, and I'm sure someone will be able to help you further.

 

Yew is a slow growing hedge, a very slow growing hedge, and expensive.

Yes it's beautiful, but only if I were planning on staying where I am for a great many years would I personally invest in a yew hedge.

 

i know all of the above but thankyou anyway, what i wanted to know is which of the 3 i have stated is best for planting up and growing on when planted. We want to do the hedge this weekend so need to order them quickly. we wanted quite big shrubs 60 - 80 cm ones and cannot decide which is better for planting up and growing when planted.

 

Root ball should establish more quickly than bare root (or even pot grown)
They DO grow VERY slowly though

 

"what i wanted to know is which of the 3 i have stated is best for planting up and growing on when planted"

I would only plant Bare root or Rootball between Nov and end Feb, so your only choice is potted - which will be more expensive, and IMHO won't "get away" as quickly - or wait until next autumn.

I disagree with the "Grow VERY slowly" opinions. I have grown yew hedges in 3 gardens that I have created over the years, and have had a 5-6' hedge in 5 years or so, starting with 50cm plants or smaller. For sure Leylandii won't take that long :D ... but most other hedge plants will take 3 years, so yew isn't that much slower.

and of course making somewhat less growth means its less hassle to clip and keep looking smart

Size of plants is purely a cost-benefit thing ... I got some very nice yew plants from Shrubs Direct last Winter - some at about 1.5M and several 2.25M, they were very nice plants. Beware that these were rootball and potted for transit, so I expect if they are offering Potted now they may well have been field grown and just "plonked" into pots. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't quite the same as container grown in terms of how well they will transplant and grow on - worth asking a) how they have been grown, and b) how they think that will effect how well they "get away"

I have also bought lots of hedge plants and trees from Ashridge trees, and can recommend them too, although I have not had any Yew from them

 

thankyou all ssooooo much for all the advice you have made my decision clearer and helped me a great deal. i will give the people you recomended a try thankyou very much