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Dec 2024
Hedging your bets
Autumn and winter are the perfect times to plant a new hedge, or to revitalise an old one. But which type to choose?
The first question is, what is it for?
Of course, most people immediately think of hedges as for boundaries to provide screening for for their value to wildlife. But hedges can also be used within a garden space to demark areas, partially hide unsightly buildings such as sheds, or to partially screen spaces to entice exploration.
Firstly, the boundary type. In a country setting where the garden adjoins open fields a mixed native hedgerow might work best, seamlessly blending garden with countryside beyond. Mixed native hedgerows are usually supplied in winter ‘bare root’, the plants being supplied with no soil attached to the roots. This is fine in winter when plants are dormant and is a cost-effective way of transporting the plants.
Different mixes of native mixed hedgerow can be purchase depending on your soil. Those with heavy clay soils for instance might want a higher proportion of field maple, hornbeam, blackthorn and alder whereas in a lighter soil the mix may include more cherry laurel, beech, guelder rose and hawthorn. When planting a mixed native hedgerow, it is best to mix up the plants randomly to get the most natural effect. All these plants are ideal for wildlife providing cover form predators as well as spring blossom for pollinators and berries for birds in autumn. Other slightly more formal boundaries include Cotoneaster and Pyracantha, the latter being a good thorny option where your hedge might otherwise be nibbled by livestock.
Internal hedges are those designed to guide the garden visitor from one area to another to create a journey around the space or to invite exploration. Here uniformity is key, so these hedges tend to be one species. Yew (Taxus baccata) is perhaps the king of all hedges, but it’s slow growing and sometimes difficult to establish. It really doesn’t like it if the soil is persistently wet, but once established is almost indestructible.
Yew, beech (sublime colour in autumn just as it turns coppery) and evergreen Portuguese laurel are all also good for internal hedges up to several metres high and down to a minimum of perhaps 1m. Anything below 1m tall and you’d need to consider something a bit finer. For those worried about box blight and box moth caterpillar, there are various options such as Ilex crenata, which looks remarkably like box, only more rigid in structure. Other plants that make good low hedges include Euonymus Green Spire is another good box-like hedging option.
Where something looser is required, you can use almost any variety of rose; this will look lovely through summer and into autumn though a bit bare thereafter. If lavender is your thing I’d go for the intermedia varieties, which are some of the most heavily scented and which can reach up to 3 feet in height, such as Lavandula x intermedia vera. With lavender always remember to clip it into a neat ball after flowering, remembering never to cut into old wood (branches without leaves) – this will extend the life of your lavender and slow it getting leggy.
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