Which hedge should I plant in my garden?

There are a great many benefits to growing hedges in your garden. They’re perfect for increasing privacy and security, reducing noise pollution and creating homes for local wildlife. Plus, they can cover up unsightly walls and fences, and even protect your other plants from the wind.

But while it’s all well and good thinking about planting ahedge in your garden, finding the right hedge is key. What do I mean by this? Different hedges have different maintenance, light and water requirements, and can vary greatly in size. There are even hedges that are less suitable for your garden if you have kids or pets.

To ensure that you pick the right hedge for your outdoor space, I’ve put together a guide below, pairing different garden types with corresponding hedges. But first, here’s a tool that will help you maintain your hedges (and much more) with ease…

Yard Force 4-in-1 Multi Tool: The ideal tool for hedge maintenance and more

Time to switch up your old, rusty tools for something more efficient! This four-in-one gardening tool from Yard Force at QVC can be used as a soil scarifier, reciprocating saw, grass shears and hedge trimmer with its adjustable cutting heads. Plus it features a cordless design and a telescopic tube.

 

 

There’s no need to hold on to tools that don’t cut it (literally). As a soil scarifier, it can cut through soil and help to remove weeds and cultivate beds and borders. As a reciprocating saw it can cut through woody stems and branches. As grass shears you can edge and trim your lawn to keep your space looking pretty, and you can use the hedge trimmer function to prune hedges and bushes.

 

 

Ultra-versatile, this handy tool can be used as a handheld device for bushes and hedges, or as an extension tool by using the included telescopic handle to reach up to 3.3 metres for those harder to reach areas. Featuring a cordless design that’s lightweight, it’s the ideal tool for maintaining any garden all-year round from your lawn to borders to trees and shrubs.

 

 

With a 10.8V battery pack, this fantastic tool boasts a run time of up to 30 minutes in a single charge, so you’ll have plenty of time to get stuck in. Plus, complete with two batteries, you can have a battery on charge while the other is in use!

Hedging for a shady garden

If your garden is partially shaded here’s the hedge for you.

 

 

Although holly prefers a sunny spot, most varieties of this hedge will grow in partial shade, making it ideal for those spots that get a little less light than other areas of the garden. Holly berries are a great winter food source for birds, but they’re toxic to dogs, cats and humans. Also make sure to watch out for those sharp leaves!

Want something similar, but gentler? Try Ilex ‘Gentle’! This shrub can grow to 70cm high and 50cm wide, making for a low hedge with unique purple-blue tinged foliage.

Hedging for a sunny garden

If you’ve got a sunny garden, you’re spoilt for choice in terms of hedging plants!

 

Have you considered dogwood? Falling under the genus Cornus, dogwood will produce dense foliage until autumn, when its leaves fall and its stunning red, orange or yellow stems are revealed.

 

Escallonia thrives in full sun, having come from its sun-drencched native country of Chile. Unlike dogwood, it’s an evergreen, and produces bright flowers that are attractive to pollinators.

Hedging for a windy garden

Windy, unsheltered gardens – particularly coastal and alpine gardens – require hedging that can take a battering from the elements!

 

Berberis (AKA barberry) are lovely, dense and often evergreen shrubs that are tough enough to withstand higher-than-average winds. It features a dense, thorny habit, that makes it ideal for placing under windows to increase security, as well as contributing to creating wildlife habitats in your garden.

 

If you want lush, dense greenery, privet is the way to go. It’s robust and fast-growing, so if you’re also eager to create privacy and shelter in your garden, this hedge will provide that in no time!

Hedging for a wet garden

Poor draining soil can be difficult to fill with plants, but there are a few hedges that can withstand these conditions.

 

You might think of willows as great, arching trees found in the idyllic English countryside, or depicted in a Kenneth Grahame novel, however, smaller varieties make great hedges for moist areas. It’s also a salt tolerant plant, so it’s ideal in coastal locations – but it does prefer a sunny spot.

 

Much like the willow, the wood of the alder doesn’t rot when waterlogged. This is an extremely fast-growing, deciduous hedge that can grow up to a metre per year, and puts out long catkins in the springtime and small, woody cones throughout the autumn.

 

What kind of garden do you have? Let me know in the comments section below, and find more plants by garden type in my Ideal Plant Guide.

Featured image c/o Pixabay