Hedge Ideas

Ideas please ! We have an old cherry (we think) hedge running across the front garden, behind the grass verge. We live in a rural location on a VERY quiet lane (grass running up the middle). We want to take out this hedge and replace it with something else. The new hedge needs to be about 4/5 feet high and just over 100 feet long, non prickly, easy to maintain and, hopefully, have some attractive foliage etc and look 'right' in it's location. Any suggestions please. We are having the old hedge removed sometime in the next few weeks and so hope to get bare root plants in the late autumn. Thank you

If you want a traditional type hedge Copper Beech would blend in well with the surroundings, not the fastest growing hedge available, but from the posting privacy isn't an issue and patience will be rewarded by lovely foliage.

What about a flower hegde - Lavender and Fuchsia can both be incorporated into a hedge.

Copper beech would indeed be a good choice, another possibility would be lonicera nitida. Maintainence is easy, the hedge is evergreen, or golden depending on the variety chosen, and is attractive all year. Unfortunately the leaves of holly have prickles but that I think makes a lovely hedge

How about a mixed hedge? Geen and copper beech, laurel, a prickle-less holly look-alike, Irish yew and  hedging honeysuckle. Get variation in colour, texture and leaf shape.

Yep, I'd say beech or hornbeam would be the way to go. Or a mixture to get a tapestry effect - very pretty.You could also mix in some hazel. In an ideal world, you'd mix in some hawthorn too, but if you don't want thorns... If you want to keep it formally clipped and tight, you'd be best with yew or lonicera nitida (golden or dark green, or mixed). Yew takes forever, but the shrubby honeysuckles are fast but don't want to get massive either, I've got a mixed hornbeam/beech that I also grow some of the smaller climbing honeysuckles through for colour. Have a look at traditional hedging techniques to get some ideas on best way to plant.

In a previous very rural garden I planted a mixed native hedge, hazel, hawthorn, elder, beech and spindle, with wild honeysuckles woven through it.  It was wonderful, with catkins and may blossom in the spring,  elder flowers then honeysuckle through the summer, and haws, elderberries and hazel nuts in the autumn, together with the gorgeous red autumn leaves of the spindle and the copper ones of the beech.  We gave it a good trim every 12 months or so, but occasionally missed a year (new babies take up a lot of time) and it didn't become too overgrown.

I would suggest Cotinus (the smoke bush).  We have a rather mixed hedge with some Laurel and Cotinus which then continues with a long yew hedge along the far side of our garden.  The Cotinus looks very pretty when the red leaves catch the sun and it does of course have flowers as an added bonus.

Hi Daisy Cottage  - after having tried all sorts for my front garden on a corner I chose Laurel.  Too impatient for bare root so bought pot grown from a reputable local nursery.  Had a few problems with an ant nest but now that is sorted it has come on beautifully.  Grown about a foot in this wet summer and is easy to maintain.  I will keep it at about 4-5 feet and it is like 'deadheading' to prune - just take out wayward stems.  Beautiful green colour, nice shaped leaves and very shiny (look like they have been varnished!). I love it. 

I have been looking at the very same thing and have found a site that offers a wide range of hedging and am plumping for lonicera nidida as I want a low short affair but in my old cottage in a similar position I planted a mixed beech at the front and  native mix at the back  that worked very well for wildlife. They have such a mix and it might be worth taking a look . I will try to put in the link!! http://www.hedgenursery.co.uk/ Of course there are many nurserys offering such a mix and I got my old one from a local source,

We're about to go hazel in the hope we will have some nuts one day and hazel isn't to bad to lay for thickening up the growth, The much beloved doesn't know it yet but I'm going to weave some honeysuckle and some roses through it too!

That sounds absolutely gorgeous Moonlit Hare, and it'll be great for wildlife too.

And you can take some hazel rods out for your runner beans 

Thank you all for your replies ! Some very interesting ideas there. We already have a 200 ft mixed hedge that we put in two years ago and a 100 ft copper beech hedge. Having experience of a very long holly/hawthorn hedge at a previous house, we have had enough of prickly cuttings to dispose of I'll try to make a list of all your suggestions and then sit down with OH and make a decision. We're waiting for our man with the JCB to come to take the old hedge out plus a few tree stumps so will have to make a decision fairly soon. We just want somethng low maintenance as we have a lot of hedge to look after Thank you again !

Can I suggest investing in a leaf blower if you don't already have one..? Whenever I clip my yew hedge (next to a gravel drive - eek) I find its all very well raking up the large bits, but the teeny bits are a pain, so I blow them under the hedge and forget about them! Having thought about it some more, I think I'd plump for the lonicera.  xx