Fast-growing hedges

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If you're planting a hedge, the chances are that you want it to grow quickly, creating privacy, a boundary or a windbreak, or dividing your garden into 'rooms'. A hedge is an excellent alternative to a fence, providing interest all year round, as well as shelter and food for wildlife. A hedge also makes a better windbreak than a fence, as wind is filtered through it gently rather than violently diverted over the top, causing turbulence on the other side.

The cheapest way to plant a hedge is to plant bare roots in the dormant season, between November and mid-March, depending on your location. Many hedging plants can be grown in this way, including beech, hornbeam and yew. Evergreen hedges such as privet must be raised and sold in containers, and are best planted from late autumn to early spring.

How to plant a bare-root hedge

Choose plants that will establish and grow fast, knitting together quickly. Here are some suggestions for fast-growing hedging plants, all of which should put on a minimum of 30cm growth a year.

Advice on buying hedging plants

Make sure you have the right growing conditions for your new hedge before buying plants
Ensure you buy enough plants to space them correctly when planting – this information should be provided to you when you buy, but as a general rule space plants 45cm apart (or use 5-7 bare-root plants, or 4-5 pot-grown plants, per metre of hedge)
Make sure you are aware how quickly the plants grow as they will need regular trimming to keep growth in check – most coniferous hedges cannot be cut back hard, so it's particularly important you don't let them get out of control

Where to buy hedging plants

Hazel

Hazel makes an excellent hedge, also as part of a mixed native hedge with plants like blackthorn and hawthorn. It bears beautiful green-yellow catkins on bare wood in spring, followed by lush green leaves. In autumn, hazelnuts (or cobnuts) are produced. These are edible but the squirrels may get to them first. Hazel plants grow between 40cm and 60cm per year.

Cherry laurel

Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is a dense evergreen with large glossy-green leaves. It should put on at least 30cm in a year. In summer it bears fruits that resemble cherries, turning from red to black as they mature. Grow in sun or shade.

Fuchsia

Fuchsia magellanica can be grown as an attractive and unusual flowering hedge in milder parts of the UK. It can reach 3m in height but can be pruned after flowering to keep it at a more manageable height if desired. Grow in a sheltered spot, in full or partial shade.

Griselinia

Griselinia littoralis is an attractive evergreen with oval, apple-green leaves. It is especially suited to seaside gardens, as it is tolerant of strong winds and salty air, but avoid very cold spots and situations where waterlogging is frequent. You can expect griselinia to grow around 30cm in a year. Grow in a sunny spot.

Beech

Beech (Fagus sylvatica) forms a dense, attractive hedge that should put on at least 30cm of growth per year. It's deciduous but if trimmed in late summer – ideally August – it will retain the resulting new leaves with a coppery colour over winter, before they are replaced by new, fresh green foliage in spring.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn makes a fine wildlife-friendly hedge with pretty blossom in spring and bright red haws in autumn. The haws are popular with birds. Hawthorn grows between 40cm and 60cm per year.

Bamboo

Phyllostachys nigra f henonis — *Phyllostachys nigra* f. *henonis*

Bamboo makes a contemporary, evergreen hedge. Choose with care as some varieties can reach 6m tall, and some have invasive, spreading roots – be sure to contain such varieties within a solid barrier. Different varieties grow at different rates, from 30cm-1m a year. Grow in moist soil.

Viburnum tinus

Viburnum tinus is a dense evergreen shrub that makes a lovely, informal flowering hedge. It has dark green leaves and clusters of strongly scented flowers from late winter to early spring. It grows quickly when young (at least 30cm a year) but more slowly when mature.

Photinia

Photinia x fraseri 'Red Robin' is a popular choice for an evergreen hedge. The new growth in spring is an attractive red, before maturing to a glossy, dark green. Expect it to put on 30cm in a year. Clipping it in summer will give it a more formal look, but be very careful to check for nesting birds first.

Privet

Ligustrum vulgare — Privet, bearing small white flowers

Privet (Ligustrum) is a very popular hedge choice, popular in front gardens. It's evergreen and grows at a rate of around 30cm per year. Trim it a couple of times in summer, checking thoroughly for birds nests first, to encourage it to form a dense, formal, neat hedge.

Western red cedar

Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) is a good alternative to leylandii, which can become problematic. It grows at a rate of 45-60cm a year, so bear this in mind when considering it. The leaves release a fragrance when crushed or rubbed against.

Portuguese laurel

Portuguese laurel, Prunus lusitanica, is another good choice for an evergreen formal hedge. It produces small, fragrant white flowers in summer, followed by dark berries which are popular with birds. It will put on between 30cm and 60cm a year.