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10% OFF EVERY order placed online £20 worth of Suttons Vouchers Exclusive members only deals Join NowHedging is a cheap and easy way to create a boundary. Plants make the best privacy screens for your garden, and benefit wildlife too. Wondering what plants are best for hedges? From fast-growing laurel to beautiful evergreen hedges like box and holly, you can find your best hedging plants here.
To keep a hedge looking good you need to clip it regularly, at least once a year. An electric hedge trimmer will make the job easier, although hand shears can also be used. Keep the ground underneath free of weeds, which will compete with the plants for water and nutrients. Adding a mulch of compost or other organic matter in spring or autumn will help with moisture retention and weed suppression.
Hedges like any dense area of planting will help to reduce noise pollution. This makes them particularly suitable for front gardens on busy roads. Evergreens are the best choice and hedges should be tall and wide.
If hedges aren’t clipped regularly, they will soon become too big for their allotted space and start growing into trees. Clipping also helps to thicken the hedge. A formal hedge will need trimming more often than an informal one. Cut the sides first and use a string guide to get the top level. Make sure the top of a hedge is never wider than the base as it will block the light resulting in poor growth.
There are plants suitable for making hedges in most types of soil though few will cope with waterlogged ground. Holly and yew will grow in shade but most other hedging plants need an open, sunny position.
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