How to Choose a Hedge for a Garden

With the exception of a brick or stone wall, a dense hedge is the best way to make an attractive and almost impenetrable boundary around a garden. Hedges have a few advantages over walls, too. They can be neatly clipped into decorative shapes, or allowed to grow informally. Of course, unlike a wall or fence, they also change with the seasons.Many plants make effective hedging, from a formal yew as a green backdrop, to a colorful barberry feature in its own right. The most time-consuming task is trimming your hedge. This is usually an annual job, though you may need to do it more often to keep formal or fast-growing hedges in shape.

Difficulty:

 

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. • 1
     Define the hedge's purpose. Apart from marking the boundary of your property, a hedge can also screen passing traffic, pedestrians or neighbors, giving your garden some privacy. It can also create secluded areas, as well as shelter from wind or sun.
   • 2
     Decide whether the hedge will be formal or informal. Also decide whether you prefer it to form an evergreen or deciduous barrier.
   • 3
     Select yew or boxwood for formal hedging. Yew is the ultimate in elegant, formal hedging, but is relatively expensive and slow-growing. For low, formal hedging, boxwood makes a dense edging.
   • 4
     Create an inexpensive informal hedge with cypress. While yew is formal at the other extreme, hedge-leaved Leyland cypress is fast-growing and cheap. If kept trim, it quickly makes a dense, regular hedge. A slower-growing, and more attractive, evergreen hedge can be made with arborvitae, Lawson cypress, or well-clipped green or variegated hollies.
   • 5
     Plant a deciduous hedge. Beech is an excellent deciduous hedge that retains its leaves during the winter to provide a good degree of screening. Deciduous forsythia and flowering quince lose their leaves in autumn, but the interest they provide at other times makes them a good choice where an all-year round barrier is not essential.
   • 6
     Select colorful berries for a unique informal hedge. Many barberries make good informal hedges, especially Japanese barberry, with its many cultivars, and pyracantha, which has white flowers and colorful berries.

     
     

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