Which plants to choose to compose a garden hedge?

Height, varieties, roots … These are all criteria to take into account depending on the destination and use of your hedge.

The diversity of the plant world often pushes us to want to experiment with essences, each more original than the next. However, there are some rules to keep in mind when choosing plants for a garden hedge, in order to ensure optimal growth. Whether lively or drawn in line, flowery or textured, such a plantation is no small feat when it comes to respecting the context and aesthetics. It is therefore essential to find the appropriate mixture for a successful result, an unusual vegetable palette, varied and easy to maintain. Houzz helps you see more clearly in order to choose the most suitable plants for your hedge project.

Barnes Walker Ltd – Landscape Architects

1. For a high hedge
When it is not possible to plant trees with great development without disturbing the neighborhood, but you still have to hide from vis-à-vis , planting a high hedge is a good compromise. Trained trees
Deciduous, semi-evergreen or persistent, they allow you to hide from view thanks to their foliage cut like a curtain. If the configuration of the fence allows it, you can even choose plants provided from the base. Guaranteed effect! The most widely used species are Carpinus betulus (hornbeam) and Tilia cordata (small-leaved lime), as they lend themselves to the curtain pruning recommended to maintain trellised form and give well-fleshed trees.

Marian Boswall Landscape Architects

When buying this type of tree there is a certain cost, so it is a real investment. Nevertheless, it will be a guarantee of tranquility if the land is located below or overlooks the neighbors’ windows.

Contemporain Jardin by Landform Consultants Ltd

Their drop shadow is also significant. Unlike free-form trees, its footprint is targeted and allows the exterior to be designed accordingly.

Tip: If a high hedge borders a terrace, this will be the perfect place for a relaxation area!

Bamboo
To plant a tall, leafy, persistent and trendy hedge, choose bamboo! Be careful, not all of them are suitable for planting a hedge, even less at the edge of masonry or housing. Because of their creeping roots, many bamboos see their rhizomes invade spaces and new shoots emerge on the ground, sometimes very far from the mother plant. The plant has the particularity of not being very demanding in terms of soil quality, and therefore invasive.

One kind of bamboo is however quite controllable in the garden: the Fargesia . This variety has the particularity of not spreading, thanks to a root system that contains itself. It can even be planted in a pot and its green leaves varying from tender to lively are sharply cut for a well-proportioned aerial system. Fargesia rufa is particularly suitable for planting in pots or in a planter. There is also the Fargesia angustissima , with a more slender port. Be careful, despite its great hardiness which allows it to withstand very low temperatures (down to -20 °), it prefers shade.
Advice: Do not hesitate to turn to nurseries specializing in the cultivation and sale of bamboo to find the most suited to your requirements.

Contemporain Jardin Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia)

2. For a medium-sized free hedge
Shrub hedges are always on the rise and we understand it! They are often the perfect compromise between aesthetics and cost. The principle of free hedging consists of limiting pruning operations. The branches are left natural to maintain a certain density while maintaining the aerial appearance of the whole. Remember to leave a sufficient width of the bed when you undertake this type of planting. Advice: This type of hedge is regularly used as an alternative to ironwork, sometimes very expensive … and can therefore lead to a contract for maintenance of the garden, that is to say the regular intervention of a professional.

Tom Debley

Shrubs
There are many species that are suitable for this type of planting, but it is still necessary to choose plants adapted to the desires of their owners and the time they can devote to their maintenance. The most commonly used are the Forsythia , much appreciated for its bright yellow flowers heralding spring, the Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’ , with flamboyant red young shoots, the Carpinus betulus , with marcescent foliage, the Philadelphus virginalis ‘Minnesota Snowflake’ , with very fragrant white flowers, the Salix rosmarinifolia , with the very slender. You can also plant sets of dogwoods such as Cornus alba or Cornus sanguinea, or even Cornus mas , which support pruning very well.

Pamela Bateman Garden Design

The Syringa vulgaris , pink purple or white, is another plant that does well in hedges. Be careful not to cut it too drastically, otherwise you will not benefit from its magnificent flowering. Reserve pitches for it at the end of the massif, because of its large scale.

Classique Jardin Weigela Sonic Bloom Pink

Other shrubs with more restrained growth are suitable for flowering hedges. We find in particular the Weigelia , which blooms from white to bright red through interesting shades of pink, and the Abelia , with evergreen foliage and paler flowers. … But just as attractive!
We can also cite hydrangeas which, although they prefer to be exposed to partial sun, are easy to maintain in free form and in hedges. However, they will have to be pruned with secateurs and not with a hedge trimmer, to avoid pathogens.

Wadia Associates

3. For medium-sized hedges that support pruning well
Unlike free hedges, they adopt a desired shape thanks to regular pruning. Shrubs
They are numerous to adapt to this type of plantation, but the most resistant are: the Carpinus betulus , which also lends itself to pruning, the Euonymus japonicus , with impressive variegations and evergreen foliage, the Pittosporum tobira, with tender green leaves to lively and persistent, the Elaeagnus ebbingei, with evergreen foliage varying from yellow to bright green, the Ligustrum vulgare , very hardy and adapted to humid soils .

Advice: For maintenance contracts concerning pruning, the frequency of services must be adapted so as not to see the plants run out of steam. Here too, it is preferable to prune with shears or secateurs, as the hedge trimmer cuts the leaves and causes them to turn yellow.

colincadle.com

4. For low hedges
These are more declined beds than low hedges. The term “hedge” refers here rather to a dividing line either in terms of space or visual. The idea is to accompany the walk or the gaze towards a point of perspective.

www.KarlGercens.com

Plants
Prefer plants that you must absolutely take care not to prune indoors (that is to say “enter the plant”), but for which the size of the shoots of the year is sufficient. Among them, Lavandula angustifolia , Ilex crenata , an alternative to boxwood currently the victim of the famous moth with devastating effects, grasses such as Stipa tenuifolia , the Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’ and its green foliage turning red at the tip, the Deschampsia cespitosa and its murky green tufts. It is advisable to plant these plants in two staggered rows, spacing them 0.5 meters apart, in order to guarantee a dense effect and rapid growth.

The garden

AND YOU?
Which plants have you chosen for your garden hedges? Don’t hesitate!

Which plants to choose to compose a garden hedge?