Hedges

 

If you're longing for an English look, dense French topiary,

big natural hedgerow, waving bamboo screen, or a wide

brocaded perimeter border, a hedge is in your future! 

But, choose well, because moving forty or more mature

plants is a chore, even though hedges beat fences any day. 

They last forever, don't need paint, don't have height

restrictions, and they look great on both sides.

 

We've listed the plants we recommend according to the

type of hedge they produce, so you can choose one that

makes you happy.  Vary your types, because who wants

boring?  Intersect, make arches, go high, go low, go

flowering!   Especially just plant them!  Hedges mature

slowly, but are essential for screening, wind breaks, shelter

and just pure visual organization.  Boxwood is still our

favorite for versatility and pure good manners, but all

of these are wonderful plants.

 

 

Formal, clipped

Boxwood

Yew*

Carpinus*

Beech*  (purple)

Leyland cypress*

 

Arches

Pole apple

Yew

Spire-shaped pear

Carpinus

Beech

Leyland Cypress

 

Romantic

Camellia*

Boxwood w/ topiaried parts

Lavender

Fruit trees*

Hydrangea

Magnolia* (slim evergreen 'Alta')

Roses

Pole apple

 

Colorful

Euonymous

Ilex (Holly)

Roses

 

Hedgerow

Hazel*

Willow*

Cornus*

Blueberry

Buddleia*

Elderberry

Roses

Daylilies (to keep down the weeds)

Herbs

 

Brocades

-Use mostly evergreen shrubs, planted in rambling order.

Evergreen in blues and yellows*

Rhododendron* (big ones)

Small Maple*

Boxwood

Magnolia*

Flowering crabapple*

 

Screens

Bamboo*

Carpinus*

Trees*

 

Rustic

Big-leaf Boxwoods left natural

Skimmia

Pieris

Rhododendron*

Camellia

Magnolia*

Willows*

Tall grasses

Ligustrum

 

*Depending on how tall you let these get,

you may need a ladder to trim them.