Hedges are an essential part of most gardens. They can be clipped and formal, or they can be loosely informal with arching branches covered in summer flowers.
Hedges are used to provide privacy, act as a windbreak and to screen off one part of the garden from another.
Evergreens are ideal hedging plants, as they stay dense and green throughout the winter. The best are probably yew, holly or Cotoneaster lacteus, as they form a dense hedge which needs clipping only once a year. Fast-growing privet or shruby honeysuckle, Lonicera nitida, are also widely used, but they must be clipped two or even three times a year, to keep them tidy and to promote bushy growth.
Hedges made from conifers, which are also evergreen, are often dark green and rather funereal, but there are now lighter conifers, such as Leyland cypress (probably the fastest growing, as it forms 2-3 ft a year) and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Green Hedger‘. Both can be clipped without fear of shoots dying back. To create a thick, interwoven shield of branches, plant the conifers at intervals of about 2 ft.
English lavender (Lavandula spica) makes a sweet-smelling evergreen hedge with a maximum height of about 2 ft. Escallonia macrantha, with its bright summer flowers, forms a large evergreen bush when grown singly. As a hedge it is a little floppy, but it is resistant to salt breezes and grows well in the warm climate of the South and West.
Deciduous shrubs and trees are also useful as hedges, particularly beech and hornbeam, which retain their autumn brown and yellow leaves throughout the winter and into early spring.
Where the hedge is not used as a bundary, informal flowering or berrying shrubs, such as Fuchsia magellanica or the pendent stems of Cotoneaster lacteus, can be left to develop their individual their characteristics a little more than severely clipped, formal hedges.
A popular, bright flowering shrub is the yellow forsythia. The most spectacular variety, ‘Lynwood‘, which is extremely free-flowering with large, rich yellow flowers, can be trained neatly to form a dense hedge.
Berberis also makes a good informal hedge and has both evergreen and deciduous species, many with yellow or orange flowers.
Trees are often grown as a giant hedge to create a windbreak. They are more effective in protecting a garden from wind than a fence or wall, as they allow it gradually; a wall stops the wind completely but creates strong down-draughts. On the coast, Austrian pines or sycamores planted a few yards apart are ideal, as they are resistant to the scorching effects of salt spray.
In large inland gardens, Wheatley elms, limes or horse chestnuts also make good windbreaks.
How to grow a successful hedge
Hedges can be planted either as a single row of shrubs or as a double, staggered row. The double row will make a stronger and denser hedge.
Deciduous hedges can be planted any time in the dormant season (autumn and winter). Evergreens are best planted in October or april when the soil is warm.
If plants that are not growing in containers are delivered before you are ready to plant them, bury the roots in a shallow trench.
Do not plant if there is snow or frost on the ground, or if the soil is waterlogged.
Deep dig a trench along the length of the proposed hedge. Make the trench about 2 ft wide.
Remove the soil from the first spit and bank it on one side.
Fork in old manure or garden compost into the bottom spit (about a barrowful for every 2 yds). Return the topsoil.
Dress the ground with superphosphate at 2-3 oz. (2-3 rounded table spoons) to the square yard about ten days before planting.
Use a garden line to mark out the position of the row, and set canes 12-18 in. Apart to mark the positions of the plants.
For a double row of hedging shrubs, mark the rows 18 in. Apart, with the plants staggered.
Dig the holes large enought to ive the roots plenty of space when spread out, or large enought to rereceive the soil ball round the roots. Plant each shrub up to the stem (the mark where the light and dark coloured bark meet).
Pack moist peat round the roots of bare-rooted plants to encourage them to grow strongly. Shake the stem up nad down gently to get rid of any air pockets and then work inthe rest of the soil carefully over the roots.
Finally, firm the soil down with your feet.
To prevent the wind shaking the roots loose, fix posts firmly at each end of the row. Run a wire tightly between the posts and tie each plant o the wire.
Individual stakes can be used to support each plant, but drive them into the ground before planting to avoid damaging the roots.
Newly planted hedges take a few weeks to recover from transplanting. Evergreens such as laurel, privet and conifers may be scorhed by the wind. Fix a screen of sacking, netting or brushwood on the winward side.
To prevent excessive water loss through the leaves of evergreens after planting, spray the foliage with S600 transplanting spray. This is a plastic coating which retains the moisture and keeps the leaves fresh and keeps the leaves fresh and healthy.
In spring, play a sprinkler on the newly planted hedge. This will encourage new roots to form. ...
Hedges [speros.lt].doc