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.

Instructions

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.