Security hedge recommendations

medoc

Hi All, I've a new stone wall built along the front of my property and want to plant some greenery along the inside. I was thinking of maybe planting a hedge that I could keep trimmed to just under the height of the wall. What do you think of planting some sort of thorny hedge that might deter possible people climbing over the wall? Something that could be kept at a low height and also looks ok with colour, flowers or berries etc. The garden is big and the wall long so I was thinking of planting a double row to make it harder to climb over. Have you any possible suggestions? Or is it a bad idea. I'll visit a garden centre for advice when I get time off work. Also what's the best time of year to plant? If it could be done in September I'd start prep work now or should I wait till spring. Thanks for any advice.

Samuel T. Cogley

Be careful not to make the mistake I did in a) planting the hedge too near the wall and b) buying a house with a 4" wall and planting any sort of hedge by it! I assume you've a 9" wall with proper foundations and attachment to pillars. Anyway holly would be gorgeous but slow growing. You can buy maturish plants though.

Shefwedfan

depending on where you are in the country the best is beech or horn beam....what is your location?

I am looking at circa 70m of hedge which I need to plant and going with beech....just trying to work out exactly when to plant is best as well...

They say for beech it should be late Autumn to Spring....

Lumen

How tall is wall?

Pyracantha?

fepper

If you want thorny hedge,its whitethorn,bare in winter though but flowers and berries as it matures,grows fast so has to be clipped to shape and could be tricky with the thorns but you wouldn't be inclined to jump over wall with it there

looksee

Rosa rugosa, easy to grow, lovely flowers, magnificent fruit, will fill the area solid - and very prickly.

medoc

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Be careful not to make the mistake I did in a) planting the hedge too near the wall and b) buying a house with a 4" wall and planting any sort of hedge by it! I assume you've a 9" wall with proper foundations and attachment to pillars. Anyway holly would be gorgeous but slow growing. You can buy maturish plants though.

Yea the wall itself about 300mm or 12 inches in total. The foundation strip is almost 1 meter wide with steel mesh as the ground was sandy.

medoc

The wall is about 1.2m high. So normal wall height. I'd want a hedge to be kept lower than that and look reasonably well on the inside. It's a long wall and a very big garden so plenty tu of room, no need for kids to be playing too near it so the thornier the better. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll google them to see what they are. Presumably I'd have to wait till spring to plant at this stage?

Markcheese

How about a mix?
Whitehorn with every third or 4th beech to give a bit of winter colour,
Or whatever else suits you, Whitehorn is cheap enough as well.. (saw a realy nice clipped hedge with tall column beach at regular intervals)
Even old fashioned box hedging?

Samuel T. Cogley

AFAIK and I'm only going on when I was told tom plant, it's actually October so they bed in over thew winter. You'll also, potentially, need to do a lot of watering come the following summer.

blackbox

Pyracantha.

Nice orange berries, lethal thorns.

Hard to deal with the clippings though.


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Shefwedfan

I hate thorns, especially around a house....the reason

When I was growing up my Granny seemed to have obsession with thorns trees. No matter what we did the bloody ball would always end up in the tree and bang it was gone.....off to try and get a few quid together to get a new ball

For that reason alone I would never inflict that on my kids. Beech is perfect job and looks nice all year around and of course, no pesky thorns

Samuel T. Cogley

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I hate thorns, especially around a house....the reason

When I was growing up my Granny seemed to have obsession with thorns trees. No matter what we did the bloody ball would always end up in the tree and bang it was gone.....off to try and get a few quid together to get a new ball

For that reason alone I would never inflict that on my kids. Beech is perfect job and looks nice all year around and of course, no pesky thorns

Sometimes it's to inflict it on other people's little bu... kids!

Delphinium

Osmanthus heterophyllus is like holly but grows as a bush or hedge rather than a tree. Is thorny like holly. I would avoid whitethorn and pyracantha as the thorns are lethal and will be a nightmare to keep trimmed and collect thorns. I've seen lawnmowers punctured by whitethorn. As the foundation is very wide you will have to plant well way from the wall. You could run barbed wire between the fence and wall to add to security.
If you plant a few osmanthus burkwoodii as well the scent in the spring is fabulous. I would be inclined to have an informal hedge with some variety as well as thorns.