Best hedge for speed of growth and maintenance etc

worded

What hedge is recommended for a front and back garden. What's your top 3 favs ?

Rows Grower

Whitethorn, Hawthorn, Willow.

looksee

Speed of growth is not necessarily a great idea. You plant something that will grow quickly, then omit to cut it because you want a 4ft or 5ft hedge. You end up with a straggly row of shrubs that is all bald base and a tuft of growth on top. Then when it is the height you want, it continues to grow at an exponential speed, giving you a load of work just trying to control it.

Presumably you have an urban/suburban garden?

Lonicera Nitida looks a bit like box, is quick growing and easy enough to clip and control. Hawthorn makes a thorny, impenetrable hedge, is good for wildlife and looks very neat if it is well kept. Escallonia makes a nice hedge and has flowers, would be my favourite for an urban garden.

All these hedges must be kept clipped from around year 2 of being planted. You want them to get to a certain height, and people say they are not going to clip until the hedge is the height they want. Then wonder why the hedge is thin and straggly looking. In most cases clipping encourages growth and you will not actually lose any time in getting the hedge you want.

Babyreignbow

I'm tight on space so I've a couple of small boundaries with some very domesticated suburban hedging, I love photinia for it's colour, it's evergreen and grows very fast.

I've another small hedge of osmanthus burkwoodii, also evergreen and while it's been slow to start is starting to come into it's own now, it has small flowers in spring that are supposed to be fragrant.

I've a small low border hedge of box, another evergreen and easy to manage and trim but much slower to get going initially.

(I hate laurel, which is very fast growing but also grows into rugged great trees before you know it and is difficult to manage in a small space)

As Looksee has suggested, they get trimmed and pruned regularly for growth and maintenance. Photinia especially has fiery red new growth so is always good to cut it back in spring/autumn.

The Continental Op

Yew, yew and yew.

Supposedly slow growing and definitely poisonous but but makes the best hedge.

Much faster growing than you'd think and away from stock (in the country) it doesn't matter if its poisonous.

About the only hedge you can rejuvenate and cut back hard if it gets to big only caveat is that you don't cut more than one side back hard at a time. With skillful trimming can be kept really tight.

Grassy Knoll

anyone for the Leylandii ??

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499639#Comment_122499639

Yeah up until you see how fast it grows and how difficult it is to keep green and under control.

worded

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499639#Comment_122499639

Def the one to go for. Controversial but ever green and Def fast growing LOL

magicbastarder

Was actually commenting to my wife recently how many Leylandii hedges we've seen recently which were badly trimmed so now they're just a wall of brown.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499639#Comment_122499639

I'm all for them being banned. 😄

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499639#Comment_122499639

Gets a bad rep but correctly maintained can make a fine hedge, trouble is that's rare.

There's a slow(er) growing variety called Gold Rider which is actually lovely.

Nigzcurran

What about my lovely griselinia? It's evergreen, bomb proof and simple to maintain

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499760#Comment_122499760

The least beneficial plant known to wildlife there is, so much so it's banned by several county councils when applying for planning permission.

Apart from that it's a lovely hedge 😁

dmcdona

+1 for Griselinia. Popped one in a couple of years back. Bought 20 4ft plants in pots. No more than 2 hours to plant (incl getting ground ready). If kept trimmed at the top, they leaf all the way to ground level and the foliage is very thick - can't see through it. Evergreen too. Beautiful to look at.
They didn't grow very fast which means they always look good. I trim maybe twice a year. It wasn't cheap. I paid 800 but got an instant hedge (about 10 metres long).

worded

Photinia Red Robin is lovely.

Is it a bit gappy ? Or if grown properly is good

worded

What about the one that's brown in winter and green in summer? Very classy looking for a front garden where privacy is not 100% a concern. That is you can see through it in a winter I think

looksee

That's beech. Yes its a nice hedge but it definitely needs persistent trimming and needs to be grown being trimmed or it will turn into trees.

looksee

Not often you see lovely and grisellinia in the same sentence! 😁

They make a solid wall of (an odd shade of) green, but that's about all you can say for them.

dmcdona

Looks lovely to me… :-)

I also planted 140m of a double hedge - 10 different species. The wildlife love that but other than the odd blackbird grubbing beneath it, the gris is avoided.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499843#Comment_122499843

Probably one of the nicer hedges to have but I'd say you'd be waiting a long time to have a decent hedge, I mostly only see them around more mature gardens. They can be a bit leggy in some gardens.

You can't bate a good thorny hedge, I bought a few bags of bare root plants that were in the no hopers section in Aldi for 99 cents. Planted them in ground that had was far from ideal but 8 years later it's still getting stronger and denser.

You can make a hedge out of anything really, friends of mine did one with white hydrangeas. It was costly but very well thought out.

Nigzcurran

Ah I know it's pretty useless for wildlife but i have the griselinia for a bit of privacy in the front garden instead of a wall. Keep it squared off about a metre high and it looks great. I have 2 of them as individual smaller plants mixed in out the back garden and I notice there can be a load of small sparrow sized birds landing on them eating something

Babyreignbow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499843#Comment_122499843

Might not be the best example but this went in as a 40cm twig two seasons ago so it's just coming into its own. I pruned it a little last month but it was about 5ft high then and yeah, they all start out a bit leggy but the more you prune on them the bushier they get.

It's just starting to fill out. My neighbor's hydrangea makes it looks small but that thing is a monster. The nicest hedge I ever saw was a red robin lining a 4ft parameter wall around the boundary of a house nearby, it peered just above it and when the light hit it on summer evening it glowed like it was on fire 🔥

I agree about hydrangea hedges, I've seen some beautiful driveway lined with a variety of hydrangea and it was stunning. (Have a photo but can't find it) Plus 1 for yew, my local park has a beech and a yew ringed pathway and they are both gorgeous.

Babyreignbow

Beech and yew hedges in background

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122499859#Comment_122499859

We have a Beech. It's a lot of work trimming it back however. The other thing is it can block a significant amount of light. Can be a bit difficult to plant things near with their roots. Regarding wildlife though, there was a starling nest in our hedge this year, which was nice to see (better than my attic which they chose late year).

worded

OP here. Thanks for all the replies

Front hedge will be approx 5 foot high - prob red robin option.

Back hedge approx 2+ meter ish high. Need something for privacy than the neighbours can't see through .... Dence foliage.. yet to be decided ...

Babyreignbow

I'd go with the yew for the back, if you can bear the wait. No matter what you put in they'll take a year or two to establish but by year three they'll all be flying.

5 year old yew hedge here >)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaT5E2kW_7c

Squiggle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122500684#Comment_122500684

If you need privacy forget about deciduous or semi deciduous hedges like beech or hornbeam imo. I have hornbeam, which is semi deciduous, and you absolutely can see through it in winter.

Coral berry or Portugese laurel are evergreens worth considering imo.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122502849#Comment_122502849

Really depends on exposure and when you cut them. I've had beech you could no way see in through in winter and hornbeam is know to hang on to its leaves but needs cutting early to allow for new growth that will hold its leaves.

Hibernicis

Anything that looks the same 365 days a year is nature’s equivalent of cheap plastic and doesn’t belong in a garden (so goodbye griselinia, leylandi etc). I’d possibly make an exception for a few yew trees because a good yew hedge can look amazing. Much more interesting to go for something that changes with the seasons and attracts wildlife such as whitethorn, hawthorn, willow, dogwoods, beech, or even photinia. In the case of some of these, e.g. beech, planting a double row can improve the privacy during the winter. As with any hedge regular pruning in the formative years is essential. Another option, but it takes a lot more planning and ongoing work, is a hedge comprised of mixed species - the reward of course is an ever changing pallet, especially of there are some flowering elements.

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122502849#Comment_122502849

We have Beech with loads of privacy. It's very dense to the extent I've had to try and thin it throughout to get some light through. We have leaves most of the winter, I don't think it ever gets bare.

Leg End Reject

Does anyone know would you be liable if anyone cut themselves on thorns in a hedge alongside a roadside or footpath?

Random question I know, but I'd like to replace an ugly hedge and like the idea of hawthorn. How often should a new hedge be pruned until it fills out?