Best hedge for speed of growth and maintenance etc

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.

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.

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

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.

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 😁

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I'm a zealous native plant and hedge advocate and have many different species of native flora planted on my land over the years but the hedge outside my house is a griselinia simply for privacy, it grows fast, is dense enough not to to be seen through and gives great shelter from the westerly storms blowing in from the cliffs of moher in winter time, I'm not a huge fan of it but does what I need it to do.

LOL definitely a plant snob here and I hate Griselinia with a vengeance, the colour is just so unnatural.

BUT if you live near the sea you have a good excuse to plant it as already mentioned by baxterooneydoody its one plant that will survive.

Snobs I tell ya!

I only started gardening two years ago after I bought a house and I am so nosy about looking in people's gardens now. I do compliment people if they are there when I pass by in case they just think I'm a weirdo. There are a lot of elderly people where I live and some of them come in when they see me planting/weeding to give me advice.

I never see Bay Leaf mentioned as a possible hedge. It has evergreen, no thorns, is 100% non see-through, and the branches are so dense, nothing can get through it - animals or burglars. Dark green leaves.

Apart from an annual clipping, it is maintenance free. Quite easy to maintain at your required height and width.

Robins, sparrows & blackbirds love it.

That's been my experience of it anyway.

I bought potted gris - 4 or 5 foot tall so there was an immediate impact. It established itself straight away with no visible deterioration at all. I'd say it grew another 12 inches in about a year. I'm in a coastal area too - fairly exposed to a lot of wind. I posted a picture earlier in this thread.

The downside - 20 plants were €800 (40 each) but I considered it excellent value for what I got.