What would a hedge be without its hedge shrub? This question alone cuts straight to the point when you’re looking to learn more about hedges. Indeed, a hedge can have a purpose based on where it’s planted, but it will only be truly effective if you choose the right species to compose it.
Hedge shrubs: for every use, the right species
Beyond aesthetics, you also choose a hedge shrub for its function.
Privacy hedges
The goal of privacy hedges is simply to shield you from others’ views. But to do things right for this type of hedge you must absolutely select varieties that are both dense and evergreen. You’ll need to think carefully to find the privacy plant best suited to your exterior space.
A laurel hedge can work, provided some ornamental laurels are particularly versatile and hardy, but absolutely avoid evergreen hedges like thuja which don’t make sense, are in fact quite drought-sensitive, and whose clippings create waste that’s a real problem (uncompostable and they inhibit soil life).
The Whitebeam and the Spindle, the Black Alder, the Wrinkled Birch, the Goat Willow, the Sessile Oak, the Pedunculate Oak can provide a solid base for this type of hedge, depending on the height you’re after.
Hedgerows
Just because you want a garden hedge doesn’t mean you should overlook hedgerows or cottage hedges. Hedgerows are quite varied in their planting techniques and have as their primary objective to mark out parcels.
Defining the landscape, these hedges are often composed of a wide variety of species such as Cotoneaster, the Crabapple, the Common Juniper, the Camérisier à balais, the Hawthorn, the Beech, the Wild Rose, the Buckthorn or the Wayfaring Tree.
The hedge shrub, yes, but what about the rest?
When you design a hedge, you often picture it in a very conventional way, that is to say with shrubs lined up side by side along a linear space you want to enclose.
But a hedge can also be thought of in several ways and especially by using plants that can work well with all the species mentioned above.
Some climbing plants are particularly well suited, for example ivy, which will not compete with your hedge shrubs, but which also has evergreen leaves, promotes biodiversity, serves as a privacy screen, and can stay low or climb high.
Others are also invited to join the mix alongside hedge shrubs, with the added benefit of creating a flowering hedge, such as the wood honeysuckle, the Hop, the Sweet Bitter or the Climbing Clematis of the hedges… It only remains for you to get started!
How can you do better than these “green curtain” hedges—opaque and monotonous—at marking your property or giving wildlife a welcome refuge? This little guide offers the essentials on plant choices based on your needs. Privacy, windbreak, edibility, pollution reduction, pollinator-friendly… the wild hedge has many advantages, and above all it requires very little maintenance!
Discover it on Cultura.com
