This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Hedgerow recommendations.
TheGardenGoblin
Posts: 31
Hi, all have a fairly large area of lawn to play with so I've decided to make best use of the space and do a bit of planting . Anyway my house is rural and faces onto a main road so firstly I'm going to plant a hedge row across the front of the property.
Can anyone suggest a good manageable hedge that I could use for this purpose. Ideally I would like it to not grow too tall around six or seven foot would be ideal. I realise it would need to be evergreen and be lush enough to block any gaps. Also I would love a bush that has some kind of blossom for the insects. I have a clayey silty soil type. Any suggestions would be great thanks. 
TGG.
0
Posts
Go for native plants. Holly (Ilex aquifolium) would make a super hedge. It's evergreen, dense and slow growing so needs less maintenance by way of pruning. The leaves are very prickly which is an added bonus as a security feature. It will also create perfect nesting opportunities for birds and the berries will also give them food over the harsh winter months. The holly blue butterfly also utilises holly leaves for part of its life cycle. The flowers are attractive as nectar sources for insects such as bees, wasps, flies, and small butterflies.
Unless you need to keep out animals (cows and sheep) or humans, then avoid anything with thorns or prickles. They are very difficult to cut and disposing of the trimmings is a nightmare. Believe me I know, we have a 60 feet long mixed Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Holly hedge at the front and cutting it is a nightmare of pain and followed by hours of splinter removing, even when wearing gauntlets. Blackthorn (Sloe) is especially bad as every splinter in the hand turns septic.
I'd go for holly every time - you can get non-prickly sorts, but I've never found the prickles to be a nuisance when trimming the hedgerows when I've had holly hedges - and think of all the free Christmas decorations
as well as the fact that as Hippophae says, it's superb for wildlife 
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you very much folks that's really given me a lot to think about. I have a couple of huge barberry bushes out back. They're absolutely teaming with bee's when they flower so they're great for the bee's. They also produce thousands of berries, does anyone know if these are beneficial to birds at all? Also is it possible to take cuttings from these to grow new ones? Sorry for all the questions but I'm a complete novice.
Yes you can TheGardenGoblin. In fact berberis are best propagated by heel cuttings taken now in the summer when they will root most rapidly.
See here for all the information that you will need to do this - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=404
Thanks so much Hippophae
You're welcome!
Nice Tetley, love the mixture in the first photo. Big contrast in the weather were you are compared to me, grey, wet and overcast here.
Kent lovely part of the country. Funnily enough I'm actually going camping next week in Ireland