Recommend a hedge?

[Digitalis]

Can you recommend me an evergreen hedge, please?

I'm looking at growing it to around 4ft tall.

The cost is a big issue, so I realise that I'll probably have to go for a 1ft bare rooter to start with. Therefore I'm looking at something that is relatively fast growing.

I would probably need about 8-10 small plants to fill the gap. I'm looking at spending no more than £25..........!

From my limited knowledge of hedges, I've narrowed it down to yew (taxus baccata) and privet. The yew looks great, but it is slow growing.

I considered leylandii but they would not look right in my front garden.

Any suggestions?

[Digitalis]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Don't use leylandii, they're trouble! All you have to do is miss clipping them, and they grow at warp speed. If you never miss it, whoever has the property next will do so if they're not a gardener, so you're creating a generational problem. Yew is slower growing than privet, but it makes a better hedge in the end, and will grow at a reasonable rate if it's fed annually with compost or manure.

[Unwashed]

Like Robert, I think yew is a good option and it isn't as slow growing as you'd think, but it is very poisonous, and it's expensive too.  Beech and hornbeam make make well-mannered hedges, they're not strictly evergreen but they do keep their leaves which might be what you're after, and they're cheap and easy.  And don't forget holly, makes an excellent hedge feathered right down to the ground, but again, you'll probably struggle to come in under £25.  Personally I wouldn't go for anything non-native, laurel being my least favourite, and privet is so 1950's suburban-semi.

[small]

What about box, if you are in area that doesn't have the blight?  It's neat and pretty.  Privet is the very devil to look after and you can't grow anything within yards of it.

[cleo]

Yew is not too expensive and also not that slow growing



And if this works----------can be used to create `rooms`



The whole thing took 5/6 years-apart from the `goblet` which was an untidy tree until I hacked it back

[snipsnip]

I love the colours of Beech, so I'd go for that.

[ipt8]

If you want it quick I think your choice of privet or yew is good. I have found if you buy bare root yew with good fibrous roots it grows very quickly. The more fibrous roots the better.
Of course privet is dead easy from cuttings, we just shuv them in the ground and most take, but we do have a sandy soil.
Privet is the easiest to trim.

[Ninnyscrops.]

I've got six foot leylandii on one side, got away with clipping it just the once this year and 7 foot laurel on the other which is a secateur job. Just don't use lonicera to infill while the shrubs are growing (some garden centre recommend it) - they are a nightmare to keep under control!

Ninny

[Geoff H]

I would go for beech. It has leaves on all year round, dead ones in winter and is easy to cut. You can trim it so that it is very narrow and uses up very little width. I have one down the side of my house that is 7 foot high and only 12 inches thick but you cannot see through it. All my neighbours rave about the colour in winter. It is also dead cheap to buy.
Never plant leylandii. I have had to cut over 200 foot of the d**n stuff. The most successful way of managing a Leylandii hedge is by root pruning ie. chopping it off at the roots.

[RobinOfTheHood]

I have 2 leylandii hedges.

I like them.    :'(

[Paulines7]

What about berberis?  I believe there are some evergreen ones. 

[Ninnyscrops.]

What about berberis?  I believe there are some evergreen ones. 

Aren't they a tad prickly? Gloves and secateurs pruning type.

Our neighbour has one in the back garden adjoining our boundary, I don really thick gloves when I trim it back, twice a year, but they do keep their leaves and are great in the spring for nesting birds  ;)

Ninny