HEDGES what would you choose?

[NotAnOtter]

we are in northern england and our victorian house faces onto a small wood hence quite dark

we want to remove fencing and make a hedge (guessing around 20 metres of boundary)

i dont really want beech due to non evergreen but am open to suggestions?

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

Copper beech is lovely

One of my hedges is copper beech, the beauty is that they hold onto their leaves through winter and into spring, shedding them when the new leaves start forming.

HTH

[NotAnOtter]

thankyou bald ! are the leaves brown and crispy in winter

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

GOlden brown and crispy leaves, they positively glow in the sunshine.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

And a lovely green in spring and summer.

[cece]

yes our beech hedge retains the many of it's brown crispy leaves all winter. Replaced in spring with new leaves. We also have a conifer one. Not so pretty but much more private. Very tall as very old so takes a lot of work to cut every year...

[KristinaM]

if you want soemthing natural looking, why not go for a mixed native hedge like this

[NotAnOtter]

i like that idea .....

[LackaDAISYcal]

we have a mixed hedge and there are some sections of holly in it which are nice, especially the female ones that get lovely berries on in the winter. It's evergreen as well, but does cause a bit of shedding throughout the year as the leaves are constantly replaced.

[FromGirders]

All beech hedges will retain their leaves all winter, not only copper beech - you have to keep them pruned though, only juvenile growth will retain its leaves.

[NotAnOtter]

i considered pure holly actually but dont think i have ever seen a holly hedge!

[FromGirders]

I'd choose rosa rugosa - lovely flowers, spines keep things out, or kids in, glowy red rosehips in the autumn and winter, make rosehip syrup, or leave them for the wildlife!

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

We have a very, very, very, long beech hedge that does hang onto most of it's leaves through the winter but drops them all over the lawn from April onwards and it's a bugger raking them all up. Ours were planted about 12 years ago as 3ft saplings and are now 8ft tall and 4ft thick.

We have a privetty-type thing which is clipped into fat round undulating bumps but I imagine it took several generations to reach it's current proportions as it doesn't grow very quickly.

And we have lots of mixed hedgerows which are lovely. They are rather ragged and rural - do you want something smart?

[QuintessentialShadows]

My parents have a rosa rugosa hedge. It is over 40 years old, and I can assure you it grows a lot taller than 2 meters, it is closer to 3. It is magnificent!

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

Holly leaves hurt like buggery, they lurk all winter and then shuffle onto the lawn in spring waiting to be trodden on by soft, bare toddler feet.

[NotAnOtter]

we live opposite the most amazing copper beech tree which is a true thing of beauty

drives me NUTS all the leaf drop!

will look at the rosa one ...

[EachPeachPearMum]

Hawthorn and holly are lovely, but my absolute favourite is yew- takes forever to grow though.

[EachPeachPearMum]

Hmmm, sorry, you want to cut down the darkness... perhaps not yew then.
But, but, your house will look like a gorgeous old vicarage if you had one

[zaphod]

If you ever intend to play football or any other ball game DO NOT use hawthorn. We buy footballs and sometimes within the hour they are burst. It seemed a good idea at the time, as it was in keeping with the hedgerows, but then the children grew up. We are thinking of getting rid of it, only the massive effort required has stopped us.

[Pannacotta]

What height do you need?
Laurel and privet are smart and evergreen.
Also mixed hedges as others suggest. There are lots of hedge suppliers who offer good adivce if you google, like this one
store.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Information;jsessionid=0a01025a1f43c2746649f9344076962af512ccaa3a02.e3eSbN ySbxiNe34Pa38Ta38Nbxb0

[Pannacotta]

And agree with rosa rugosa too, a lovely idea.

[NotAnOtter]

the rosa rugosa is my ideal ...in an ideal world

however! i think i am erring toward privet or yew due to the very tidy kempt appearance

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

Yew looks great but we can't have it because of the horses - it's incredibly poisonous.

[moshie]

Euonymous Emerald n Gold, I've got this in a pot and it adds a lovely bit of colour and is evergreen too.

[EachPeachPearMum]

Oh, NAO, I walked past the most beautiful 3 foot high yew hedge today, and thought of you

[GooseyLoosey]

there are somelovely varieties of privet and it grows fairly quickly and is fairly hardy.