what plants should I use to create a hedge?

[littleredsquirrel]

We have a long stretch of wire fencing along the boundary to our driveway and we would like a hedge to give us more privacy. We need something fast growing and evergreen. It is long (a couple of hundred metres) and so we also need something cheap!

Thank you!

Hello
I am looking into this meself atm
Not russian vine (aka mile a minute) it seems. One of the sites I was just looking at (not sure which) suggesting a clematis armandii as an alternative?

Laurels are nice, not sure how fast grwoing they are though. Please do not plant a russian vine, I made that mistake many years ago, they are a nightmare.

growing even

Am going to do some googling and see what the options are. DS2 has developed a dislike of trousers/underwear and so we are in need of a bit more privacy quite quickly!

I don't know about fast-growing, but near where I used to live one of the houses had a rosemary hedge. Looked gorgeous and smelled divine - I used go out of my way to walk past it, especially in summer.

How tall do you need it. You could plant beech, it's not evergreen but if you keep it below about 6 feet, it keeps its brown leaves over winter.

Rosemary is brilliant and the bees love it but it really only does about four feet reliably.

kathyjelly its quite a problem because the house is on a hill and there is a slope down to the wire fencing. it therefore needs to be as tall as possible otherwise it won't give us any additional privacy. six foot won't do it. We are lucky in that we won't be restricted in how tall it can be since both sides of the hedge would actually be on our land (the driveway is ours but others have right of access over it). So I'm thinking as tall and as fast growing as possible!

Laurel looks like it could be an option. Will this grow quickly?

One of fastest growers is leylandii but of course that might not be suitable for your neighbours and isn't very pretty.

Photinia (Red Robin) makes a lovely hedge and is particularly good in Winter and Spring

Lilac can be used as hedge but will also send shoots up through whatever is next to hedge - lawn, flower beds it doesn't care!

beware of fast growing - it grows fast all its life and so means lots of cutting.

I was going to suggest beech, or hornbeam which may be cheaper but it similar. Other options are yew or holly - neither cheap or fast growing though.

As for people seeing your DS2 - hmm - kids will be kids (assuming he isn't grown up !). People will just have to cope - I bet he grows out of it before a hedge does.

I was going to suggest Laurel too, it grows about a foot a year IIRC.

Lonicera nitida makes a good hedge and it is evergreen.

Yes I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon since he's only three at the moment. More of a problem could be DH who was painting the windows in his underpants yesterday

Exhibitionist males in the family aside, we are generally looking for more privacy. The driveway is being used more and more by others and the garden is no longer the private area it used to be. Its quite annoying because the other houses don't have to use our driveway, there is a main entrance to the estate, but our driveway provides a shortcut and they do have a legal right of way and so we can't stop them. I can cope with cars going past but I do object to people taking a leisurely stroll with their dog down our driveway or sledging down it in the winter . Anyway, different issue but the plan is to put in speed bumps to deter the speeders in their cars and to put up a hedge to stop the nosey neighbours peering in.

If you are talking a high hedge like that - it is going to take some keeping control of.

I would just put in a mixed native hedge - eg provet, field maple, dogwood, any of the thorns (not good if you are going to cut it often), beech, oak, ash etc. It will still provide a barrier even in winter when it doesn't have leaves.

Would putting up some private, access only signs help ?

we have signs up but hasn't helped at all unfortunately. The good thing though is that its a countryside/semi woodland setting and so the hedge doesnt need to look manicured which helps.

Lots of the websites supply bare root plants but say they can't be planted until November??

bare rooted is definitely cheaper (and grow better) - they don't dig them until they dormant in the winter. We planted a hedge of about 400 plants about 10 years ago now - has been a fully functioning hedge for at least 6-7 years (so took a couple of years to establish).

If you want native plants - beware - we picked uk natives and then discovered they are uk species - but the ones we ordered we grown in Europe - delivery was late because they were frozen in the ground and couldn't get them out !

I guess at least if they're delivered in November it will give us plenty of time to get digging in readiness!

I agree with throckenholt - a mixed native hedge would be attractive, and you can cut back into the old wood if you don't want to prune it every year. I personally would steer clear of laurel, it grows ultra fast but gets out of control very quickly and is a bugger to cut/prune. [bitter experience emoticon].

Don't plant bare root now - you need more moisture in the soil to do that - either autumn or spring.

Don't even have to dig for bare root planting - you make a slit with a spade and put the plant in.

Ooh poledra was the rosemary hedge in this country? (UK)
Sounds lovely

Yes, it was, Olivia, in East Anglia. It would have been about 5 foot tall, but of course I have no idea how long it had taken to get to that height

photinia looks fantastic when it turns red

I would not put anything with thorns, my hedge is part hawthorn, and, not matter how careful I am, I always end up with thorns in my hands (even through tough gloves) when weeding the bed below. It may not sound like much, but it's incredibly painful.