I am going to plant a lovely mixed hedge - what have I forgotten to include?

[SarahAndQuack]

I have a boundary between my land and the local primary school, which is currently marked by a fence. I would like a little more privacy, not least because DD now attends the school, so whenever I go into that bit of the garden, she can see me and shrieks!

I want to plant a mixed hedge, ideally with native trees (I'd vary it a bit if an alternative were particularly gorgeous). I want it as a good habitat and a decorative thing, rather than just to make a fast-growing barrier. And because there's a school on the other side, I mostly don't want it too prickly, though there's a patch where a few prickly things could be. I'm thinking:

• hawthorn
• blackthorn
• smooth-leaf holly
• elder
• guelder rose
• rowan
• beech
• crabapple?
• golden hop (yes, I know, not native and it might just swamp everything, but they are so pretty!)

What do you think? And do you have any tips for hedges? I know how to lay a hedge, but I've never had to establish one from scratch and don't know which things might out-compete others.

But elder flowers are not poisonous? A main reason for growing elder is to get the lovely flowers! I've never thought beech has very sharp new leaves, but I'll watch out for them now.

I like the idea of birch, and we have viburmum tinus, sumac and cornus elsewhere, but none of these sound like native hedging to me?

Yay! I will try a damson. I do love damsons.

Willow Flamingo Hedging
Salix integra ‘Hakuro-Nishiki’

Not hawthorn or blackthorn. Iincluded it in my millenium hedge and they are both difficulr to mahage. Hawthorn in particular has suckered a lot and Iam seriously thinking of taking it all out an starting again......

I've seen recipes for elderflower fritters.

Forsythia. The early yellow blossom is so cheering at the start of spring.

Wild plum
Hazelnut
Dog rose
Honeysuckle
Cherry

@SarahAndQuack Yes, hornbeam can be treated as a hedging plant in the same way as beech. Looks pretty similar too.

Has anyone mentioned field maple (acer campestre)?

Dog rose less prickly than guelder rose Guelder rose isn’t prickly, its a Viburnum.

Rather than dog rose, what about sweet briar - all the nice things about dog rose, with scented leaves too. It’s native.

Cornus sanguinea is native too

Thanks all! @BobbyBobbyBobby, I always see the flamingo willow as expensive, but it is great fun!

I think I am getting the message about hawthorn/blackthorn! Does anyone know if the cultivars are a bit less vicious? I was a bit tempted by C. ellwangeriana.

@IcakethereforeIam - YY, my mother makes elderflower fritters! Also love elderflower cordial, though DP is not a fan at all.

@EndlessMagpies - thanks! I will try it, then. Someone did mention field maple and definitely! I love the colour.

@MereDintofPandiculation - ooh, yes! Sweetbriar would be great. I've never grown it and I love the idea. I've got cornus all down the other side of this field, so I think will avoid it for the hedge. It may introduce itself anyway.

Don't do thorns they are evil to manage. I also like Scots pine. Rowan we planted at work has done much better than anything else this year.

Please not the Cotoneaster mentioned above.

www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/trees-and-shrubs/cotoneaster

Sweet briar sounds so poetic.

It does, doesn't it, @IcakethereforeIam! Very Shakespeare.

@CottonSock - I wasn't fancying cottoneaster (for me it falls in the 'municipal planting' category) but I had no idea it was that invasive. Good to know!

It does, doesn't it, @IcakethereforeIam! Very Shakespeare. Though he called it eglantine.

” I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night…”

'Eglantine', thank you for the reminder, English has such lovely words....then there's 'moist'.

We have wild roses in ours (don’t know the proper name, but five petals, pinky white) and it looks beautiful. It reminds me of the Ladybird illustration of the Sleeping Beauty hedge, for anyone from UK and similar vintage. BUT it outperforms everything else. So you have to be prepared for constantly looking out for tendrils suddenly appearing and towering over the rest.

StellaOlivetti; I know the ones you mean. I always call them "Alexandra roses", after the artificial ones that used to be sold for charity on Alexandra Rose Day.

I'm going to play devil's advocate for Hawthorn - less prone to suckers than blackthorn, it's earlier to leaf than most of the other things in my native hedge which is always so optimistic and good for privacy, the flowers are incredible and the haws are great for wildlife. Yes it's vigorous but I wouldn't be without it (I also have plenty of blackthorn which I like a lot less!)

Also wanted to throw in yew - we have a few dotted through the (native, largely deciduous) hedge and are great for winter interest, wildlife and general loveliness!

Yew’s a bit toxic. The cancer drug Docetaxel is named for a reason (hint - yew is Taxus baccata).

Cherry (wild or otherwise) for early spring blossom and lovely autumn colour?

I wouldn't have yew where sheep could chew it, but I think it's ok around children - if I understand rightly, the berries aren't actually a problem; it's the leaves, and I doubt children would eat leaves.

I'm definitely sold on the sweetbriar.

If I can find some fancy hawthorn like @curiouseats came across on the foraging thread, I'd go for that like a shot!

This has been such a useful thread - thanks all!

I think the red bit of the yew berry (the aril?) is safe, I think the seed is toxic.

Definitely sweet briar, just for the names.

SarahAndQuack

"While the entire yew hedge or tree is considered to be poisonous, the berries and more specifically, the seeds of the plant are recorded to contain the highest concentration levels of taxine. Initial symptoms of yew poisoning can include: nausea and vomiting. dizziness."