Hedge for tiny city front garden

[veneeroftheyear]

We are finally digging up some of the paving in our front garden to plant a hedge. Our front garden is tiny - just room for the bins and a few pots really. I understand why people choose privet as it gives privacy, is evergreen and can be easily shaped but I'd like something s bit more interesting. Can anyone inspire me?

How about a lavender hedge? You can plant it about 6 inches apart for hedging and train/prune it over time to make the right shape. It comes up to about 2 feet so would work best for a small boundary or above a wall.

Beech is nice, as are hornbeam and hazel. Lots of lovely ones are a bit spiky (hawthorn, holly etc) so I assume you'd prefer to avoid that if you're squeezing past for the bins.

A native hedge is an absolute bird-magnet, it's great.

Privet is, I think quite susceptible to a virus now. How about Laurel which is lovely for a town garden?

I agree lavender is lovely but I need something taller as it will sit behind a wall.

I think I need to avoid spiky, so no pyracanthas for example. Will check the other suggestions. Thanks.

Laurel could be lovely.

You’d have tp be a borrower for a lavender hedge to work 😂

op if you’ve money ti throw at it a camellia hedge is beautiful

I love yew but it's expensive.

Holly is a good choice too. Good security feature too.

Eleagnus is evergreen, grows fast and smells lovely when it flowers.

Choisya is also gorgeous.

Hawthorn is nice, but also what about wild rose?

Sarcococca. Aka Christmas Box . Beautiful glossy evergreen leaves nog susceptible to any blight and best of all . In January tiny weeny white flowers that you can smell from 10 feet away. I have two bushes in my front garden and the scent from it's tiny flowers is amazing.

Re my suggestion of Laurel. I believe it is poisonous to animals so this could be a factor?

Photinia, if it's possible to have a low wall/fence about a foot high as it can be a little bare low down.
Next doors' is lovely. I have a lot of native mix hedging but in the early years it needs a lot of top pruning to force low side shoots.

Shrubby honeysuckle - lonicera makes a nice tight hedge though it does need trimming to keep it neat. You can have yellowy or darker green.

Do you have any more info on that? RHS lists privet aphid but doesn’t have any other pests/diseases of privet. I know Box is being doubly hit, by a disease and by a caterpillar I think

I actually have a fondness for portuguese laurel - P. brenelia especially. It has a bad rap but it is not spiky, prunes down well, and if let to flower, has lovely white almond-scented flowers.

I have seen gorgeous lavender hedging that got to about 4 foot high, but not in London.

Would you try bay? Gorgeous smell from the leaves, and practical as well?

If it's not a big space, my personal preference would be to put up a small fence and grow trachelospermum jasminoides over it. It's everygreen, goes beautiful red colours in autumn, has scented flowers in spring, and is vigorous but also very easy to prune.

How close to the house would you be planting? I'm thinking root systems and subsidence, especially if you have a bay window. Actually, that probably applies to the garden wall too

I always think Laurel looks better for big hedges. Because the leaves are so big it looks out of proportion in a small garden for me.

Bay would be lovely. I walk past a bay hedge on my way to work and always think how nice it looks.

@MereDintofPandiculation I may have got my Box and Privet mixed up! Sorry.

Lonicera? Evergreen, bushy, fills in quickly but can be pruned to a small, sharp edge so good for small gardens.

It's probably about 3 metres from the house. Loads of people do have hedges with no problem. Is there anything I should definitely avoid?
Many thanks for the other suggestions. I will work through them.

@SarahAndQuack I just bought one of those jasmines for my mum. Absolutely gorgeous. It wouldn't work for our house as there's already a wall there and I'm planting behind it. I think I'll get one for the back garden though...

Bay would be lovely wouldn't it. The only thing that put me off slightly is that I have a bay in a pot that suddenly lost all its leaves and had to be cut right down. It did recover eventually but I wonder if that's common.

You are thinking of box caterpillar. Lots of places won't sell box anymore as it's such a problem.