Talk to me about the practicalities of a guelder rose hedge

[DigbyTheDigger]

I have a fence about 6m in length that I’ve been thinking I’ll clothe in climbers, but I’m now thinking a guelder rose hedge planted in front of it could be better for wildlife. The garden is small, can I tie guelder rose in like you can pyracantha, to stop it coming too far out?
Any disadvantages to guelder rose I may not have thought of?

Blackfly?

Is guelder rose particularly susceptible?

You can prune them like a hedge and they're not particularly fast growing.

Ah, so it could take a while to get to the top of a 6 foot fence?

In my experience, yes. Not necessarily every year

The problem I find is that it does sucker up from the base, and tend to spread out and pop up a few feet away, mine is in a border so I just concentrate on keeping the bottom branches cut back and thinning out the top so I can plant underneath it ( mostly hellebores) . I don’t think I would try making it into a hedge on its own , though as a component of a varied specie hedge it would probably be a good addition. They also lose all their leaves in winter so it would be a very stick like hedge for half the year. And yes to blackfly, some years it is covered.