Get Ahead, Get a Hedge

These often overlooked garden elements can provide architectural interest, structure and quiet strength in all seasons. Not to mention offering a vital home and food source for wildlife, increasing the biodiversity in your garden. Plant bare root hedges early in the year to get ahead in the garden by clearly dividing your space and adding structure at a time when other plants are still dormant.

The Laurent-Perrier Garden, Chelsea Flower Show 2009 - Luciano Giubbilei

This garden has stayed with me ever since my visit to Chelsea in 2009. Luciano provides a master class in hedging using it to divide, layer, add texture and height. The use of different species and double layers both frames different elements of the space and adds fabulous symmetry whilst holding the colourful froth of the perennials in sharp relief, making them all the more attractive to the eye.

Collecting and planting these Euonymus Green Spire today lifted my spirits on a cold January day. The fresh new growth looks almost luminous and will add light to a north facing border. They will be tightly clipped as they grow, adding an extra textural layer to the sharp coping stones of the wall. Hedges are fantastic for hiding large expanses of stone and breaking up brick facades.

A hedge of native plants creates a fresh backdrop and a vital home.

Native plants such as ivy, hawthorn, hornbeam, beach and dog rose are an increasingly interesting choice. They can be pruned as hard as necessary to create a neat boundary (avoiding the key nesting season) and will grow back stronger for it. Ensure that flowering varieties are pruned at the right time to allow berries and hips to form as a food source.