Hedges can form rooms within a garden, serve as a backdrop for flower borders, lend formality or wildness, screen our neighbours and frame views, writes Elly West. Boundaries don’t have to be expanses of fencing – a hedge offers so much more in terms of colour, interest and biodiversity…
My neighbours have just replaced their front hedge, digging up the dead and dying box that’s been there since I moved here eleven years ago and replacing it with tough-growing yew. Box tree caterpillars, along with box blight, have sadly devastated this evergreen favourite in recent years, reducing it to dry, pale-brown sticks, meaning we need to find alternatives if we want the clipped, formal look that box (Buxus sempervirens) offers. Yew is a good choice, as it responds well to hard pruning, and will grow in most locations, sun or shade. Other alternatives include varieties of Euonymus such as ‘Green Spire’ and ‘Jean Hughes’, and a type of smooth-leaved holly, Ilex crenata.
My own front hedge is trusty privet, which replaced a viburnum hedge that was also susceptible to a caterpillar pest. It’s growing well and is semi-evergreen, keeping most of its leaves in mild winters, and is fast growing so a good choice for a medium-sized hedge.
Much more than a fence
Hedges have been used in domestic gardens for centuries, to mark out boundaries and as design features to break up a space, lead the eye and add height and structure. Hedges can form rooms within a garden, serve as a backdrop for flower borders, lend formality or wildness, screen our neighbours and frame views. As our awareness of the environment and sustainable living grows, so does our appreciation of these leafy walls. Boundaries don’t have to be expanses of fencing – a hedge offers so much more in terms of colour, interest and biodiversity.
For year-round structure and privacy, evergreen hedging such as holly, laurel and yew are popular choices, along with Lonicera nitida, Griselinia and Photinia. All of these give a uniform appearance, and are easy to maintain at their chosen size, their leaves forming a dense screen. Some hedging plants also offer summer flowers along with evergreen or semi-evergreen leaves, such as escallonia, berberis and viburnum. I’ve also seen vibrant blue ceanothus, hardy fuchsias, hydrangeas and even magnolias trained as hedges.
However, the best type of hedge in terms of its benefit to wildlife is one that includes a mix of native species such as hawthorn, field maple, hornbeam, beech, hazel, spindle, dogwood and blackthorn. Many suppliers sell a ready-made mix by the linear metre, best planted in autumn through to late spring. Mixed native hedges attract a variety of wildlife, offering sources of food, and places to nest and shelter to birds, small mammals, bees and butterflies. They form green corridors, connecting pockets of habitat and allowing wildlife to move safely from place to place. They also bring year-round interest, with spring blossom, dense summer foliage, autumn berries and winter structure. Another huge advantage of choosing native plants is that they have adapted to our conditions, so will tolerate the changeable UK climate and a range of soil types.
Part of the landscape
I recently listened to an audiobook that really made me appreciate the importance of hedgerows in the countryside, along with their management. Of Thorn and Briar was published earlier this year and, month by month, describes a year in the life of the author Paul Lamb, a west-country hedgelayer. Hedgerows have been part of the British landscape for centuries, planted to mark boundaries, control livestock and protect crops from wind. However, since the second half of the 20th Century, Britain has lost more than half of its hedgerows, due to changes in farming practices, urban expansion and neglect.
Paul works year-round in various aspects of countryside management, living a simple life in his van, travelling from farm to farm, coppicing, pollarding and laying new hedges.
His book is a beautiful description of the changing of the seasons, the countryside around him, and the trials and tribulations of his work. But the underlying message is that these ancient hedgerows need skilled craftmanship both to lay and maintain them, and these traditional techniques need to be preserved for future generations. He asserts the value of hedgerow for the environment and for farmers, as lamb survival rates are so much higher when there are hedges for shelter and shade in summer.
Hedges have deep root systems that reduce soil erosion and help prevent flooding by slowing surface run-off, retaining the valuable topsoil that would otherwise be washed away and by storing water in their leaves. Paul also highlights their role in reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The remaining network of hedgerows is described as “an asset we can ill afford to be without”.
At times painting a bleak picture, he writes, “The final decades of the twentieth century saw a ruthless march forward that seemingly cared neither for craft nor tradition, for wildlife or heritage, and sought only an increased output that eventually saw the countryside run along similar lines to a similar business, overtaken by short-sighted greed: factory farming.”
Lamb is spreading the word through his book, his Instagram account (@westcountry_hedgelayer) and national media, and there are also organisations dedicated to the preservation of our hedgerows, such as the National Hedgelaying Society and Hedgelink.
The Woodland Trust offers help and funding for new hedging projects of 100m or more with its MOREhedges scheme. Visit woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees to see if you are eligible.
ellyswellies.co.uk
Plant of the month: Fuchsia
Hardy fuchsias earn their place in any garden for their sheer flower power and versatility. Although the big, blowsy bedding varieties often seen in hanging baskets aren’t for everyone, many of the tougher shrubby varieties that come back year after year fit well in most garden schemes, and can also be grown as a beautiful flowering hedge. ‘Hawkshead’ is one of my favourites, with its white or pale-pink flowers, and I also love the slender Fuchsia magellanica, which has pink tapering sepals and dark purple petals. This variety grows to around 1.5m, so is a good choice for a taller hedge. ‘Mrs Popple’ is another popular variety with more rounded flowers that bloom from early summer through to autumn. In mild regions, they can even flower into December.
Fuchsias will grow best in a sunny, sheltered spot and look good as part of a mixed or woodland border. They also do well in shade, particularly the paler varieties. Easy to care for, they respond well to hard pruning and can be cut back almost to the base if necessary, for example if they’ve suffered some frost damage. Otherwise a light prune in mid-spring will keep them in shape, and make sure that newly planted specimens are kept well watered in dry weather.