Selection, spacing & planting tips to help you hedge

So you’ve decided to plant a hedge or screen. Hedges tend to be a solid structure so you are looking for tightly foliaged trees, often smaller leaved trees that can be clipped easily to shape.  The screen is much softer, used for privacy or protection and allowed to grow more naturally according to their own characteristics. Screens tend to be taller only because the effort to clip way up high can be a bit of a challenge. Having said that, the visual grandeur of a tall hedge is well worth the trouble.

If you are planning a low hedge for a garden or driveway border, and you are using smaller 14cm or 20cm pots, we suggest planning 5 to the metre. The types of suitable specimens include English Box and Westringia. Great hedging lines are ones that are dressed all the way to the ground. They grow thick and dense so that when clipped you get that solid structure at the height you desire.

For smaller growing trees and shrubs we can generally apply a 3:1 rule. This represents the height you want your hedge to grow to x width apart. if you want a clipped 3m tall hedge, plant material 1m apart. If you want a 4 metre hedge, plant 1.3m apart; if you want a 2m tall hedge, plant out at 60cm apart.

It can get a little trickier with larger material and spacing will depend on the variety you choose. Knowing how tall your specimen grows is the key. 

For more information, Planting Tips for Hedges may assist you.

If you have any questions, contact us directly.