How to plant a hedge: plants, planting and clipping

A hedge screens your garden from prying eyes, wind and dust, divides it into areas and gives birds a home. It can be a crisp clipped wall or a loose flowering strip. Here is how to choose plants for the height you need, how to plant a hedge and how to shape it so it stays dense from top to bottom.

Garden plants are in our potted plants section.

View full-size photo

Types of hedge

• Clipped (formal) — clean lines and regular trimming; thuja, hornbeam, privet, yew and box work well.
• Informal — shrubs grow naturally and flower; spiraea, forsythia, lilac, dog rose and ninebark suit this style.
• Single or double row — in a double row plants are staggered for a denser hedge.

View full-size photo

Which plants to choose

Consider the height you need, the light and how much time you want to spend clipping. Fast growers form a screen sooner but need trimming more often. Conifers give year-round cover; deciduous shrubs are cheaper and recover faster from clipping mistakes.

How to plant

• When: spring or early autumn; container plants can go in all season, avoiding heatwaves.
• Marking out: run a string line and dig a trench about 50 cm wide and deep.
• Spacing: 50–70 cm for thuja, 30–50 cm for privet and spiraea; in a double row, stagger the plants.
• After planting: water well and mulch; keep watering regularly through the first season.

View full-size photo

How to get a dense hedge

• Cut deciduous shrubs (privet, hornbeam, spiraea) back by about a third after planting so they branch from the base.
• Clip the hedge into a trapezoid — wider at the bottom than the top — so lower branches get light and stay leafy.
• In the first years clip lightly but regularly, letting the hedge gain height gradually.
• Trim a mature formal hedge 2–3 times a season, the last time no later than late summer.

View full-size photo

Care

• Feed in spring and water during summer droughts.
• Before clipping in spring and summer, check for nesting birds.
• Protect young conifers from winter drying and spring scorch.

For choosing conifers see Conifers for the garden, and for shaped clipping see Garden topiary.

FAQ

How fast will a hedge grow?

Privet and spiraea form a dense hedge in 2–3 years, thuja and hornbeam in 3–5; yew is slower.

Why is my hedge bare at the bottom?

Usually lack of light — it was clipped straight-sided or wider at the top. Trapezoid clipping and renovation pruning of deciduous shrubs help.

Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.

About the author →