The hedge is a decorative green space. It serves to protect the site, the adjacent territory from extraneous attacks, gusts of wind that can harm young trees and shrubs. Consider the main purpose of such plants, their main types.
How to choose plants for hedges
Before planting the territory of the plot with picturesque greenery, ask the question: why is this needed? Perhaps you need to create artificial borders of the site, or mark paths in the garden, or just protect your house with a green living fence.
To better navigate this issue, we highlight the main purpose of the fence from shrubs:
- The division of the entire land into certain zones, for example, a playground, flower beds, beds for planting vegetables.
- Protects the fenced area from strong winds, curious passers-by, extraneous animals.
- Using evergreen, climbing plants, you can create a wall that will protect against noise from the outside of the street, and carry the decorating function of the facade of the house.
- Dense vegetation in the area in the form of bushes stops the melting of snow in the spring, which allows you to retain more moisture in the soil.
- In addition to the decorative function, some shrubs can bear fruit, mainly berry plants (rose hips, currants, hawthorn).
In addition to the points indicated, when choosing a decorative green fence, consider the following parameters:
- Weather and soil conditionsin which you will plant a shrub - some types of plants will not grow in soil deprived of moisture, others will be more comfortable in a dry climate.
- Features of growth and formation of bushes - here it means how long you are ready to wait for the appearance of full-fledged shrubs for hedges. If you need to refine the territory as soon as possible, then the option of planting fast-growing varieties of greenery is suitable.
- Pay attention to the need for constant brushing, if you want to get a fence of volume decorative form. Trimmed shrubs are planted tight enough so that in the future it was possible to cut branches and leaves, forming volumetric figures. Such varieties should be carefully and painstakingly looked after.
But unformed vegetation grows freely, scattering branches in the direction and length that it needs for a comfortable existence. Such varieties include fruiting shrubs - currants, sea buckthorn, dogwood.
Unformed hedge of currant bushes
Green Sea Buckthorn Fence
Dogwood hedge
Carefully approach the selection of plant varieties for hedges, so that in the future, in the absence of care, to prevent deterioration of its species and condition.
A variety of plant species and their use as hedges
There are a huge number of varieties and types of living fences. They are presented on the market mainly as seedlings of trees and bushes.
Use simple, easy to care for and grow plants to create decorative living fences on the site.
If you want to decorate the site with vegetation, having designated a place for relaxation, suitable varieties that do not require care are possible to plant fruit-bearing berry bushes.
Shade-tolerant plants will create a shadow for relaxation, decorate a wooden arbor. Curly types are suitable for creating a wall of living plants - a great option for delimiting the site or use as a fence between the street and the courtyard.
Below we consider the most popular gradation of plants, depending on their purpose and properties. Based on these characteristics, you can choose for yourself the most suitable option for a live fence.
The most common classification of shrubs
We will analyze what groups of plants are suitable for decorating a hedge.
Deciduous
They are characterized by dense green foliage, which by autumn changes color (from golden to red-brown) and falls off, leaving bare branches. By the beginning of summer, foliage is being renewed. The following representatives of deciduous bushes are common:
- Hawthorn - a genus of semi-evergreen tall shrubs or small trees that belong to the Pink family. The plant adapts to any climatic conditions, resistant to drought and frost. The hawthorn reaches a height of 8 meters, it has lush foliage, due to which it can be cut easily. In addition, this is a medicinal plant, its fruits are used in the presence of diseases of the cardiovascular system. For planting on the site, it is recommended to purchase seedlings of three years of age.
- Kalinolisty - A flowering shrub with a dense crown from the Pink family, can grow up to 3 meters in height. This type of bushes does not require painstaking care, loves loose moist soil. Each plant variety has its own foliage color. In autumn, leaves turn yellow; in some species, purple leaves can be observed during this period. Shrubbery is possible due to the dense foliage, and the white berries that appear after flowering are not poisonous.
- Dogrose - unpretentious shrubs in care, sometimes evergreen, with upright or creeping stems of various heights or lengths, from 15-25 cm to 8-10 m. The height of the plant bushes can be independently adjusted during the growing process. It varies from 1.5 to 2 meters. There are species with flowers of various colors: white, pink, yellow. Thanks to its spikes, the plant serves as a kind of fence from unwanted visitors to the site.
Hedge of deciduous hawthorn bush
Decoration with hedge from a vesicle
Fence from deciduous rosehip bushes
Evergreen
Such hedge shrubs are valued for their ability to preserve green foliage throughout the year. Let us single out the most non-capricious types of plants:
- Boxwood (Latin Búxus) - Slow-growing evergreen shrubs and trees reaching a height of 2 to 12 m (rarely 15 m). The plant lives up to 600 years. Towxus is characterized by small oval succulent leaves forming dense foliage. In March-April, inflorescences of a greenish-yellow color appear, on the site of which later on seed boxes will form. After a while, the boxes burst, and the seeds spill out into the soil. Boxwood propagated by cuttings, seeds and layering.
- Barberry (Latin Bérberis) - large bushes or small trees, with thin ribbed shoots. The plant can reach a height of 3 meters, and this makes it possible to form green fences from it. Low grades are suitable for decorating borders. These shrubs are unpretentious, decorative, and protective functions. Needles on trunks will protect your site from unnecessary visitors. Barberry blooms densely, in autumn changes the color of foliage and bears fruit in large red berries. To obtain new bushes, plants use seeds, layering, seedlings, cuttings.
- Fatsia - evergreen bushes or small trees with sparse branches. A distinctive feature of the plant is large leaves with serrated edges, dissected into 7-11 lobes. The trunk is thick, cream-colored. This plant tolerates shade well, therefore, it can be planted in areas protected from the sun. This plant blooms with small flowers, which are collected in inflorescences in the form of a panicle.
- Lavender (lat.Lavandula) - a genus of evergreens, including approximately 47 species. This culture is widely used in medicine, it is known for its gentle fragrance. Lavender grows in bushes, the maximum height of which is 0.5 meters, and the area of the bush in diameter is not more than 1 meter. This plant has small elongated green or greenish-gray leaves. Flowering time - June, July. The flowers are mainly small lilac, but pink, blue, white are found. The plant does not require special care and is hardy in cold climates.
Boxwood hedge
Barberry hedge
Fatsia plant decoration
Decorative living fence made of lavender
Climbing plants
They are ideal for decorating the fence, forming a thick green carpet on the inconspicuous walls of the house and other buildings. Often, curly shrubs do not need special care, only occasionally it is necessary to thin them for maintenance in a decent form:
- Clematis - perennial plant in the form of long green shoots on which there are small white flowers in the form of stars (common white, pink, purple hue). The entire fence is covered with small flowers during flowering, giving the landscape a gentle idleness. It does not need special care and plentiful watering, it is able to grow in dry soil.
- Ivy presented in the form of green vines strewn with large carved leaves. Since the plant is classified as poisonous, it is necessary when working with it (planting, care) to observe safety precautions, use gloves. In leaving it is unpretentious, adapted to cold, grows both in the shade and in sunny areas.
- Climbing rose - a plant that blooms with beautiful flowers with a delicate aroma. This type of shrubs should be planted in fertile soil, and in the spring fed with special fertilizers. Soaring and wide are growing rapidly, so an inconspicuous fence will quickly disappear under the carpet of fragrant roses. Planting should be carried out at a distance of 1-2 meters from each other so that long thin branches do not intertwine.
- Honeysuckle - climbing type of bush up to 6 meters high. This type of plant is not capricious in leaving, it grows quite quickly and blooms densely in the summer with yellow flowers, which then bear fruit. Ideal for decoration of vertical surfaces of walls, fences. It is recommended to plant already three-year-old plants along fences or walls in early autumn. In the process of planting, add potassium fertilizer, pouring a large amount of warm water. Honeysuckle is a hygrophilous plant; there is little chance of sprouting bushes in arid soil.
Decoration of buildings with perennial clematis
Curly Evergreen Ivy Fence
Decoration with a climbing rose
Decor of vertical wall surfaces with honeysuckle
Fast growing
Suitable for the formation of thick bush free form in a short time. Of the most prominent representatives of this type, it can be noted:
- Derain white - bushes without trimming green bloom in summer twice a season. This type of shrub loves moisture and drains moist soil. If you constantly cut the lower branches, then it will begin to grow in height better, without expanding in breadth. It reaches a height of 3 meters. Derain is resistant to frost, adapts to any kind of soil, can grow in the shade.
- Spirea - a genus of deciduous decorative shrubs of the pink family (Rosaceae). The plant does not require careful maintenance. Two variants of bushes are possible: freely growing with flowering branches and flowering shrubs. The early appearance of green foliage, which turns yellow by autumn, is characteristic. Most spires are centenarians - the life span of the bush is 7 years. There are various types of these plants that will allow you to grow a fence of different heights.
A hedge of a fast-growing sod bush
Thick Spirea Carpet Formation
Free-growing species of hedgehog spirea
Thorny Shrubs
These plants will serve as a serious obstacle and protect your site from unauthorized visitors. Thanks to the dense foliage they will reliably hide from the sun, save you from drafts:
- Turn or Blackthorn - a small thorny shrub; a species of the genus Plum (Prunus) of the family Pink (Rosaceae). Shrub 3.5-4.5 m high, found in the form of stunted trees no higher than 8 m. Growing and expanding with the help of the root system, the shrub forms dense spiky and impenetrable thickets. The branches are abundantly covered with thorns. In the midst of spring, the turn blooms with white inflorescences, and only later bright green leaves appear. In September, round black and blue fruits ripen. Refers to fast-growing plants, resistant to shade and cool climate.
- Princepia chinese - fast-growing bushes up to two meters high with branches in the form of rods on which needles up to 2 cm long are located. It blooms in spring with yellow flowers; closer to autumn, red fruits, similar to cherries, appear from them. Princessepia is unpretentious to care, does not need pruning, with the exception of removing old shoots.
- Barberry - a branchy prickly plant up to 3 meters tall, with fleshy leaves 2-3 cm in size, with powerful roots. Blossoms in spring in May with fragrant golden flowers, bears fruit in large red berries. In autumn, foliage changes color and turns purple. The plant is resistant to heat and cold, does not like high humidity. At the same time it bears fruit only in open sunny places.
Blackthorn protect the site from unauthorized visitors
Reliably hide from the sun the thick bushes of Chinese princepia
Barbed Barberry Fence
Conifers
Thanks to the dense prickly foliage, hedges of these types of plants look elegant and clean the air. Such bushes can often be given the desired decorative shape by cropping:
- Thuja - a representative of evergreen conifers, refers to slow-growing species. It can reach a height of 70 meters. Unpretentious to the conditions in which it grows, but prefers swampy, sandy soils. Resistant to winds, not afraid of diseases and pests. After several years of growth, it forms a dense foliage wall that is easy to trim and shape.
- Juniper - refers to the genus of evergreen coniferous shrubs and trees of the Cypress family. Not picky about the composition of the soil, not afraid of pests, can grow in dry and poor soil. A healthy adult plant reaches a height of 10 meters, lives up to 200 years. Sometimes on the coniferous foliage of juniper you can observe a white coating, which gives the shrub a special note.
- Yew (lat.Táxus) - can be attributed to coniferous slow-growing shrubs, their height is from 1 to 10 m. The trunk diameter is up to 4 m. Moreover, the plant does not emit tar and has no smell. Instead of cones, yew bears large berries of red or blue color. It is easy to cut, from the foliage you can form bushes of a certain shape. Does not need careful care. Propagated using seeds or cuttings.
Evergreen Thuja Fence
Dense juniper barbed hedge
Yew as a hedge
Let's watch a video from which you can learn a lot of interesting things about the types of yew, and in particular, how to use it in landscape design as a hedge:
Blooming
These are shrubs planted in the sunny areas of the site, since the flowers require heat. Such plants will delight the eye with their unique flowers and unique aromas.
Correctly choose a place for planting plants, otherwise it will negatively affect the splendor of flowering, the brightness of foliage and the vital activity of bushes. Shady ones plant in areas where there is no sun, and for heat lovers, provide a place on the sunny side.
The following plants can be used:
- Forsythia (Forsythia, or Forsythia) - shrubs 2-3 m high with a spreading top, suitable for the design of small areas.He loves light and fertile soil, does not tolerate high humidity, cold, frost. Blossoms with yellow inflorescences long before the appearance of green foliage. And only when they fall, the first green appears. Foliage is found from light to dark shades of green. The fruits of the bush are presented in the form of a yellow box with seeds inside.
- Jasmine (or Chubushnik) - is a gorgeous flowering bushes with rich green foliage. Such a plant will protect your garden from prying eyes and will serve as a wonderful decoration of the site. It grows up to three meters high. Jasmine is undemanding to the composition of the soil, resistant to frost and cold, loves heat and the sun, does not tolerate wet soil. Every year you need to prune old stems, and the removal of inflorescences that have already faded will lead to improved growth and rich flowering of bushes.
- Hydrangea - Noteworthy for its large caps of fragrant inflorescences of different colors (white, pink, lilac, blue). In the process of growth and development of the shrub, a magnificent top is formed up to three meters high, consisting of large green leaves and small flowers collected in spherical inflorescences. Flowering begins in late summer and continues until October. These plants are moody to the conditions of existence, prefer high-quality, fertile, water-permeable soils.
Forsythia Fence
Jasmine protects the garden from prying eyes
Hedge of various hydrangea flowers
The video talks about the selection criteria for plants that are suitable for creating hedges, and which can be trimmed and shaped:
In addition to the plant species described here for creating hedges, there are many other types of shrubs. Their main purpose is to turn a plot, garden or vegetable garden into a cozy, fragrant, beautifully designed natural corner, protected from the wind, the sun and unnecessary views.