What is the Best Hedge for My Yard?
A hedge is an attractive barrier that separates your landscape from the rest of your property. It can also provide privacy and protection from wind in certain applications.
The best hedge plant for your property will depend on where you live, the sun you receive, and other factors. Some hedges require pruning every week, while others only need trimming now and then depending on the landscape and look you are trying to create.
Below are some types of hedge plants and shrubs we recommend. Find out what kind of hedge would be best for your landscaped garden.
Duranta Repens (Sheenas Gold)
It can be pruned to any desired height or shape, making Duranta Sheenas Gold an excellent hedge or windbreak, can be planted as a feature plant and potted for certain applications, or planted as a shrub to just grow as it wishes.
Though once believed to be a low-growing shrub, it quickly became clear that, given the right circumstances and if unpruned, the plants may grow to be enormous, reaching heights of up to 4 meters.
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But they can be managed quite well as low hedges in formal landscaped gardens, examples trained as standards, or as focal points and filler plants in expansive landscapes.
The plant requires regular trimming to look its best in all applications. Its stem can be somewhat brittle and weak. Support stakes are required when using Duranta “Sheena’s Gold” as a standard (or topiary) to account for this while the plant matures.
Murraya Paniculata (Mock Orange)
Mock Orange is an excellent shrub to position closer to the house to benefit from its delicious fragrance because it has a really powerful aroma when flowering, even from quite a distance away, and like many white flowering plants, the scent is much stronger in the evening.
For numerous reasons, the Murraya plant is both notorious and one of our landscape gardener’s favorites here at 1300 4 Gardening.
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For starters, Murraya is a multipurpose hedge that can be utilized as a privacy screen or for ornamental purposes. Additionally, it has densely arranged glossy, dark green leaves with sweet-smelling flower clusters that create a lovely addition to your yard. Please note if you are using this as a formal; hedge with regular trimming it will not flower as you will be always trimming the flower buds off.
It truly depends on you how you want your Murraya’s to look, compact hedge trimmed weekly as low as 500mm or let go to become trees over 3m high and everything in between.
This particular plant is prone to borer. Click here to read about this issue and how to treat it.
Photinia Robusta (Red Robin)
Large bushes called photinias (red robin) were traditionally planted for tall hedges. The “red tip,” which is well named, is the most prevalent photinia and is easily identified during growing stages when it produces its initial flush of vibrant red new leaves. It has been possibly overused in some areas that we see and extensively planted, just like many popular plant species but feel that it suits most landscaped gardens.
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It will grow up to 2m high but otherwise will reach a very manageable 1.5 m high x 1m wide.
This hedge will not have to be trimmed as often from what we see and keeps its shape well when pruned back hard.
Virburnum
In contrast to the beautiful pink buds that emerge in late winter and early spring before bursting into fragrant white flowers, this bushy, robust shrub has glossy, oval-shaped leaves. Do not eat the stunning blue-black berries that are produced from the Viburnum tinus flower even though they are not seen to be harmful.
Viburnum tinus grows at a rate of roughly 45 cm per year while it is young depending on the environment.
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However, as it ages, its growth slows down even more even though it can still reach heights of up to 4 meters. Viburnum tinus is a straightforward plant to grow and fairly easy to look after. Its strength is it can thrive in both partial and total shade, but it does prefer direct sunlight if you are wanting this shrub to flower.
Syzygium Lilly Pilly
This would have to be one of our favorites and most versatile hedging plants we see in landscaped gardens we maintain!
It is an evergreen plant known as the lilly pilly and is native to Australia which can be grown as a tree or a hedge. There are so many varieties of this shrub you really need to make sure you have the right one for your application. Speak to your local nursery or drop us an email with what you want to achieve and we will help you choose the correct plant one for you.
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The Lilly Pilly tree often grows to a height of 30 meters in its natural setting, which is pretty tall for a suburban yard, they will generally only grow to 5 – 6 meters! When planting a Lilly Pilly hedge, dwarf kinds are preferable for smaller residential gardens. Pruning is essential since these can still develop into little trees.
These native Australian plants can provide your landscape with beautiful foliage that is attractive to both people and birds. Lilly Pillies are good as windbreaks due to their dense, thick leaves. When you grow Lilly Pillies in your yard, you may also look forward to its fragrant white flowers and the berries of which some varieties can be used in certain cases.
Remember to check the tags on the plant when purchasing any of the below plants for the distances you should allow between each plant, hole size including any extra soils or fertilizers and how much water they require. Feel free to drop us an email if you require some assistance with any of this.
In all cases of these plants for the use of hedges, screens or just letting them grow, it is an amazing thing to plant anything into your landscaped garden and watch them thrive. It also helps the local environment with birds, bees and cleaner air for us all to breathe.
To see our blog on overgrown hedges and how to trim back click here to a video on one of the staff completing a hedge trimming training video click here
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