Hedge: types, device, plants, pruning, photo, video

Looking at ordinary fences, no matter how beautiful they are, is a dubious pleasure. In order to make them look more attractive, they are decorated in all possible ways. One of the most effective is a hedge. With its help, you can not only close yourself from prying eyes, but also reduce the amount of dust in the area, as well as lower the noise level. But this is possible if the green fence is high enough and dense. 

Types of hedges and plants for them

In height, the hedge can be low – up to 50 cm, medium from 60 cm to 150 cm, and high – above 160 cm. According to the composition of plants – coniferous, deciduous, flowering, according to the type of arrangement – single-row or double-row. All of them can be sheared, or they can be free-growing. Only the list of species speaks of great diversity, and a living fence can also be made up of different plants. The type of hedge is selected depending on its purpose.

Low

A low hedge is also called a curb. It can reach a height of half a meter. Most often used as a living green frame for a flower garden or flower bed, to indicate areas on the site, simply for the purpose of decorative design. In this case, choose from shrubs, some herbaceous or flowering plants. For clipped hedges of small height fit:

• undersized evergreen boxwoods and euonymus,
• dwarf forms of garden jasmine,
• holly magnolia,
• Erika;
• barberry and cotoneaster;
• mountain pine Pug;
• thu western;
• juniper columnar.
  

If the border (low hedge) is planned to be free-growing, you can plant:

• rose hips;
• spirea Bumalda (Japanese or Nipponian);
• lapchatka kustarnikovaya and daurskaya;
• roses;
• Lawson’s cypress.
  

These are just some of the possible options, but these plants form a dense wall of leaves and flowers, are relatively easy to care for, and can grow in central Russia. Just before the final choice, be sure to clarify the zoning of the selected plant, as well as the conditions and features of its cultivation. Choose according to the type and acidity of the soil, as well as the complexity of care and susceptibility to diseases.

If the hedge grows near the house of permanent residence, more attentive and thorough care is possible for it, therefore, you can select from slightly more capricious varieties. In the country, it is definitely necessary to choose unpretentious plants. This principle is preserved when choosing plants and for medium and high green fences.

Medium height

If a fence of plants up to 1,5 meters high is required, they talk about a fence. It can use both flowering and fruiting shrubs, some types of trees. If such a fence performs a protective function, thorny shrubs can be used in it – barberry, wild rose, tall roses, dogwood. In addition to the plants already mentioned without pruning, you can also plant:

• fruit-bearing – irga, dogwood, hazel, honeysuckle (common, blue, Tatar), golden currant, bright red pyracantha;
• blooming – lilac, forsythia, mock orange, hydrangea, hawthorn, derain, yellow acacia
• with dense foliage – privet, euonymus, cotoneaster, evergreen boxwood, Vangutta spirea;
• conifers – western thuja, Canadian spruce, green, blue, Siberian fir, yew berry, juniper;

A green hedge is often used only to mask the main fence or complement it. In such cases, the surface of the fence can be used as a support for plants – this is if it needs to be completely masked.

One point: if you are going to close the corrugated fence with plants, you will have to try very hard: it heats up very much in the sun, which is why all plants at a decent distance simply burn out. If you do plan to plant a hedge, you will have to somehow protect the plants from the heat. At least knock down the wooden shields that will temporarily stand along the landing line, reflecting the heat.

High – living walls

For tall hedges (more than 1,5 meters), plants are more often used, although some tall shrubs may well grow up to 2 meters and above:

• evergreen and coniferous – spruce, fir, thuja, yew, juniper (columnar, middle, Chinese), high varieties of evergreen boxwood, pea-bearing cypress;
• fruit trees and berry bushes – berry apple, cherry, ground (Tatar, cornflower), buckthorn, viburnum;
• deciduous – small-leaved linden, pedunculate oak, maple;
• flowering – lilac (tall varieties), honeysuckle, mock orange;

fast growing hedge plants

Plant hedges are very beautiful, but it takes years to form a full-fledged fence. Conifers grow especially long and slowly. For example, thuja will grow to a height of 1,5 m for about 5 years, and berry yew in general 8, but they are pleasing to the eye all year round. Some shrubs grow more than others in a year – from 50 cm to 1 meter, and they can be used for planting and quickly forming a living fence.

• Siberian hawthorn Blood thistle with yellow flowers – up to 1 meter per year;
• shrub willows;
• blackberries, wild roses, weaving roses (requires support);
• spreading hazel – up to a meter or more per year;
• viburnum viburnum – under favorable conditions, shoots grow up to 1 m;
• turf.

Planting a hedge and care

Creating a green fence starts with the selection of plants. Please note that they must all be of the same age. This is the only way to form an even line. If these are deciduous plants, the age of the seedlings is 2-3 years, if conifers – 3-6 years. If planting is planned in a shaded area, the age of plants for planting in a hedge is more – 7-8 years. In such conditions they grow very slowly, and more or less mature plants will immediately give some kind of appearance.

Hedge planting distances

In the middle lane and closer to the north, landing begins in the spring, in the south it can be planted before winter – in the fall. It all starts with the formation of landing trenches.

• According to the markings, trenches are dug 50-60 cm deep.
• Pour a layer of fertile soil of a suitable composition.
• At the required distance (see the table above), seedlings with a wrapped root system are laid out. Unfold it just before landing.
• In order for the plants to take root well, the existing clod of earth does not need to be broken. Soil is poured around the root system and compacted. How exactly to plant: deepen or, conversely, plant on a hill – depends on the type of plant. Check before work.
• Immediately after planting, the plants are watered, and the soil is sprinkled with mulch – peat, humus, crushed bark. This will keep moisture in.

Further, the first year of care consists in regular watering, loosening the soil, removing weeds, and periodic fertilizing. All activities are prescribed in the recommendations for the care of a particular type of plant. These are the ones you need to follow.

In the fall, pruning may be needed. Even if the hedge is free-growing, it does not mean that it does not need to be formed. She does not need to be given the correct geometric shape, and pruning is also required for her, as well as for a sheared one.

Rules for trimming an unshaped hedge

As already mentioned, even free-growing green hedges require pruning. The first one is carried out immediately after landing. In this case, powerful side shoots are formed, and by the end of summer the bushes become more branched. The second pruning – goes in the fall and then for 3-4 years the bushes are pruned quite shortly until the required shoot density is reached.

One of the effective ways is pruning by the coppice culture method. She uses the ability of all deciduous shrubs to activate dormant basal buds. The stages of pruning the first year are shown in the photo below.

When planting, weak, thin shoots are cut off almost completely, and strong ones are shortened to the first strong bud. By autumn, new shoots will appear from the root, and those left in the spring will give new ones.

When the sap flow stops, all shoots are cut low, short stumps remain. Trim shape – as in the photo – in an arc. During the second season, the bush will become much more dense, several new shoots will appear from the root, two or three powerful branches will leave the “old” ones.

In the third year and further for another 2-3 years, pruning is carried out according to the same principle as in the second year, only branches are cut 3-4 cm higher than in the previous year. Further pruning is also strong, but about 3/4 of the length is cut off. This technique is good for those shrubs that form flower buds at the ends of young shoots.

According to this principle, you can very quickly form a dense hedge from curb – undersized plants, as well as from some medium-sized ones:

• cinquefoil shrub;
• wrinkled rose;
• hydrangea paniculata;
• rowanberry;
• white deren (decorative varieties);
• Spirea Vaguna, Japanese;

The disadvantage of this method is that it greatly activates the formation of root shoots. Very aggressive varieties can produce abundant shoots at a distance of several meters from the bush. Therefore, it is desirable to limit the root zone even during planting by digging in a sheet of asbestos, plastic, metal.

hedge trimming

Many novice gardeners believe that before starting to form a hedge, it needs to be allowed to grow. You can wait a year or two only with conifers, deciduous trees must be cut immediately after planting, and then in the fall, otherwise after 2-3 years of free chaotic growth, it will be either very difficult or even impossible to do anything with the plant.

Before you start molding, you need to choose a shape. Note that straight top hedges need to be cut frequently or they lose their decorative effect. And since growth is the most active in the upper zone, it is here that the ideality of the lines is violated in the first place, while on the side surfaces they are still normal. If it is not possible or desirable to carry out a regular haircut, choose a shape with a rounded or triangular top. Even with a missed haircut, they look normal.

In the first year, all shoots are shortened by a significant part of the height. If these are plants that are sold with bare roots in bunches, they can be cut to half the length, if planted in container plants, cut to 1/3 of the height, or it is not cut at all. In autumn, the bush looks like in the photo, the picture is at the top right. With strong pruning, the formation of new shoots is stimulated, therefore, by the end of summer, the bushes become much thicker. This completes the first stage.

The second stage is the formation of the skeleton. If you look inside the already formed hedge, we will see a powerful frame of bare shoots, from which young ones come in large numbers, with abundant foliage. It is this frame that needs to be formed. At the same time, it should be thick enough so that the surface is dense and opaque. The process begins already in the second year after disembarkation, and continues for 2-3 years. During this period, the frequency of pruning can be up to 4-5 times per season.

The task is to achieve the required density of the “skeleton”. Pruning is done according to the selected shape. In the photo – an example of the formation of the frame. Such pruning must be followed in any final shape, only raising or lowering the top of the triangle – depending on how long and narrow the fence is planned. If it is wider, the top is lowered a little, if you need a narrow and high one, it is raised, and the base is made narrower. From year to year, pruning is done a little higher, literally by 3-4 cm. As a result, new shoots actively sprout, and those that were forming new forks, skeletal branches become more and more branched.

After the required density of shoots is reached, forcing in height begins. This is the third stage. On it, the trimming height is raised more actively – by 5-10 cm at a time. Actively growing upward shoots are pruned until the required density of lateral shoots is obtained. Filling foliage should be dense. Provided that pruning is carried out several times per season, the growth is quite active. At the same time, new shoots are also formed, but there are not as many of them as before.

The frequency of pruning depends on the type of plant:

• plums and hawthorn are sheared from May to October three or four times;
• arborvitae, juniper, cotoneaster, snowberry, barberry – once in the summer (July-August), once in October.

Trimming is carried out so that along with the hood upwards, side filling is formed. To avoid gaps, it is better to “raise” the bush more slowly. Then it will be harder to fix.

The last step is to give the desired shape. Next is a regular haircut that maintains shape.

For this type of hedges are very good in our conditions:

• terrain;
• Ottawa barberry;
• blood red hawthorn;
• cotoneaster brilliant;
• snowberry white.

Willow hedge

From the willow you can grow a very special green hedge. It can be woven from freshly cut willow branches, which are simply buried in the ground. Such a landing is accepted with a very high probability. Branches can even be stuck at both ends, forming an arc. The willow will take root from both ends at once. To speed up the process, the top of the shoot is cut off, the bark is cut along in two places by a couple of centimeters. The thus prepared shoot is stuck into the ground.

Using this feature, you can weave a hedge, which will turn green in a few weeks. Prepared shoots are deepened by 15 cm, the earth is tightly pressed around, the planting is watered. To make it look more attractive – the dried ends of the branches do not stick out – bend the rods. At the intersection, they can be intertwined with each other, or they can be connected. If the branches are too thin, you can use two twigs, and periodically put props that will hold the wattle fence in place.

The disadvantage of such a hedge is that it has a decorative appearance for only a few years. After the shoots become stiff, the greenery practically disappears. But the fence does not become less reliable. On the contrary, it is difficult to break through such a wall – the branches are tightly woven.

Green fence in a couple of weeks

If you wait until shrubs or trees grow for a long time, then herbaceous plants give abundant greenery in a couple of weeks. This can be used if you need to decorate an unsightly wall or part of the fence that is in plain sight.

They make a wooden lattice, into which square containers with planted plants are inserted sideways. So that the soil does not fall out of them, the containers are covered with black agrofibre. A very small hole has been made in it, into which the plant looks out.

On well-lit surfaces, with sufficient watering, the wall or fence will very soon become green-shaggy. If desired, you can lay out living pictures in this way – using plants with foliage of different colors.

Photo of hedges from different plants

Often, even from a general photograph of a plant, it is difficult to imagine how it looks in a hedge. We tried to find the most popular and ornamental plants. And this is a photo of hedges, not just plants.

Now a few examples of how container planting can be used to decorate a wall or fence.