Tired of deaf, metal fences «like everyone else»? And forged and wood are too expensive? There is a way to make a fence that will definitely stand out against the general background, while being in complete harmony with the garden and protecting from prying eyes. This method is to plant a hedge. What shrubs are suitable for hedges and which ones are easy to grow in central Russia? We will tell about everything in this article.

Overview of hedge plants

Types of hedges
Suitable plants
— Hawthorn
— Deren
— Barberry
– Spiraea
— Cotoneaster
— Bubble
Tui
– Mountain pine Pumilio
— Chubushnik

Types of hedges

The choice of shrubs and trees depends on climatic conditions, the landing site and, of course, the purpose of creating such a fence. What is it for? Depending on the answer to this question, several types can be distinguished.

• Instead of a fence around the perimeter of the site. In this case, rather tall plants are usually chosen, with a lush, dense crown.

• Decor for the main fence. For example, if you want to hide a boring profiled fence or close a transparent mesh. In this case, it is worth starting from the height of the existing fence.
• For zoning within the site. With the help of shrubs, you can isolate the recreation area, separate the working, utility area from the garden, or draw a line between the garden and the garden. Plants of medium height or undersized are suitable for this.

• For decorating borders. Low bushes are often planted along garden paths. Such a border becomes a picturesque frame for them, emphasizing the shape.

Suitable plants

Let us consider in more detail which shrubs and trees are suitable for these purposes.

Hawthorn — flowering wall

If you want to get a high and dense, blank wall — pay attention to this plant. Hawthorn bushes grow to a height of 6-7, and sometimes 8 meters. It is quite unpretentious in terms of conditions, including the composition of the soil, lighting. And very decorative at the same time. Hawthorn will delight from spring to autumn: on the eve of summer — with clusters of small fragrant white or deep pink flowers, and in autumn — with bright red fruits. A hawthorn fence can repel uninvited guests, because the bush is densely covered with thorns. When planting, it is important to maintain the distance between the trees. A step in the region of half a meter will do.

To create a hedge, the varieties Daursky, Altai, Plum-leaved, Cockerel Spur, Paul Scarlett are especially good. Hawthorn can be left free to grow if a natural, «wild» garden is created. If you want more rigor and orderliness, it is better to trim the shrub regularly. He tolerates this process well. With the help of pruning, hawthorn can be given the desired shape: rectangular or rounded. True, young plants are not recommended to be cut. The first 2-3 years they grow freely until they gain strength. After that, at the beginning of spring, the bushes hemp, that is, they cut the trunks at a height of about 25 cm from the ground. This is done so that a single-stem tree turns into a multi-stem tree. The only drawback of hawthorn is that it grows rather slowly.

Deren — beautiful all year round

Another unpretentious plant suitable for creating a hedge. It tolerates shade well, and even high groundwater is not a hindrance to it.

Derain is different in that it will serve as a decoration of the site all year round. In spring it blooms, in summer it attracts attention with a dense green crown, in autumn its leaves will turn into different colors, from red to yellow, and in winter it will stand out with a bright reddish tint of the trunk and branches.

In addition, turf shrubs for hedges are fast-growing and frost-resistant. Plant them at a distance of about a meter from each other. As in the case of hawthorn, plants that have grown and gained strength hemp — they cut trunks up to 20 cm from the ground. This helps to get a more fluffy bush. Of the varieties, Sibirika variegata, Elegantissima, Varihala are best suited.

Barberry — ornamental shrub for hedges

Non-capricious, frost-resistant, fast-growing, will be able to fend for itself thanks to sharp thorns. All this about barberry. To create a fence on the site, borberry tunberg, ordinary, Ottawa is most often planted. The shrub grows up to 2.5-3 meters in height.

Barberry is trimmed regularly. Do this begin 2-3 years after planting. It is recommended to plant barberry bushes at a distance of half a meter to a meter from each other. Barberry has decorative properties. Its leaves can be colored not only green, but also red, yellow, orange.

Spirea for continuous flowering

It is simply impossible to confuse it with any other shrub. Boiling white, pale pink, rich fuchsia — lush fluffy inflorescences of spirea instantly attract attention. The more difficult it is to believe that spirea is not too demanding to care for, tolerates frost well, and will take root on most soils.

A spirea hedge will turn out to be low: on average, from 30 cm to 1.5 meters. It is recommended to plant bushes at a distance of at least half a meter from each other. An interesting point. Different varieties of spirea bloom at different times of the year: there are early, spring, and summer, and autumn ones. If you combine several varieties, you can organize continuous flowering.

Cotoneaster — for any design

This plant is not as famous as those we talked about above. And often it is confused with boxwood because of the dense waxy emerald leaves. But in vain. The cotoneaster is self-sufficient and deserves special attention. It will make a dense fence with a height of 50 cm to 1.5 meters. Due to its versatile appearance, cotoneaster will look appropriate in almost any landscape design.

Planting bushes is advised at a distance of about 30-40 cm from each other. When they grow up, they begin to cut them. And they do it regularly to preserve the decorative properties. Cotoneaster is a good neighbor. It is friendly towards other plants. It is also easy to care for and undemanding to living conditions.

Bubble — fast growing hedge

Another plant that will provide beauty on the site from spring to late autumn. Everything is good in it: the leaves are green, yellow and even dark, with a reddish or burgundy tint; and the flowers are small, delicate pale pink or white, collected in lush clusters. The height of the vesicle bushes in central Russia usually does not exceed 3 m. And they have a pleasant feature — they grow very quickly. In a year, growth can reach 50 cm.

Like other participants in our selection, the vesicle does not differ in a capricious and demanding character. This applies to both living conditions and care. When planting between the bushes maintain a distance of about half a meter.

Tui for high fencing

A high dense, dense wall of rich green color can be planted from coniferous plants. And tui are perfect for this. They are quite easy to care for, with regular haircuts they can be given a beautiful shape. For a hedge, two varieties are most often chosen: thuja western Smaragd and thuja western Brabant.

Thuya Smaragd is an evergreen hedge shrub with a cone-shaped crown resembling a candle. The branches are covered with bright green shiny needles. The tree grows slowly. An adult plant can reach 6 meters in height. But given that the branches grow upwards, it will actually be even higher. In general, Smaragd is unpretentious. But for better growth, it is worth observing some conditions: fertile light soil is suitable for it, waterlogging should be avoided, and most importantly, this thuja loves the sun. True, it is useful only for already grown trees. Very young plantings need to be shaded a little. The first pruning can be carried out on an already overwintered tree.

Thuja western Brabant is also an evergreen conifer, resistant to adverse weather conditions. A hedge of shrubs of such a thuja will be frost-resistant and fairly fast-growing. Brabant grows faster than Smaragd — up to 40 cm per year. In garden conditions, it rarely grows more than up to 4 m. It is not too whimsical to soils. Likes well lit places. But the scorching rays of the sun can lead to burns. Brabant must be trimmed, otherwise the branches will begin to grow randomly and the bush will become shapeless. Tui of this variety should be planted at a distance of 80 cm to a meter from each other.

Mountain pine Pumilio

Hedges of various heights can also be grown from conifers such as yew and juniper. If you need a low, but unusual and decorative, you can take a closer look at the Pumilio dwarf pine. Its maximum height is 1-1.5 meters. The branches of this pine seem to grow from the ground, forming a dense spherical bush. Pumilio is sun-loving, frost-resistant, not afraid of a haircut. When planting, it is important to keep the distance between the trees so that the spreading crowns do not crowd each other. It should be at least 1.5-2 meters.

Chubushnik — fragrant wall

The fence from this shrub will turn out not only thick and dense, but also fragrant. Because of it, and also because of the delicate white or pink flowers, mock orange is often confused with jasmine. Mock orange grows quite high, up to 3 meters. It is easy to care for, unpretentious, frost-resistant. Loves the sun, but will take root in light shade.

Mock orange is recommended to be trimmed regularly. This will contribute to more abundant flowering, and the plant itself will look neat and well-groomed. Between mock orange seedlings, it is advised to maintain a distance of at least half a meter.

Maria Gavrilyuk from the Gardens garden center spoke about plants — coniferous and deciduous.