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Fast Growing Hedges for Privacy – a Full Guide

Introduction to fast-growing hedges for privacy

Hedges are one of the most valuable groups of garden plants and some hedges are purely decorative, while others serve primarily a practical function. A hedging plant is a living wall composed of plants. Hedge plants used decoratively are trimmed to precise sizes and shapes and may be either evergreen or deciduous shrubs. They’re cheaper than fencing, easy to plant, and can form an attractive boundary around garden and structure within it. Not only does our hedging look the part, but it is also brilliant for sustaining wildlife.

A step by step guide to fast-growing hedges for privacy

Most people today look for tall hedges at low costs for beautifying their homes and gardens. This is the reason why fast-growing hedge plants are popular. These fast-growing hedges give an instant impact and help you to save money while they grow fast and imply that you won’t need to buy a lot of tall plants when you have these. Planting them will also help to increase privacy while adding a beautiful landscape to your garden. A fast-growing hedge will increase privacy, while also adding texture and interest to the landscaping. A good hedge has several benefits as a garden boundary;

  • Shelter and reducing wind strength better than a solid barrier
  • Filter, absorbing dust and noise
  • Privacy, as an effective visual screen
  • Security, a prickly hedge is a great deterrent
  • Beauty and interest from seasonal changes
  • Background texture and color complement other plants
  • Wildlife, food, and shelter for insects, birds, and mammals
  • Weather-resistance much better than fences
  • Money-saving compared with most fencing
  • Long-lived, hedges can last hundreds of years

Conditions for planting fast-growing hedges for privacy

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Conditions for Growing Hedges.
Conditions for Growing Hedges.
Choose the right hedge for the right space

If you don’t plant your hedge plant in the right site, it will never thrive. Full sun plants want to be planted in full sun. Hedge plants that are borderline hardiness will be damaged each winter by frost. Water-loving plant varieties can’t be planted in deserts. Do your research before planting, select a plant that suits your site and you will be just fine. Keep in mind that a hedge plant that tolerates both shade and sun will generally grow faster in more sun.

Determine Hedge plant width

To determine the right width for the hedge, you need to consider factors such as the amount of space in your property and your chosen plant. Normally, shrubs grow bushier and take more space compared to trees, so if you decide to plant them, you should plan for a larger width.

If you have a large space in your property, you can plan for a width that can fit 2 or 3 rows of plants. But if you have limited space, you will have to settle for a single row and consider growing Hedge trees.

Plant your hedge at the right time
Planting Hedge at Right time.
Planting Hedge at Right time.

The ideal time to plant is falling after the hedges are dormant. You can safely plant fast-growing hedge through the winter in areas where the ground does not freeze hard, and spring is also a good time. Doing this saves you work and worry and saves the hedge plants a lot of stress.

Water for your hedge plants

Once your hedge has been in the ground for several years and has had a chance to send plant roots deep into the soil, it will need little supplemental water, if any. However, it is important to provide ample water during the first 1 to 2 growing seasons after planting. The best way to do this is to lay the drip line along the length of the hedge and run for an hour at a time every few days to water deeply.

Protect your hedge from weeds, pests, and diseases

Weeds compete with fencing plants for water and nutrients, so you want to prevent them from thriving in your hedge. On the other hand, pests and diseases cause stunted growth to hedge plants and can even trigger withering.

To control weeds, you can simply use weeding tools to remove any weeds that grow near the hedge. You can uproot them or use herbicides. To control pests and diseases, you can use any suitable chemicals to kill the harmful organisms and the disease-causing microorganisms. You can cut or uproot the highly affected plants to prevent the spread of the pest or disease.

Maintaining your hedge

It will take a couple of growing seasons for trees to establish. Once they do, you can trim off the top and sides a few times per year as necessary to maintain your desired height. Many of the trees will grow naturally as a hedge or screen and need little to no maintenance.

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How to Maintain Hedge Plants.
How to Maintain Hedge Plants.

Hedges make a beautiful and long-lasting privacy screen and they are multipurpose. It could take several years before slow-growing species provide any cover, but the beauty and grace they add to your landscape will make your home stand out.

Fertilize requirement for hedges

Hedges are low-maintenance, but if you want optimum growth, applying a high-nitrogen, slow-release fertilizer will help. It is best to apply in the spring right before plant growth begins.

Hedges to be pruned at the right time

Spring is generally the best time to prune, as this stimulates new growth and ensures that no tender new shoots will be frozen if they emerge too close to the winter season. Yearly pruning, although it seems counterintuitive for a fast-growing hedge, helps create a nice, dense hedge.

List of fast-growing hedges for privacy

Berberis Ottawensis

Berberis Ottawensis is a hedge plant with red or purple attractive foliage and provides seasonal variations such as orange berries during the spring season, yellow flowers during the summer, and striking fiery colors or orange spreading on the leaves during the autumn. This plant has a growth of around 40 cm to 60 cm per year. Most people prefer red Berberis because of a beautiful colored hedging choice.

Blackthorn Hedge Plants

Blackthorn plant is a hedging plant suitable as a component in a mixed native hedge or as a single species hedge. They have stunning white spring flowers and these are wildlife-friendly along with having thorny stems which makes them an ideal deterrent for intruders. This plant works well as a mixed and native hedge that can reach around 40 cm to 60 cm per year. A blackthorn hedge plant is not a traditional hedge in the sense that it is very unlikely to encounter a straight, neatly pruned blackthorn hedgerow in an urban garden. It does not make a very good garden hedge unless you have a garden large enough for its extensive root system to develop.

Pyracantha Orange Hedge

This Pyracantha Orange Hedge plant bears vibrant berries during the autumn and produces white fragrant flowers during the summers. This plant grows about 30 cm to 60 cm every year and looks gorgeous when left for developing a natural aesthetic look. It is used as a climber for the decoration of trellises and fences.

The fast-growing Cherry Laurel hedges privacy

One of the most popular choices for privacy hedging, the cherry laurel plant is extremely fast-growing. And also known as common laurel, this evergreen species thrive in shadier conditions as well as in direct sunlight. Growth wise, you can expect approximately 60cm per year in average conditions. Cherry Laurel plant is one of the most popular plant species for anyone looking for evergreen and classic hedge. It has large and glossy foliage which creates a wonderful feature in the garden throughout the year. It achieves growth of about 30 cm to 60 cm every year and does not take much time to achieve the height desired by the consumer.

Cherry laurel is a dense evergreen with large glossy green leaves; it must put on at least 30cm in a year. In summer it bears fruits that resemble cherries, turning from red to black color as they mature.

The Golden Leylandii

This plant gives the same features as the traditional Leylandii hedge with evergreen foliage and a dense habit which is good for screening purposes. It has a quick growth rate of above 60 cm every year and has an attractive addition of golden foliage. Leylandii is the fastest-growing hedging plant and creates a hedge quickly. Because it is fast-growing, it is the cheapest way of forming an evergreen garden hedge and hence the most popular. If it is pruned every year, Leylandii plant will create a formal dark-green evergreen screen or box-shaped hedge, similar to a Yew hedge. Leylandii plant can be kept to any height as long as you trim it once or twice a year. We have kept a Leylandii Hedge plant 4ft tall for over 25 years. We trim the tops of most of Leylandii Hedges twice a year and the sides once a year.

The fast-growing Green Bamboo hedges for privacy

Green Bamboo hedging is the ideal way to give one’s garden a little exotic twist as it provides an evergreen and dense coverage and it is a great added texture to one’s garden paradise. The Green Bamboo hedge plant also has a growth rate above 60 cm every year and Phyllostachys Bissetii is considered one of the quickest growing hedge plants.

The bamboo plant makes a contemporary, evergreen hedge. Choose with care some plant varieties can reach 6m tall, and some have invasive, spreading roots be sure to contain them within a solid barrier. The bamboo plant is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world, so it can create a lush and exotic privacy screen very quickly. Some varieties of bamboo are invasive, so select a slow-spreading, clumping variety, or consider planting it in large raised planters to keep it under control.

Arborvitae

Its thick evergreen foliage creates a dense hedge when the trees are spaced properly, it tolerates most soil conditions, and it’s cold hardy and low plant maintenance. There are many varieties of different stature, from dwarf to giant, so consider the plant’s mature height and width when choosing arborvitae for your space. Arborvitaes are popular hedge varieties for privacy due to their evergreen foliage, dense growth habit, lush green color, and ease of maintenance.

Beech

Beech (Fagus sylvatica) forms a dense, attractive hedge that must put on at least 30cm of growth per year. It’s deciduous but if you clip it in autumn, it will retain its coppery leaves over winter, before they are replaced by new, fresh green plant leaves in spring. Beech plants display wonderfully bright, fluttery foliage in spring that fades slightly leading into summer, before showcasing stunning shades of coppery orange and brown in the autumn. Beech will grow about 30-60cm (1-2ft) per year if it is given good conditions for growth. High quality and extremely fresh, our beech hedging is the ideal fencing solution for a garden or outdoor space.

Alder Hedge

One of the hedge plants that are good for privacy is Alder Hedge. They are one of the native hedging plants which thrive and plant grows in wet soil. This plant has a nitrogen-fixing property which can help to recover poor soils and also improve the condition of various surrounding plants. They are one of the fast-growing hedges for privacy that grows around 60 cm per year. Common Alder plant is a fantastic, fast-growing shrub with glossy dark green foliage and reddish-brown catkins. Alder Common hedging plants can grow over 12 meters tall, and grow as wide as 4 to 8 meters.

Privet

Privet plant is a robust, hardy hedging plant that grows virtually anywhere. Grow privet plant in moist but well-drained soil in sun to shade. Keep plants well-watered in the first 2 years and the area around the plants weed-free. Prune once or twice a year to keep a traditional ‘hedge’ shape. Be careful to check for bird nests before Privet pruning. Privet plant is the ideal plant to create a traditional, classic-looking hedge as its roots stem back to Victorian England when it was a popular choice for gardens in inner-city areas.

Griselinia

Griselinia littoralis is an attractive evergreen that has oval, apple-green leaves, and is particularly suited to sheltered sites and seaside gardens avoid northern or exposed situations. You can expect Griselinia to grow around 30cm in a year and grow in a sunny spot. Griselinia littoralis is a quick-growing, evergreen shrub with fresh apple-green plant leaves. It is a good hedging plant that forms a neat and tidy hedge.

The conclusion of fast-growing hedges for privacy

It is very easy to grow these plants, and regular maintenance is required especially pruning. You may also check

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