Upgrade your garden with a hedge

Choosing the right hedge  

Spring is a busy time for home gardeners. Not because the garden itself demands their full attention, but because of the need to consider key questions for the gardening year ahead: what should the garden look like this year? Should it be utilitarian, or draw envious glances from the neighbours? How can the garden be made more sustainable, and how can gardeners protect native plants and animals? All these considerations apply just as much to hedges as they do to the rest of the garden.  

Classic or colourful? 

Formal hornbeam and field-maple hedges are among the classic choices for a garden hedge. Field maple in particular is extremely well-suited to shielding gardens from windy weather. On top of that, it provides plenty of food and shelter for a variety of birds and insects. Hornbeam, too, is a very robust species, and its leaves break down into nourishing humus after falling. Both hornbeam and field maple are non-toxic, making them good choices for families with children.  

Gardeners who love bright colours will enjoy a flowering hedge made of shrubs and bushes such as Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) or flowering currant. As a lack of light may leave the lower part of many flowering shrubs bare, these combinations should be planted together in two offset rows to ensure full coverage. Hedge clippers are the best way of getting your hedge into shape. The Hedge Clippers 2in1 EnergyCut make use of two-step gear, reliably cutting both smaller and larger branches. Activating it provides the clippers with up to 2.5 times as much cutting power, making short work of thicker branches.  

The height of fashion: wildlife hedges  

Many home gardeners have joined the movement towards eco-friendly and sustainable garden design. Hedges, of course, are also included in this trend. As a result, quite a few gardens now feature informal wildlife hedges made of blackthorn or elderberry for example. Insects, birds and small animals benefit tremendously from these hedges, which provide them with both food and a place to live. These “living fences” also provide a practical privacy screen and are easy to take care of. Unlike formal hedges, which need to be trimmed every year, wildlife hedges require less frequent maintenance. It’s enough to thin out the individual plants every few years. 

Depending on the plants chosen, wild hedges generally require a width of two to three metres in order to grow to their best potential. 

Hedges for small gardens 

Of course, gardeners with less space need not go without a leafy privacy screen. Formal hedges, for example, take up little space and can be planted in small gardens. However, in order to ensure that they are able to grow vertically without becoming too wide, narrow hedges do require trimming more frequently. For that reason, slow-growing species such as box or privet are recommended for these hedges. Fast-growing species such as cherry laurel will require gardeners to reach for their hedge trimmers more often. Espalier screens offer an exceptionally narrow alternative for small gardens. Fruit tree espaliers are especially popular, as these not only act as a privacy screen but also allow gardeners to harvest the fruits of their labours.  

Electric tools are particularly suited for trimming and maintaining harder woods and larger areas. The Battery Hedge Trimmer ComfortCut feature precision-ground blades and special teeth designed to effortlessly cut through larger branches. The cordless design enables a particularly clean and precise trim.  

The differing growth phases of the plants in the hedge need to be taken into account when trimming. But take care not to cut back hedges between March and September. Maintenance during this time should be limited to light shaping. This is so as not to disturb the animals – such as nesting birds – that have made the hedge their home. For this reason, more vigorous work such as cutting back should be left until autumn.